You know that gun you’re hauling around on your hip? Leave it there, OK? ‘Cuz there’s nothing good that can happen by handling it when you don’t really have a good reason to. Just ask Chris Garcia. He was whiling away his time, strolling the aisles of an East Albany, Georgia Walmart yesterday when another customer asked to see his purty XD. Wait, what? Pop quiz: you’re in Wally World to pick up a few sundries when a stranger sidles up and says something like, “Gee, nice piece! Can I check ‘er out?” What do you do, sport, what do you do? . . .
Well, if you’re like Chris, you reach for the XD9 that’s been peacefully snoozing in its holster and prepare to hand it over. To the inquisitive stranger. In a busy store.
A police report says 37-year-old Chris Garcia was carrying a loaded Springfield Armory XD 9 mm when another customer asked to see the gun.
He pulled it out of his holster in the sporting goods section and when he tried to clear the gun it went off.
We’re feeling magnanimous today, so we’ll assume Chris had a CCW permit and was open carrying – since that’s the only way to open carry legally in the Peach State. And how else would a total stranger know he was packing, right?
If you’re feeling magnanimous and someone you don’t know asks to check out your mohaska, you’d tell them you appreciate their interest, but you don’t unholster your gun in public places. Or hand it over to any Joe Blow who’s asks about it.
If you’re not feeling particularly magnanimous, you’d tell them to pound sand, pound the pavement or pound whatever else is handy because you’re not about to hand your gun over to someone you’ve never seen before. Certainly not in the sporting goods aisle with a couple of hundred bystanders in the vicinity. Either way, the result’s the same. Or should be. The gun stays on your hip with you fully in control of it.
But not Chris. No, instead he let a round fly in a big box store, endangering God knows how many other people and giving still more fodder to the folks at peopleofwalmart.com. Not that they’re about to run short of that any time soon. Just like we’re not about to run out of IGOTD hardware, one of which Chris will be receiving real soon now.
> What do you do, sport, what do you do
You shoot the hostage?
Slow clap!
He did have a permit to carry…but didnt have the sense to just say no.
Call me weird, but if I was CCW, and a stranger asked to see my gun, I would politely decline, but feel free to talk about the make and model. Showing off a weapon to a stranger in a crowded store is asking for trouble.
“He pulled it out of his holster in the sporting goods section and when he tried to clear the gun it went off.”
In other words, he had his finger on the trigger when he unholstered it, which he never should’ve done in the first place.
Moron.
It’s impossible to make this kind of mistake had the gun in question been a revolver….revolvers are inherently safer to handle than semi-autos. If a semi-auto jams or misfires, it has to be cleared. If a revolver fails to fire, simply pull the trigger again.
What an idiot…
When I encounter people like this, I’d really like to grab them by the shoulders, shake them really hard, and say, “Stop it! You’re effing it up for the rest of us!”
Id like to see an article on this blog about the “other kind of gun owner”, you know, the turd who brags to the women in earshot about his “Glock Fortay”.
That comment was brought on by an experience which is unsettling as much as it is foolish. I took a friend of mine to the range , with complete care and focus given on the 4 rules and proper handling of guns. He’s saving up for his first shotgun now, but a month after our educational range visit he asks me a weird question.
“So ST, how hard is it to take apart your gun?”
Por Que ese? What’s it to you?
“Well, just, how do you take apart a gun is all. My other friend took his apart with one hand , and when I couldn’t do it he called me an idiot who didn’t know about guns.”
ST: Did his gun look like a bar of soap that fell down a coal chute?
“Yeah.”
ST:Did he take it apart like this (I pantomime field stripping a Glock one-handed)
“Yup”
OK. One, this tool had a Glock. Two, why is he taking his gun apart among casual aquaintences?
“Well, he got in my wifes face and started bragging about how Glocks are the best pistol in the world. He was waving the gun around a lot too.”
ST: (Two handed facepalm)
You know what’s messed up? What if I DIDN’T take this man shooting? He’d think every gun owner on the planet is some delinquent nitwit in need of some good ol’ fashioned government intervention.
Moron on so many levels. I wonder if he’ll lose his CCW.
I don’t even let a seemingly normal fellow shooter at a gun range hold or shoot my gun unless I know and trust them. Imagine that you let a stranger at a gun range or gun event borrow your gun and that person accidentally or intentionally shoots a third person wounding or killing. Who knows what the criminal and financial liability might be to you in such a case beyond the moral responsibility part? If a stranger asks to hold or shoot my gun I tell them respectfully yet firmly that I’ve been legally advised Not to loan my gun to anyone else.
maybe this is a good thing it’s evidient he should not have had a CCW …now he diffenently won’t have a CCW …..one less moron on the street with a gun that does not know how to keep to himself…it’s not a game were playing here when you carry a gun you have to be top shelf at all times.. thats just the way i feel about it…
“when he tried to clear the gun it went off.”
He probably pointed it in a “safe” direction and pulled the trigger “to make safe” like they do on Youtube. Even the great Hickok45 does this. I love his videos but I don’t see the point in repeatedly racking the slide and pulling the trigger while talking about a gun. Sure, you have to pull the trigger to take down some guns but doing this over and over while just handling a gun makes for a very bad habit IMO. I was taught to drop the mag, lock slide back and stick my pinky in the breech to verify it is empty. If I’m showing or handing it to someone I always leave slide locked back. I drop the slide and pull the trigger only if I am field stripping it to get the slide off. I’ve done this my whole life and it has worked for me so far.
morons like this will carry with or without a permit.
Yup. Morons gonna moron.
in his defense, if he had hit someone else, it would only have been another wal-mart customer.
ouch
buddy, that hurt
HEY…that resembles ME!!! :-p
Seems like a lot of these IGOTD’s are happening at Wal-Mart… Thinking about finding a new grocery store…
So it’s not like a Samuri Sword where if you take it out you have to cut (or shoot in this case) someone?
I guess it proves the old adage: there are no accidental discharges, only negligent discharges.
How hard is it to keep your finger off the trigger?
Wonder what would happen if someone walked up to him in the parking lot and said, “Nice car. Mind if I take it for a spin?” I’m sure he would have handed over the keys to the stranger…
Us Southern folks are a lot more hospitable with each other than a lot of other parts of the country. Wanna see my gat? Why not?
While I understand the gist of your comment, while shopping at walmart is neither the place nor time to show someone your gun. The range, maybe. Walmart? Ha. You’re asking for a ND.
Us Southerners also tend to put our tongues in our cheeks occasionally.
Well played, NTE.
Really? Lots of reasons…do you know the person? What if you unload it, hand it to him and he runs for it? What if he hits you over the head with it? What if you unload, some guy is checking out your gat…and a Walmart mass shooter comes running in the store? You’re unprepared. 😉
I can understand maybe showing a fellow guy in a lane next to you that comes up to you while at the shooting range but in public, during CC for protection? Would a cop let you check out his gun?
No way I’d let anyone check out my piece. There are lines you just don’t cross under certain circumstances. Asking a stranger to check out his gat in a CC situation is one of them.
Protecting our right to carry would include not letting a person who has been denied a permit to carry to handle our gun. So we’ve got a potential felon who figures if he asks enough folks to see their gun, some moron will hand it over.
Maybe other Georgians could concur this, but in my experience, and my girlfriend’s, Albany doesn’t have a stellar reputation for intelligence. Sad to say this jerk has a permit from the safe state as mine.
Yeah, I can concur, not a stellar record for Albany. Only actually been there once. It was enough. See news stories all the time, and when Albany is mentioned, I get how it happened.
I’ve let people shoot my AR’s or SKS’s on the range, I give ’em a quick safety lecture prior to it, but it’s one of the best ways to get the whole “assault” mentality put to rest… do a mag dump and get a convert, that’s how I ended up with my first AR, someone let me shoot his and I haven’t looked back. I also stand behind them and to the side so if they start swinging it around I can step in and gain control of it, and I always have a spare pistol holstered in case they turn out to be less than nice once they get my gun.Could it end up being a big mistake.. maybe, life is full of risks, but I’ve found it’s a great way to convert sheeple to people. Having said that the range is not the same as Walmart… unholstering your weapon there is a good way to get arrested for brandishing…
Hey Chris Garcia, you’re far too stupid to own a gun. Do us all a big favor sell all of them. I frankly do not care if you get shot in a home invasion.
Pop quiz: you’re in Wally World to pick up a few sundries when a stranger sidles up, says something like, “Gee, nice piece! Can I check ‘er out?”
That actually happened to me a few years ago. Of course, I wasn’t carrying at the time.
Did you get his name? Sorry, it’s the A$$hole in me!
This story is the very reason handguns should be concealed in public and not open carry. As you just read there is no test you can give to find a moron but you can count on two morons can find each other in a Wal-Mart.
and dont forget the 3rd moron that judges without the facts!
Completely random point, though. This guy was open carrying in a WALMART. And all the attention he got was a can I check it out comment? It could be considered good news for us, minus the ND, that that was all the reaction he got at first. Especially consideringl nobody open carries in Georgia hardly.
I open carry everywhere it is legal to do so in the 5th largest city in the US.
Not a single crap is given by anyone.
However, I would never pull my piece like that in public. Handle it? No. Chat about my Glorious Miracle of Czechnology? Sure.
This moron should loose his permit to carry. Period. He’s obviously not smart enough to do so. I am all for concealed carry and I carry mine every day. However, if your dumb enough to unholster in a walmart, to show someone your gun, you have violated the trust that comes with responsible carry! As Massad Ayoob says in his books, and I am paraphrasing, not quoting. He basically says, we as armed citizens need to always keep in mind, the rule. Do NO HARM. Luckily, nobody was hurt and a revoked CCW should be the solution here!
no harm, no foul! case was dismissed and permit intact! it was not luck, it was skill you dumbass!
If it had been a Glock there would have been a chorus of how inherently unsafe they are. No substitute for a brain, certainly not a grip safety.
stupid.
If the paper would have gotten the facts right the story wouldn’t be so bad. First of all it’s not against the law to show someone an unloaded pistol. The so-called random customer was a friend of his from work. Just like all other people (dumb asses) that believe everything that they read in a paper, you need to know the facts before you make assumptions. The pistol could have malfunctioned in a car, his house, in the parking lot, etc. Garcia obviously knew how to handle a hand gun, because he tried to clear the faulty weapon in a safe manner. Granted it might not have been the best choice to do it in walmart. People it was an accident, like the ones throwing stones and passing judgement have never had a single accident in their life. Shit happens people!!!!!!
If the paper would have gotten the facts right the story wouldn’t be so bad. First of all it’s not against the law to show someone an unloaded pistol. The so-called random customer was a friend of his from work. Just like all other people (dumb asses) that believe everything that they read in a paper, you need to know the facts before you make assumptions. The pistol could have malfunctioned in a car, his house, in the parking lot, etc. Garcia obviously knew how to handle a hand gun, because he tried to clear the faulty weapon in a safe manner. Granted it might not have been the best choice to do it in walmart. People it was an accident, like the ones throwing stones and passing judgement have never had a single accident in their life. Shit happens people!!!!!!
He was in the sporting goods section when approached by 2 COWORKERS! One being his former manager, who began a conversation about the new xd and asked to see it. he choose to show it to his former manager, and tried to clear it and it went off. they were the only ones in that part of the store. both coworkers decided to vacate the premises.he has a permit and was charged with discharging a firearm within the city limits. the case was dismissed. Chris is a responsible gun owner that made a bad decision! He would not have done this for a total stranger! The fact that no one was hurt shows that he had total control of the weapon at all times. The xd was sent back to Springfield for evaluation and returned to him 6 weeks later. Springfield found nothing wrong with it. The xd is made in Croatia by the way. This would have happened sooner or later somewhere. This is the end of this story. Just the facts!
Just the facts? Please. Guns do not just go off. Booger hooker met bang switch. THAT’S how it “went off”. That Springfield found nothing wrong is pretty good evidence that this was not the mythical “it just went off” situation we hear about. He was irresponsible, as evidenced by his “bad decision”. The fact that no one was hurt shows that he was obeying at least one of the four rules; it does not show that he had total control of the weapon. If he had total control of the weapon, it would not have fired. And that, friend, is the end of the story.
If springfield had found a fault with the gun, do you think they would have admitted it? If you think they would have put themselves out there to get blamed FLAME DELETED
I’m sorry; I seem to have misplaced my tinfoil hat. Based on my personal experience, SA is a pretty stand-up company to deal with. Sometimes it takes a little time to get stuff back from them, but they’ve always been forthcoming about what was wrong and how it was fixed.
Oh, and *you’re.
I guess it’s easy to talk about someone when your not right in their presence. Thanks for all the great comments, and by the way the judge threw the case out and I got to keep my permit.
Ah, the man himself. Chris: how did the weapon fire while you were attempting to clear it?
slide would only open about an 1/8 of an inch. on the 3 rd time of trying to rack slide, gun made an internal clicking noise and when i released slide gun went off.
And Springfield found nothing wrong with the gun, is that correct?
that’s what they said! but i will never buy another springfield product.
Did you keep the XD? Have you sought out a gunsmith for a second opinion?
That spineless P.O.S. that said “sorry” and ran out like a little girl, is a poor excuse for a human being.
I’m not following you. Did you keep the XD? Did you bring the piece to a reputable gunsmith? I only ask because, if one of my guns decided to fire on its own I wouldn’t rest until I knew why.
I am gonna sell that piece of crap gun. I bought a springfield not knowing that they had out-sourced xd’s to croatia, thought it was an american made product.
If I take it to x amount of gun-smiths and they can’t find anything either, what good is that gonna do me. I guess I should let all the people on this blog look at, since they are all gun experts.
Nobody here has claimed to be an expert. The fact that you are now getting defensive makes me wonder how much of what you’ve said is true. Because I know exactly how to replicate the “malfunction” you described.
I doubt it. It’s been nearly two months since the incident. You’d have sold it by now if you wanted to be rid of it.
I just got it back last week, and i really don’t give a damn what u think.
LOL then why are we talking, Christopher? 😉
I am getting defensive, because i have heard it all in the past 7 weeks. I am just tired of people giving their 2 cents when they they weren’t even there.
[sigh]
I’ll spell it out. The first two times you tried to cycle the slide, you didn’t have the grip safety disengaged. The third time, upon taking a firmer grip on the offending weapon (how DARE it embarass you in front of your peeps!), you pulled the trigger. Not the Croatian Creation’s fault at all.
u must be God “all seeing” and “all knowing”. How can u pull the slide on a gun back without having pressure on the back of the grip?
Go try it right now. I’ll bet the slide only moves 1/8″.
i know it has to be pressed but you still haven’t told me how to do it with one hand. where am i supposed to put pressure at to pull it back. By the the way you asked someone else on this blog who they were, and you are?
I use an alias for a reason; it lets people know that I have no desire to reveal personal information to complete strangers.
The grip safety does not extend the full length of the backstrap. Try pulling the slide back without depressing it. Let me know if a lightbulb pops on in your head. Or don’t. Either way, don’t get rid of the XD. It’s a perfectly serviceable CCW.
Chris you`ve done nothing but prove these fine Americans to be correct about your gun handling abilities. I myself was giving you the benefit of the doubt until you mentioned that Springfield had “outsourced” the XM to Croatia, and that one statement told me you know very little about firearms. The firearm was made in Croatia because that`s where they were originally manufactured. It was given the name XM by Springfield after they purchased the rights to it. Only an immature young man would purchase a firearm without doing some due diligence…and IMO an immature young man shouldn`t be holding a CCW…period!
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