You couldn't make it up......

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walesdave
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You couldn't make it up......

#1 Post by walesdave »

https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/ ... ting-face/

Not taking away from some appalling lack of safety in this guys gun handling, and also not disagreeing with him being found guilty of 'accidently' shooting his friend, buried in the article you find it has been accepted that the police had returned a loaded shotgun to someone other than the person who they had seized it off.

I wonder what the outcome would have been if one of the force FEOs or officers who had undoubtedly handled the shotgun while it was in police custody had pulled the trigger and shot an innocent bystander?
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Dark Skies
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Re: You couldn't make it up......

#2 Post by Dark Skies »

Nothing surprises me any more. I lost my house keys once. Reported it to my local station in the hope that somebody turned them in. Someone DID phone in to report they'd found my keys. The police told the finder where I lived and to "just pop them through my letter box". Aside from the insanity of giving a stranger access to my house I couldn't get into my home because the keys were now on the doormat inside. Fortunately the finder was honest.
"I don't like my job and I don't think I'm gonna go anymore."
Chapuis
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Re: You couldn't make it up......

#3 Post by Chapuis »

Was it really accepted that the gun was returned loaded to the shooter by Gwent police?
I find that extremely hard to accept, especially as the South Wales Argus has such a terrible reputation for the accuracy of their reports. The paper is a standing joke locally. Often the most informative and amusing section is the comments from the online readers most of which appear to be critic of the reports in the paper.

I once surrendered a gun to Gwent police and had to wait half an hour in the police station for a firearms trained officer to arrive and check the gun was unloaded before they would accept it. The gun was in a very poor state of repair and was clearly incapable of holding ammunition and being fired (revolver with cylinder latch missing) but that was their procedure.

So unless Gwent police have suddenly become extremely lax it's my opinion that the cretin who shot his workmate was simply trying it on. I call him a cretin because -
1) I don't think any responsible shooter will ever accept a gun from anyone without checking if it is loaded
2) No shooter in his right mind will ever point a gun at somebody unless they intend to do them harm.
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Blackstuff
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Re: You couldn't make it up......

#4 Post by Blackstuff »

Just as a technical point, Benelli semi-auto's have an incredibly annoying automatic magazine cut-off feature whereby you can rack out a cartridge loaded in the chamber and unless you press a small button on the right hand side (or pull the trigger) no further cartridges will feed from the magazine.

Its a feature to allow you to put a different cartridge/cartridge type into the chamber without having to empty the mag tube (e.g. your gun is loaded with birdshot but you spot a fox, so you can rack out the birdshot cartridge in the chamber and can then load a buckshot cart in through the ejection port). I bet its not used by 99.9% of owners but they insist on it being on there. 8-)

As such, anyone who is not familiar with this (and sloppy with their checks) may rack the action (and it doesn't matter how many times you do this if you don't press the button/pull the trigger), see an empty chamber and assume the gun is unloaded, if you don't also check the magazine tube.

The tit in the story deserved a lot more than what he got. Pointing a firearm at someone is bad enough but 'jokingly' pulling the trigger is unforgiveable. troutslapping
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walesdave
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Re: You couldn't make it up......

#5 Post by walesdave »

Chapuis wrote: Wed Nov 03, 2021 9:58 am Was it really accepted that the gun was returned loaded to the shooter by Gwent police?
I find that extremely hard to accept, especially as the South Wales Argus has such a terrible reputation for the accuracy of their reports. The paper is a standing joke locally. Often the most informative and amusing section is the comments from the online readers most of which appear to be critic of the reports in the paper.

I once surrendered a gun to Gwent police and had to wait half an hour in the police station for a firearms trained officer to arrive and check the gun was unloaded before they would accept it. The gun was in a very poor state of repair and was clearly incapable of holding ammunition and being fired (revolver with cylinder latch missing) but that was their procedure.

So unless Gwent police have suddenly become extremely lax it's my opinion that the cretin who shot his workmate was simply trying it on. I call him a cretin because -
1) I don't think any responsible shooter will ever accept a gun from anyone without checking if it is loaded
2) No shooter in his right mind will ever point a gun at somebody unless they intend to do them harm.
I get what you're saying, I've handed in shotguns, Sec 1 ammunition and Sec 2 cartridges along with newly classified 'offensive weapons' at various times to Gwent - both in Ystrad and Blackwood stations. The response from the desk officer on ALL occasions has been to 'call someone else who knows about these things'. I've also praised Gwent FEOs for their empathy and compassion on occasion while I've also made a P&CC complaint against them on another. As a force goes, Gwent isn't a bad one.

BUT. It appears the court excepted this guys plea, and sentenced him accordingly, based on him not loading the shotgun and it being already loaded when it came into his possession (from the police).
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Re: You couldn't make it up......

#6 Post by Chapuis »

BUT. It appears the court excepted this guys plea, and sentenced him accordingly, based on him not loading the shotgun and it being already loaded when it came into his possession (from the police).

That's what the Argus reports as his defense. It would be interesting to know if the court accepted his claim.
I would certainly need something more substantial than that before believing it and I would be surprised if the court actually did accept his claim as true.

Even more surprising to me was that the sentence was so lenient, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the prosecution appeal it.
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