September 07, 2006

A heartfelt thank you to the good people of New Hampshire

Gosh--everyone is being so helpful in taking some of the burden off of us--it's like there's some kind of benevolent movement underway to share some of the stupidity burden. So, thanks everyone, and especially to our good buddy Chuck from Nashua, NH for his efforts--Man's gun fires in Wal-Mart bathroom

HUDSON, N.H. (AP) — A Nashua man faces a felony reckless conduct charge after his gun discharged in a Wal-Mart bathroom, striking the ceiling and scaring an employee in the next stall.

Charles Masterson, 36, said he pointed his gun toward the ceiling because he had been taught that was the safest thing to do when it wasn't being used.

Uhh, well, no, numb-nuts. When it's not being used, it goes in what we call a "holster." But more about safety later...

The precaution backfired when the gun discharged Tuesday night while Masterson was in the bathroom.

Police charged him for putting the teenage employee in danger. Masterson's 13-year-old son also was in the bathroom.

Masterson was jailed overnight, but released on personal recognizance Wednesday after his arraignment in Nashua District Court.

Masterson said he had been carrying the Glock 9mm pistol in his waistband. [...]

Well, we learn two things here. First, if you're going to carry a weapon, please don't just stick it in your pants. And second, this was not just a matter of a weapon misfiring. Glocks are made so that it can only fire when it is being held firmly and the trigger is being squeezed. Although they are mechanical devices and all mechanical devices can fail, the design of the mechanism is such that it is physically impossible for the firing pin to contact the cartridge primer UNLESS the weapon was deliberately fired. Even if he was stupid enough to carry the thing in his pants, if it fell, it wouldn't fire. Even if he held it up at the ceiling to be safe, it wouldn't fire as long as he just held it there. It fired because he fired it, and that's all there is to it.

He is what we call "an idjit."

[Employee Adam] Carew told police Masterson walked out of his stall, put the gun in his pants and just walked right out of the bathroom like nothing happened.

Wal-Mart employees called police.

Well, I guess you never know--maybe the guy has a ceiling full of holes above his chamber pot at home...

UPDATE: Oooh--a companion story! Wal-Mart to tailor stores to customers Gosh, I hope this means Kevlar ceiling tiles!

Posted by Terry Oglesby at September 7, 2006 04:43 PM
Comments

My husband and I, avid shooters, were just discussing this. Yeah, this story made it all the way to our little neck of the woods in North Carolina. We are both in such awe of how this could possibly happen. While we are happy to know that this "ijit" was semi alert when handgun safety was being discussed, we are wondering where he was hiding when good common sense was the topic?
The stories (and variations thereof) that we have found have been vague as to how this played out. Yet, and still, we cannot come up with any reasonable way or excuse for this guy's actions. We have 2 kids, 9 & 13, that have been handling guns (firing for sport) for the past 7 years. Even they laugh at how unsafe this "adult" was in this situation.

Question, does anyone know how we can nominate this fellow for the Darwin award?

Posted by: Pam at September 10, 2006 09:09 AM

Hey there, Pam! Thanks for stopping by.

Obviously, when God said "brain," Chaz thought He said "rain" and ran inside to keep from getting any on him.

As for a Darwin Award, since he didn't remove himself from the gene pool, he's technically not eligible. But I think he will at least get honorable mention for Hulking Big Moron O'The Year.

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at September 10, 2006 08:59 PM