My brother, Andrew, served in the Navy for 6 years. You'd think that would give him an insight into weapons safety and the properties of potential explosives.

He had purchased a low powered air rifle (I thank God that I lived in the UK at the time, if he'd been using a 'real' rifle, I'd be submitting this for a Darwin award and not an honourable mention). He took to taking a little target practice in our back yard. Once the paper targets included with the air rifle were used up, he decided to find some more interesting targets.

As any shooter will tell you, paper targets do get a little boring after a while so some shooters attempt to find something more 'reactive' after a while. Most choose balloons, chalk puff targets, etc. Not my brother.

I returned home from work and heard him and a friend shooting in the back yard. I strolled over and started chatting. 30 seconds later, I squinted to see what he was shooting at. As my brother squeezed the trigger, I grabbed the front of the barrel and pointed it skywards.

My brother was annoyed, for some reason he did not see the problem with his target was...a brand new and completely full can of hairspray...the size of about 4 regular cans of deoderant.

His explanation? He'd got bored shooting at paper, so wanted something that would make a 'bang' when he hit it.

I retrieved the can, which had four or five nice deep dents in and showed him the skull and crossbones symbol and the "Do not pierce or dispose of in fire, even when empty" sign. I explained that there was a good chance it would have gone 'bang' like a hand grenade, complete with red hot razor sharp shrapnel. At that point he grudgingly admitted it 'might' have been dangerous, and asked if a smaller can of hairspray would be better.

As a sidenote, a few days earlier the 'Daily Mirror' newspaper had published a story of a similar can of hairspray removing half the roof of a woman's house because it had been placed on a window sill in direct sunlight on a hot day. I know for a fact my brother had read it.

Submitted on 03/14/2005

Submitted by: Paulius
Reference: Personal Account - July 1999

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

Daniel said:
Neutral: Personal Account
I rather like this one, even though I'm not sure who gets the HM, the shooter, or the guy who grabbed the barrel of a loaded gun.

Charles said:
Neutral: Personal Account
Actually, I can see that the shooter would get the HM, because the grabber (this being a rifle) would be standing beside rather than in front of the barrel when he grabbed. All the same... I like this one also,. but I'm not sure if it quite has star qualities.

Jack said:
Neutral: Personal Account
It's certainly humorous enough for a Personal Account, and I agree with Charles that - were verification possible - the shooter would be eligible for the HM.

Kelly said:
Definitely Keep: Honorable Mention
I agree with the other moderators, it's a very well told personal account of incredible stupidity. Especialy since the individual doing the shooting had been in the military previous to the incident.

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