What Kind of Accidental Discharge Was This?

[ChadAmberg]

LAKELAND, Fla. — A Tampa couple and an Irish tourist were shot at a Lakeland gun range after a handgun accidentally fired.
Polk County sheriff's deputies say it's not entirely clear how many times Michael and Sherri Thourot's 9mm accidentally went off Saturday, or what caused the handgun to fire. The pistol was a Jennings make.
The man in an adjacent stall, 29-year-old Gary Flynn, of Ireland, was most seriously injured. He underwent surgery after being hit in the shoulder and throat, and was listed in stable condition.
Michael Thourot was shot in the left hand, and Sherri Thourot was hit in the left arm. Both were also listed in stable condition.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,...est=latestnews


I know that Jennings has a horrible reputation, but sounds like the thing kept firing full auto somehow. Crazy stuff...

[Dr_Fwd]

wow! how is this possible?!

[Bailey Guns]

Wow...that sucks that so many people got hurt.

On the other hand, who knew a Jennings would fire that many rounds without a stoppage or breaking?

[Ridge]

More than likely they were pointing it sideways while loading the mag into the gun, and hit the trigger at some point after releaseing the slide...1 shot...

[GunTroll]

I'm ashamed to admit it but I had a Jennings 9 once. Shot that thing so much the frame cracked high in the rear of the trigger guard. I saw the crack and just bent it in two. Lesson learned. Buy crap, buy twice.

[SSChameleon]

The only thing I can think of (other than catastrophic operator screw up) is a firing pin that was jammed forward. When the shooter racked the first round it went full auto, and as Bailey pointed out, did a very un-Jennings like thing and fed more than one round.

[Circuits]

Whether or not it was a true AD (mechanical failure) the only reason anyone got hurt was because it wasn't pointed in a safe direction. I once had one of my M16's malfunction an empty an entire 30 round mag when I chambered the first round. It was pointed downrange, so I just hung on, let it it run dry while pointed downrange and no one got hurt.


It was a blown primer cup lodged between the hammer and trigger that caused that malfunction btw.

[Irving]

It was a blown primer cup lodged between the hammer and trigger that caused that malfunction btw.

I bet you weren't nervous explaining that one at all huh?

[sniper7]

Whether or not it was a true AD (mechanical failure) the only reason anyone got hurt was because it wasn't pointed in a safe direction. I once had one of my M16's malfunction an empty an entire 30 round mag when I chambered the first round. It was pointed downrange, so I just hung on, let it it run dry while pointed downrange and no one got hurt.


It was a blown primer cup lodged between the hammer and trigger that caused that malfunction btw.

how many miles did you have to run for that one?

[Brainchild69]

Whether or not it was a true AD (mechanical failure) the only reason anyone got hurt was because it wasn't pointed in a safe direction... .

You are wrong. I know both of these people very well and I was told exactly what happened. The mag was loaded and inserted, the slide was released, when the pistol was placed one the table POINTED DOWNRANGE, without the trigger being touched it went off repeatedly spinning around firing one round after another. Do not assume that someone was a dumbass and wasn’t following proper safety procedures if you don’t know the whole story. Have you ever been hurt by anything? Would it be correct to assume that you got hurt because you probably were not doing what you were supposed to be doing? There are other reports of the Jennings nine having this type of malfunction.
http://www.firearmsid.com/Recalls/FA_Recalls%202.htm
I await your apologies.