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I’m sure a lot of you have probably seen the video that has been circulating around social media and forums of some allegedly unfortunate fellow who accidentally gave himself a free vasectomy. The video of the accident is also accompanied by what looks to be discharge papers for the patient listing out the details of the entry and exit wound. While it’s entirely plausible that this video and the supporting document are falsified, I also wouldn’t put it out of the realm of possibility that this guy was simply being wildly irresponsible with his firearm for internet points, and wound up getting a 9mm screening of the Nutcracker. After all, it’s happened several times in the past and this incident seems to follow all the same patterns that the other accidents did. For those of you who can’t watch the video, we’ll go over it in more detail below. Obviously, you shouldn’t do anything like this with your own guns, that goes without saying, but just in case you’re fuzzy on the topic, Don’t point any type of firearm at your groin for internet clout. 

With the recent push for small arms ammunition with increased range, power and capability, are military customers in danger of being taken for a ride by industry marketeers working to sell rifles in new calibers? Is the primary driving force behind new infantry calibers not in fact a need to be addressed, but a desire to sell weapons in a stagnant small arms market?

We have just seen the cancellation of the Interim Combat Service Rifle, which gives me a good springboard to talk about marketing. Specifically, we will be discussing a kind of undercover word-of-mouth marketing that I’ve encountered a number of times over the years.

Those who take advantage of SIG’s recently announced “voluntary upgrade” may soon be taking home a little piece of the Modular Handgun System program: The company evidently plans to introduce a new trigger design developed for the MHS program as part of the upgrades, as relayed in a recent article published by Eric Graves over at Soldier Systems Daily:

SIG Sauer – recent winner of the US Army’s Modular Handgun System competition – is being sued by an officer from the Stamford, Connecticut Police Department Special Response Team over an incident he claims was the result of a defect in their P320 handgun. In the suit, the officer alleges that he dropped the pistol – still in its holster – while he was loading equipment into the back of his vehicle, which caused it to discharge a bullet into his leg. From the Connecticut Law Tribune:

This is a matter that I don’t see a good reason to spend much time on, so I’ll keep it brief. One thing that I find curious in the firearms world is the rejection of the term “accidental discharge” (often shortened “AD”) referring to a an unintentional discharge of a firearm in favor of the variant “negligent discharge” (ND). Under most circumstances this would seem like just a quirk of the community and its own specific vocabulary, but we see something a little stranger than that. Often, we see policing within the firearms sphere which demands the use of the word “negligent” in lieu of “accidental”, as if the latter were for some reason damaging or improper.

If you have been shooting long enough, chances are that you have become careless and had a negligent discharge or know someone who has. If you talk to self-righteous gun people about it, they will tell you there is no such thing as an “accedental” discharge, but that each one of these incidents are flat out negligent.

While for many readers, giving the gift of a firearm is a welcome item, for many in our society, it is a verboten topic. Yes, the firearms community is working to become more “mainstream”, but it’s always interesting to look back and see where we have come from.

For years, the firearms market was omitted from innovation in the multi-tool market. Leatherman and other companies pushed out huge varieties of consolidated pacakages which could be pressed into service for firearms owners, they were not ideal, lacking many of the tools shooters needed or field work on their weapons.

Lately we’ve gone over gun safety from various angles including negligent discharge, accidental discharge, muzzle awareness – the list goes on. We’ve gone over the four golden rules – rules you should all know and practice – and some interesting comments have been made.

If you have ever taken a basic handgun safety course or perused the NRA’s website, you should be familiar with them. Actually, if you have been around the firearms world at any greater length or depth than only topical interest, you should be familiar with them. They’re the four golden rules of firearms safety and although there are multiple versions thanks to varied wording, the gist remains the same: 1) Keep your finger off the trigger until you are on target, 2) Treat all guns as though they are loaded, 3) Know your target and what is beyond it, and 4) Never point your gun at anything you are not willing to destroy.

Warning: Graphic images below.

… with a Winchester 1300 12 Gauge Pump Action Shotgun, Springfield Armory M14, Colt M4 Carabine Colt with a M203 Greneade, Launcher, IMI Uzi, Auto Ordinance Thompson, Heckler & Koch MP5, Styer MP40, Cobray M11-380, a Colt M2 .50 cal Heavy Machine Gun on Navy Soft Mount. and explosives.

From another age (1943):