Told repeatly that the 38 smith and wesson had a hair trigger and never to leave the hammer on a loaded chamber and never, never fully load the hand gun. Mr Clark ignored the warning and prior to entering the residence re-loaded all the guns chambers.

Being told that is was necessary to split wood for the wood stove in the living room, Mr. Clark (for some unknown reason) grabbed the splitting mal from the back porch and brought it inside. He realizd he needed to put on heavy cover-alls in order to protect himself from the cold and the deep snow he had to go through to get the wood to split, he placed the splitting mal on top of the un-used wood stove in the kitchen on top of the holster that held the 38.

Rushing to get to the wood that wasn't going anywhere, he grabbed the mal and proceeded out the door. He didn't look at the mal to notice it had snagged itself onto the holster the gun was in which was pulled off the stove, falling to the floor, making the gun fire a round that landed in his right calf and exiting his shin.

The owner of the home,applying pressure to the gapping wound with towels and calling emergancy services at the same time had to also explain where the home was located since many roads in the area had not been named or marked.

The man lived and thanks to him all roads now in Benawha county have been named in order for rescue crews to locate injured individuals.

This guy deserves a mention..., I just took the most stupid accident he's been in. There has been a lot..., he may just earn a Darwin Award in the future. He does us all a favor and practice's celibacy.

Submitted on 12/09/2007

Submitted by: M
Reference: Benawah county/Saint Maries News/ 2000-2001 winter

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

Bruce said:
Neutral: Honorable Mention
In the end this is just another case of negligence and lack of gun safety, which I personally think has become too common. I'll defer this one to the other moderators.

James said:
Maybe Toss: Too Common
While amusing, this really is just another gun accident. The fellow probably forgot he had loaded it when he put the splitter on the stove. Thanks just the same, M!

Chip said:
Definitely Keep: Honorable Mention
I like the twist in that all the roads are now named because of his stupidity. Putting a fully loaded pistol ANYWHERE other than safely locked away is dumb dumb dumb! Thanks for the story, M

Jack said:
Maybe Toss: Too Common
As much as I'd like, I really can't see any truly Darwinesque example of stupidity here - just a case of carelessness. Thanks anyway, M, we did appreciate your submission.

Shadow said:
Definitely Toss: Too Common
How sad is it that something like this falls into a "too common" But i agree with the others it reads more of carelessness then stupidity... thanks for submitting tho!

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