An object lesson on gun safety: DEA agent shoots himself

I'm apparently one of the few gun-nuts left on the planet who hadn't seen this video which our state concealed-carry instructor showed to our instructor's class last week. When he asked how many had already seen it, I was almost the only one in the room who didn't raise his hand.

On April 9, 2004 DEA Agent Lee Paige shoots himself in the foot with a Glock .40S&W handgun while talking to children and parents about gun safety at the Orlando Youth Minority Golf Association.

It would be funny if it wasn't so stupid. The DEA agent had 14 years experience, but screws up the basic gun safety procedure of unloading his duty Glock. He opens the slide but does not remove the magazine. So when he hits the slide release, that puts a round in the chamber. Then he puts the Glock between his legs, pushes down on the slide-removal levers to remove the slide and pulls the trigger. And the inevitable happens with a loaded Glock: Boom!

Incredibly, he tries to continue his lecture while bleeding on the floor, saying it could happen to anyone. Yeah, anyone stupid enough to pull the trigger on a loaded firearm in their crotch.

Then it gets worse. He asks his assistant to bring out another gun, a full-auto M4 carbine. Needless to say, pandemonium erupts in the kids and parents watching. He assures them the M4 is unloaded and somebody in the back yells "You just shot yourself with an unloaded gun!"

And here's the postscript for this sad tale. The DEA fired him and released the video of the incident as an object lesson about gun safety. And the agent has now filed suit against the DEA alleging they have made him "unemployable." Do ya think shooting himself on video might actually be the proximate cause of this idiot becoming "unemployable"?