Jeff Thomas
New member
OK, let me purge an old memory. Boy scout summer camp, New York, probably age 12, and my first introduction to firearms. Getting ready to go to the range with .22 rifles, and the instructor is amazing. Goes on and on about safety (that's just fine), and then goes on and on and on about 'hang fires'.
He describes what it is, and then tells us it doesn't happen often, but it is very, very dangerous. Says when it happens he puts the rifle in his car, pointed to the sky, drives down to the lake, yelling out the window 'hang fire, hang fire', and then ... I kid you not ... tosses the rifle into the lake! It is a dim memory now, but as I recall I actually saw this happen later in the week.
This was not a great introduction to firearms.
With my perspective as an adult, I understand this is a true problem. But I gather it is uncommon, and also not handled in the manner shown by my apparently 'crackers' Boy Scout instructor.
How should one handle this event, and is my perception wrong or was this guy in need of serious mental therapy?
He describes what it is, and then tells us it doesn't happen often, but it is very, very dangerous. Says when it happens he puts the rifle in his car, pointed to the sky, drives down to the lake, yelling out the window 'hang fire, hang fire', and then ... I kid you not ... tosses the rifle into the lake! It is a dim memory now, but as I recall I actually saw this happen later in the week.
This was not a great introduction to firearms.
With my perspective as an adult, I understand this is a true problem. But I gather it is uncommon, and also not handled in the manner shown by my apparently 'crackers' Boy Scout instructor.
How should one handle this event, and is my perception wrong or was this guy in need of serious mental therapy?