ATLANTA - A mother and son were inside of a dressing room in the Adidas store at Lenox Square Wednesday when the 8-year-old found what he thought was a toy gun under a bench. That's when police said the mom pulled the trigger to "determine if the gun was real," according to an Atlanta Police Report. It happened about 5:42pm Wednesday, police say. A single shot was fired from the .22 caliber gun but no one was injured. Police say "there was minimal damage to the wall" from the gunshot. Police responded to the mall and took the gun into evidence. They have made no arrests and the incident is under investigation. 11Alive is Holding the Powerful Accountable and reached out to Lenox Square's management company who gave us this statement: “Lenox Square management and the store involved are working closely with the Atlanta Police Department to share any information that may be helpful...Lenox Square is committed to providing a safe, quality shopping environment for our guests and employees. We are thankful that there were no injuries as a result of this isolated incident.” Jim Hinsdale, a manager at Chuck's Firearms in Buckhead, said that the idea of someone who is inexperienced with firearms questioning whether a gun is real or a toy is not that far-fetched. "I’ve seen the toy versions," Hindsdale said. "You can go into many toy stores and even some of the Air Soft guns stores. The guns are – they’re hard to tell the difference...with the exception of maybe the fluorescent orange tip on the barrel." Hinsdale said people should assume guns they see are loaded, and advises strongly against pulling the trigger to verify if they're real.
That's what comes from a failure to learn something about firearms BEFORE (metaphorically speaking) getting kicked out of the nest.
Ignorance of firearms, what they look like, how they feel, and how they operate are as dangerous as not knowing the dangers and knowledge required to safely operate an automobile. She pulled the trigger to see if It was real???
It could be a blankfiring gun. You should point it at your non dominant hand and pull the trigger to see if: Only noise comes out the end of the barrel If a plastic air soft pelet exits the muzzel Or if it's a real bullet, evident by the hole through your hand
The questions that beg to be asked are: What was the pistol doing there in the first place, and why it wasn't lost in one of the mother's unfortunate boating accidents, similar to the ones that seem to plague members of the monkey tree here?
The primary safety of any firearm is located between the ears. Nothing between the ears means the safety is in the off position.
I'm thinking a few possible things here, 1) the gun was going to be used in a hold up and the perp got scared and dropped it, 2) the person it belonged to some how managed to loose it while changing and didn't notice it missing! Not even going to address the stupid that followed! EVERY GUN IS LOADED, PERIOD!!! Even a toy if you cannot tell for sure right off!!!!
It was never said if the weapon was stolen or not, could have actually been the moms, and the kid grabbed it out of moms purse while her back was turned, and she didn't have the common sense to actually know how to use it and had an accidental discharge. Thus came the " I found it " story.
I'm pretty sure the article is extremely miss leading. The automatic pistol belonged to a person of color It had a 30 round clip Capable of 1500 rounds per second Deff a 9 or a big 4.0 ( G )Clocks automatic pistols have no safety!!! Have I missed anything?
Yup, you forgot to mention that they are so easy to use that no training is needed. Just point and shoot.
In those immortal words of the wise Forrest Gump, "Stupid is as stupid does." @SB21 "...could have actually been the moms, and the kid grabbed it out of moms purse while her back was turned, and she didn't have the common sense to actually know how to use it and had an accidental discharge." Strange enough, that is the first thing that popped into my head. However, I would bet it was the child that discharge the firearm while mom's back was turned and that the firearm is illegal plus no permit for carry so...Got to admit it was fast thinking and cannot be proved otherwise.
It's how Dad raised us along with having to treat any toy guns like real ones even if we cobbled them together out of scrap wood and leftover pipe (we even built our own Ma Deuce).