Boy injured when WWII rifle goes off

"A Wauwatosa teen was cut above his eye and suffered gunpowder burns to his forehead when a World War II rifle that had been on display in his home fired as he examined it Friday.

According to the Wauwatosa police report:

A year ago, the boy and his mother moved into her boyfriend's home in the 100 block of North 121st Street. During that time, he has expressed interest in the vintage bolt-action wood rifle that hung over the fireplace. The Japanese World War II rifle was given to the boyfriend by his father more than 20 years ago, and he believed it was not loaded and would not fire even if it had ammunition.

About 5 p.m. Friday, the teen asked his mother if he could look at it and she agreed. He heard a rattling sound coming from inside the barrel, so he pointed it toward the floor and a bullet fell out. He put the bullet back in, and it immediately fired, hitting him in the forehead just above his right eye.

His mother and sisters heard him scream and ran into the room to find him bleeding. His eyebrow was peeled back. The Wauwatosa Fire Department took him to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, where he was treated for a cut above his swollen eye and gunpowder burns to his forehead. His sight was not affected.

Officers found a gun cabinet in the master bedroom. Half the cabinet, which contained six guns, was locked. But the other half, where knives and a handgun were stored, was open."

Boy injured when WWII rifle goes off - WauwatosaNow

 

Wow!

 

That situation had the ability to go bad really fast, good to see he wasn't too hurt from the experience, at least according to the report thus far.

Goes to show, never keep a display rifle loaded as people are bound to want to examine it sooner or later, as it is on display!

 

That wasent smart all but hay I would had done the same thing to. My parents won't let me have a rifle.

 

I would like to get my hands on a well conditioned Arisaka myself one day. I wonder if that particular rifle was a last ditch version.

 

What an idiot! Why put the bullet back in?

 

Luckily his sight is not affected

 

That statement doesn't make a bit of sense to me.

 

A lot of these 'misfires' could be prevented if people followed just the most basic rules of gun-safety. For starters - don't point the gun at anything you don't want to destroy. Why on earth would he load the gun and then point it at his head? Seems kinda odd, shooting yourself in the head with a rifle like that.

I wonder how old the kid was too.

 

Why having 70 year old old life amno at home in the first place? If you hav eno intention of using a gun, why keep the amno?

 

Was it a misfire and bullet shot out of the bolt? Or he pointed it at him self?

 

a misfire I believe

 

This is why i keep my weapons locked up.

 

Most likely what happened. My cousin has a .300 Win Mag that had a similar problem caused by a faulty spring and bad design. Design required the safety to be off when loading and unloading. The faulty spring caused the firing pin to come forward every time you flipped the safety off, which then caused a discharge.

 

There really should be a ban on stupidity.

 

Those who don't follow proper safety measures with firearms shouldn't be terribly surprised when an "accident" occurs. When I was a very young fellow, a girl in the class behind me managed to kill her little brother with a .22 her father had been using that morning to shoot ground squirrels in his back pasture.

He came in for lunch, laid the rifle (with a round in the chamber) on top of the refrigerator thinking it was out of the kid's reach. She pulled a chair over to the 'fridge while he was in the bathroom washing up for lunch, and when she pulled it down, it went off and shot her little brother in the eye. Killed him instantly.

No weapon should be brought into a home in a "loaded" condition unless that is your job. It is just too easy for a weapon to fire when handled by someone with little or no knowledge of weapons.

 

It is obvious the kid is not the one to put all of the blame on. He'd never been taught basic firearm safety, which is apparent. His mother should be counting her lucky stars that her stupid choice of letting him handle a weapon that A: they weren't 100% positive was unloaded and B: had no business touching with the owner not present, didn't get her son killed. The guy who had it on display should have CHECKED to see if the damned thing was loaded not just taken someone's word for it. If you aren't willing to do that yourself, any gunsmith will do it. And keeping any gun in any house with any other human being in it and not taking the responsibility of locking them up is criminal. If you are going to display a firearm out in the open, you take precautions. A bolt lock, or a trigger lock, would have prevented this. This sort of thing makes me so mad!!