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Accidental discharge in Prince William County.

rebfan

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By Amanda Stewart

Published: September 19, 2009

A man accidentally shot himself at a Woodbridge service station Saturday evening, Prince William County police said.

A 25-year-old man's personal firearm discharged while he was inside his car at the Sunoco at the intersection of Prince William Parkway and Telegraph Road at 5:22 p.m. Saturday, Prince William County police spokeswoman Erika Hernandez said.

The 25-year-old man shot himself in the hand, according to Hernandez.

He was flown to an area hospital, but his injuries are not considered to be life-threatening, Hernandez said.

—Amanda Stewart
 

Darylvb

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He was flown to an area hospital? Potomac hospital is not even a mile from there.
 

kaiheitai17

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Is everyone in the Virginia forum hereaccounted for?



Running off to ARF.COM to check and make sure everyone in the Virginias hometown forum are okay.....
 

fizzer

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Are they refering to this saturday evening the 19th? or a previous saturday?

I was at that Sunoco saturday from 4:30pm until 7:00pm (vehicle broke down, waited for a tow) and I can assure you nothing of the sort happened there.


There is another service station(shell, I think)up the road that actually sits at telegraph. The Sunoco sits at crossing place.
 

virginiatuck

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kaiheitai17 wrote:
Is everyone in the Virginia forum hereaccounted for?



Running off to ARF.COM to check and make sure everyone in the Virginias hometown forum are okay.....
Both of my hands are present and accounted for.

It's a real shame that these things happen. I wonder what reason he could have had for even handling the firearm there. I figure a few things, but some of them are rather condescending and mean so I will refrain from comment unless we somehow manage to get all the facts (doubtful).

One reason that I might have for handling a firearm in my vehicle, besides in lawful self-defense, is that I'm on a long trip and have a pistol stored somewhere else in my vehicle besides my holster, such as a glovebox/console/between-seats, where it's susceptible to bumping or touching by an adult passenger or physical forces involved in a car accident. As such, it would be in condition 3. Prior to exiting the vehicle, I would return the firearm to condition 1 and return it to my holster. Typically, though, it's comfortable enough to carry in condition 1 in my holster while in my vehicle.

Another reason would be if I had to exit the vehicle and enter a firearm-prohibited area, where I would transition from condition 1 to condition 4. Likewise, when returning from such an area, transitioning from condition 4 to condition 1, holstered.

At no time during these transition phases would my hand, nor any other body part of my own or anyone else's, save for lawful self-defense, be in line with the barrel of the firearm. In fact, I do not perform such transitions while anyone else is inside of or standing next to the vehicle.


I have one question, though. I've heard that becoming a victim of robbery or assault can turn a lefty into a righty. Could shooting oneself in the hand turn a righty into a lefty? ;)
 

useful_idiot

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ProShooter wrote:
I'm wondering if it really was an accidental discharge, or a negligient discharge.

Me thinks the latter, rather thanthe former....
Most are. Tree falls down...accidental. Hand in front of muzzle...not so much. :?
 

PeteXD

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I drove past this scene last night seemingly minutes after it happened. There were PWC cops still pulling into the parking lot. A firetruck, ambulance, and two fire-supervisors trucks were on scene. A total of 5-7 county cops were on scene still when I drove past it again about an hour later. Veeeeery interesting...
 

MSC 45ACP

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useful_idiot wrote:
ProShooter wrote:
I'm wondering if it really was an accidental discharge, or a negligient discharge.

Me thinks the latter, rather thanthe former....
Most are. Tree falls down...accidental. Hand in front of muzzle...not so much. :?


+1... I'm not EVEN gonna get started on THIS subject. I'll just get my BP thumpin'...

AD's are RARE. We all know this.

ND's (sadly) are not so rare. :banghead:
 

nova

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ProShooter wrote:
Accidental/Negligient discharges are in mylist ofterms that most gunowners (and non-gun people) use incorrectly:

Accidental discharge/Negligient discharge

Clip/Magazine

Bullet/Cartridge
I'll add this to the list:

shell/case (when referring to pieces of what's known as "brass" to reloaders)

shells are used in shotgun 'shotshells' while cases are used in handgun/rifle ammo.

as for rules broken, my guess:

he put his finger on the trigger
he pointed it at something he wasn't willing to destroy
he didn't treat all guns as if loaded
he was not aware of what was beyond his 'target'

he'll never forget the mistake he made...ever.
 

MSC 45ACP

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nova wrote:
ProShooter wrote:
Accidental/Negligient discharges are in mylist ofterms that most gunowners (and non-gun people) use incorrectly:

Accidental discharge/Negligient discharge

Clip/Magazine

Bullet/Cartridge
I'll add this to the list:

shell/case (when referring to pieces of what's known as "brass" to reloaders)

shells are used in shotgun 'shotshells' while cases are used in handgun/rifle ammo.

as for rules broken, my guess:

he put his finger on the trigger
he pointed it at something he wasn't willing to destroy
he didn't treat all guns as if loaded
he was not aware of what was beyond his 'target'

he'll never forget the mistake he made...ever.
+1!!!

You fellows hit the proverbial nail on the head! Those are also my "pet peeves"... Especially the AD/ND and clip/magazine misued and abused definitions...

Well-put!
 

richarcm

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ProShooter wrote:
Accidental/Negligient discharges are in mylist ofterms that most gunowners (and non-gun people) use incorrectly:

Accidental discharge/Negligient discharge

Clip/Magazine

Bullet/Cartridge
Tomato/Tomatoe. :)
 

skidmark

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in case anybody cares, my hands were not in p-willie county, and are still recovering from being trapped between the steering wheel and airbag. i can barely lift a pen in my defense, let alone a firearm. i have been seen other places in the company of a hired gun -- the guy toting it came along for free so no violation of dcjs regs took place.

there could be a number of justifiable reasons other than immediate self defense why someone would be handling a firearm inside their vehicle. however, as has been noted in both normal and extra-large type at least one if not more of the basic safety rules were not followed which makes negligence more likely than accident as the reason for the injury.

i am intrigued, however, that the press considers the possibility of a firearm going off accidentally, as most of the time the press seems to think the firearm just desides to shoot itself without any human intervention. this must have been one of those guns with a high level of self-control, as compared to the others the press reports about.:uhoh:

stay safe.

skidmark
 

kaiheitai17

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Skid, hope that your hands recover quickly and that you are otherwise okay. Air bags can mess you up, guess that is why it is now recommended that you hold the steering wheel at 4 and 8 o'clock vice the old 10 and 2.
 

Neplusultra

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nova wrote:
ProShooter wrote:
Accidental/Negligient discharges are in mylist ofterms that most gunowners (and non-gun people) use incorrectly:

Accidental discharge/Negligient discharge

Clip/Magazine

Bullet/Cartridge
I'll add this to the list:

shell/case (when referring to pieces of what's known as "brass" to reloaders)
I just refer to cases as "empty bullets" :^). Then there's another case that I also refer to as empty bullets. In fact I just emptied one just now. Time to get up and make another trip to the fridge :^).
 

DrMark

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ProShooter wrote:
I'm wondering if it really was an accidental discharge, or a negligient discharge.

Me thinks the latter, rather thanthe former....
It was likely both, as negligient discharges are a subset of accidental discharges.
 
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