Sad day here today....

This happened about 15 miles from my place.

http://www.kxly.com/news/north-idaho-news/shooting-prompts-hayden-walmart-evacuation/30458938

Saw it tonight on the tv.. Sad... Makes you wonder why the kid knew to get the gun and was able to pull the trigger??

Mom wanted to know why the safety wasn't on, but I suppose that if it was a revolver, it may not have had a safety on it...

Lesson learned at the cost of a life... Bryce

There will always be unanswered questions when something like this happens, because the only person that really knew anything is dead.

That said, the gun in question had to be a pistol -vs- a revolver. I say that because no one I've ever known carries a revolver cocked. With them the hammer down position is safe. That being the case, most have such a heavy double action pull that there is no way the kid could do a full pull to fire the gun. The only other possibility with a revolver would have been to cock the hammer for the kid to even begin to have enough strength to pull the trigger. Given the force, and dextarity required to do that, it's not likely.

Ultimately the woman had to be carrying semi-auto pistol. Now whether she had one with a safety, or not, or one with the safety off, is a question not yet answered in the media. In any case the ones with no safeties typically have a trigger pull to rival a double action pull on a revolver. In other words she almost had to have the gun in her bas without the safety on for the kid to be able to shoot it.

In the end, ultimately what happened is a tragedy. Unfortunately the woman is dead, and her kid will have to deal with the consequences of what happened all of it's life. However, in the end, whether it's PC to say it or not...the woman did something stupid and paid the ultimate price as a result of her own stupidity. It's as simple as that, whether we like it or not....

(quoted from post at 23:12:37 12/30/14) This happened about 15 miles from my place.

http://www.kxly.com/news/north-idaho-news/shooting-prompts-hayden-walmart-evacuation/30458938

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Well, you can tell that report wasn't done anywhere in NY state or most of the east or west coast. The follow up on gun safety as opposed to gun control was very good.

I think its Glocks that don't have safeties you just pull the trigger.

I don't know anything about glocks but don't you still need to rack one in the chamber for it to shoot?

(quoted from post at 12:09:15 12/31/14) I don't know anything about glocks but don't you still need to rack one in the chamber for it to shoot?

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No. It's very common for people who carry Glocks to carry one in the chamber even though they don't have a safety.

The article I read says he FIL claims she was a safe gun owner and that the gun in a purse designed for concealed carry. OK, that means the purse has a holster in it so the gun doesn't wind up buried under other stuff, not that it's child proof. IMO the woman made a stupid mistake that cost her her life and may cause the kid to have problems.

Rick

(quoted from post at 06:27:32 12/31/14) I think its Glocks that don't have safeties you just pull the trigger.

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It was a 9mm Smith and Wesson

Your right, there has to be a round in the chamber for the gun to fire. That said, if you are carrying a gun, without a round in the chamber, then it's pretty much worthless to you for self defense.

Can you see a woman going to her car, and being ambushed by a robber, rapist, or whatever. If her weapon isn't loaded, what's she going to do, ask the guy to wait long enough for her to both draw her gun, chamber a round, take off the safety, and then fire it. In the time it takes to do all that, she'll already be unconscious or dead.

That said, many modern guns, S&W included, offer striker fired guns similar to the Glock. One of the great things about this design is the lack of an true external safety, like the hammer blocks found on many earlier pistols. Typically the striker fired guns are safer than the others because most remain in a safe condition until the trigger is physically pulled, vs having the gun in a firing/unsafe state, but the trigger not yet pulled.

This is why Glock calls theirs a "Safe Action" design, because the trigger has to be phycially pulled to overcome not one, but three safties. They not only keep the trigger from moving until the trigger safety is depressed, they also don't fully 'cock' until the trigger pull completes the tensioning action on the striker/firing pin spring. Too, pulling the trigger disengages yet another safey by raising a spring loaded pin that blocks the striker from hitting the primer.

In the end the chance of enough things going wrong to cause one of these types of guns to fire from dropping, or anything else other than physically reaching your finger into the trigger guard, and pulling the trigger, is so remote it's not even in this universe.

In any case, situational awareness is something anyone carrying a gun, concealed or not, has to address with 100% of their thought process. Most women are so complacient with their purses when they are in a store, I'm surprised that we don't get more reports of them being stolen out of their cart when the woman walks off, turns her back on it while looking at something, or whatever.

Sadly I think that's what happened here. The woman wasn't used to the new purse she had only gotten a few days ago, and simply didn't think about what might happen. Unfortunately she paid for her lack of attention with her own death.
Glock Safe Action function

He found something to play with in his mom's purse and likely did not have even have to move it to hit her, depending on where she was standing and how it was laying in the cart. The trigger was simply something to try to move. It's completely possible that had she laid her purse in the cart facing the other way, nothing but a few boxes of cereal, or a can of beans, would have been injured.

Keeping an empty chamber under the hammer is a requirement for a revolver that has the firing pin integral to the hammer, or no transfer bar system. Those 6 shooters are/were effectively a 5 shooter for the risk of accidental discharge.

I know some complain about a grip safety, but having a 1911 in this case likely would have saved mom from her attentiveness.