A football player for the University of Alabama blew his finger off with a shotgun. He said he was tying a rope around the barrel and the stock so the gun wouldn't fall off of his lap. It was when he was tying the rope around the barrel that the gun went off. he said he never touched the trigger. None of this story makes any sense to me. How does tying a rope around a gun keep it from falling off of your lap? Why do you have a shotgun laying across your lap? How does a gun go off without pulling the trigger unless it has some severe mechanical issues?