Falling with a gun

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double bogey

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Last night about 11:30 my dog was barking, so I picked up a flashlight and pistol and walked out to see what he was barking at. Now I live in a suburb, and its not unusual for my dog to bark, he can come in or out through a dog door. So when he continues to bark, I go check it out. So I sneak out my back door, flashlight in one hand and Glock in the other, about 5 steps out my eyes still not adjusted for the dark, I stepped right into a green plastic lawn chair that was laying upside down. Apparently my leg got tangled up on the arm hole, one chair leg got into my inner thigh just below my crotch, and anothe leg hung up under my left armpit. I tumbled and ended up twisted up in the lawn chair, gun pointed at my kitchen window after hitting the ground pretty hard. Thank God I practice trigger finger discipline, because when I was on the way down I don't have any idea which direction the gun pointed. I have no doubt that if my finger had been in the trigger guard, the gun would have discharged. My leg and arm are bruised pretty bad, and I am sore today. I still don't know what the dog was barking at, if it was a bad guy he got a good laugh and went on his way.

So everyone, keep your finger out of the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot. Oh, and turn on a light or use the flashlight thats in your hand.
 
I posted a week or so back about accidentally touching an electric fence with a canned drink in my hand. My involuntary reaction was to clench my hand so hard that it crushed the can and squirted the drink everywhere. Had that drink been a gun and my finger been anywhere near the trigger, straight or not, it would have fired.

Be careful.
 
I posted a week or so back about accidentally touching an electric fence with a canned drink in my hand.
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hmmmmm maybe you need to change your user name.
 
That is what it was like, I squeezed the can so violently that the majority of the drink landed on top of my head and shoulders. Since then I kept my index finger curled under the trigger guard on my AR or behind it on shotguns or actually wedged it behind the trigger of my big Ruger Redhawk effectively blocking it even if a stitch or something hung inside the trigger guard.
 
So I sneak out my back door, flashlight in one hand and Glock in the other, about 5 steps out my eyes still not adjusted for the dark, I stepped right into a green plastic lawn chair ...
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If that lawn chair had been a bad guy, rattlesnake, or whatever your dog was barking at, your post might have a slightly different tale to tell.

If it was a person, their eyes would be already be adjusted and they would have an advantage. If you turned on the flashlight, they likely would still see you first. Might there have been a better approach to the situation?
 
I recall falling once. I had my dad's .410 and the family was out on an island off the coast of Maine in the late 60's. The family would run around the islands, looking for lobster buoys, neat stuff washed up on shore, etc.

I was running and fell on a large ledge, my weight landing on the gun (all 93 pounds of me at around 13) and the left side of the stock and receiver of the bolt action single shot JC Higgins .410 got pretty dug up. Later, when we came home at the end of the summer, I refinished the stock and sanded the gouged receiver and re-blued the gouges.

That was the first and only time I ever fell with a gun.
 
I stepped right into a green plastic lawn chair that was laying upside down.
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Now you can laugh. It sounds like something that I would do, I'm glad you were only bruised and you didn't shoot a hole into your kitchen. And you came through it with no broken bones!
 
What? No reconnaissance by fire? You suburbanites are such funny fellows! :neener:

Seriously though, it seems like having an uncluttered and/or mentally mapped property might be the best preventative for this sort of problem. Good job keeping trigger discipline!




Disclosure: My property is often somewhat cluttered and definately not mentally mapped.

.
 
The area I used to hunt alot was a lava field. When it would get a little layer of snow on it I was likely to fall two or three times in one day because the rocks would get slick or the snow would cover a crack that my foot would somehow find its way into. Though I never had a ND because of it, each time it happened I had more and more resolve to always anally enforce trigger discipline when around my friends.
 
I teach a martial arts class and part of learning how to throw people is learning how to fall safely. You want to spread the impact out over as much time and as much area as possible and not land suddenly on a small part of your body like an elbow or knee. Roll with it. Many untrained people will react to falling by clenching whatever is in their hands in a subconcious attempt to hang on to something. If that something has a trigger it will fire.
 
Today I have moved some of the clutter, had a couple of words with my 5 yr. old grandson about leaving clutter. Made me think about it today. I go out and check noises mainly to keep alert and be ready for a situation. Probably won't go out in the dark without turning on the floodlight because I really can't sneak quietly outside anyway due to the door to get out is noisy. I like the doors noisy, it's also hard to sneak in without making noise. I can laugh about it today but I still hurt. It helps that I seem to know how to fall. Makes me think about the glock with no manual safety though. My 1911 would have had the safety on. Still would have my finger off the trigger too.
 
I have to second Owen Sparks here. As odd as it sounds, I remember one particularly awesome fall when I was running in high school (I ran cross country). It involved taking a 90 degree turn, encountering a patch of ice, and somehow managing to tuck-n-roll, and end up right back on my feet, even facing approximately the right direction. I didn't even get a serious bruise. Part of that is because when I'm actively training, while I don't regularly fall, I'm more aware of my body, and even though I don't fall, I probably tumble more than people who aren't active.

Heck, one time I tripped in the woods and went down into a classic pushup position, *not* rolling with it. I'm still not sure why I did, but when I looked down, there was a rather nasty looking, sharp and sturdy broken stump just a few inches from the center of my chest. That would have been pretty nasty.

I'm not saying you have to be a fitness guru (Lord know I'm not right now), but some familiarity with falling (as odd as that sounds) is not a bad thing. Was actually a somewhat important thing when I did nordic skiing as well, because you had to be aware of your equipment, and control things (mostly) so you limited the damage to both your body, and your equipment.

In this case, your body and your gun.
 
This post caught my attention because I took a tumble a bout a week ago on some thin black ice on my front steps. My leg is still swollen. Was on my way to work carrying a laptop over my shoulder. I was also carrying in my hands a holstered G19 a banana and a cell phone. I hit the second step going down my concrete walk and my feet immediately went out from under me to the left. No chance to tuck and roll. My right thigh hit hard on the retaining wall next to my steps. Glock went bouncing down the remaining steps. I got up, picked everything up and off to work.

I don't consider myself inactive but I should have done a better job at spotting the ice. The sidewalk and steps mostly just looked wet.

Anyway good job keeping finger off the trigger. Falling, sometimes it happens.
 
e continues to bark, I go check it out. So I sneak out my back door, flashlight in one hand and Glock in the other, about 5 steps out my eyes still not adjusted for the dark, I stepped right into a green plastic lawn chair that was laying upside down
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Why didn't you have your flashlight on? I think this is a classic example of why folks should pay more attention to basics rather than getting worried about some ninjas aiming for the light. If you can't see where you're going, either turn on the light or don't go there.
 
I was also carrying in my hands a holstered G19 a banana and a cell phone.
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Somehow when I read this, I started laughing.

I'm glad you are recovering, and the OP as well.
 
Don't go looking for the bad guy.
Let them come to you.
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Yeah, when the dog "alerts" me to something at night, my reaction is to go into "hunter" mode where I try to be as still as possible and listen/watch for any possible sound or motion. I've found it works a lot better than rattling around like the 3'rd tank battalion.
 
Yeah, when the dog "alerts" me to something at night, my reaction is to go into "hunter" mode where I try to be as still as possible and listen/watch for any possible sound or motion. I've found it works a lot better than rattling around like the 3'rd tank battalion.
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Yep, I learned a long time ago that when you stay in the foxhole you live. When you get aggressive and get out of the foxhole you can get shot.
 
There is an old military axiom from Napoleans time which states "One entrenched man will cost you three." Meaning that a soldier firing from cover has a three to one advantage. My plan is to seek cover behind somethig solid and let the bad guy come to me.
 
Last year I was drinking Crown one night...............
Yep, first mistake...
"Decided" to go see if I could spot any skunks that had been leaving a bit of stink behind them.
Suppressed Ruger+ night vision out the door-
Was under a porch on uneven ground (=quite a slope 35 degrees)
Well duh I slipped, feet went downhill, sideways- finger off trigger arm extended, hand up.
No shots fired-
Went to bed, woke up with pillow stuck to head- had split my melon open and bled like a stuck pig-
Wife not happy with the state of the sheets- my head hurt too-
Never again............I hopeI blame that on tainted ice in the Crown.
 
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