Accidental Discharge

[SG-688]

Bill Jordan’s fatal AD.

Rector’s daughter chimed in on another forum. She didn’t blame Jordan, and said he was so distraught he had to be heavily medicated.

PennieRector September 21, 2011,
Join Date: September 21, 2011
Posts: 1
The Firing Line Forums
________________________________________

Hello I am here to tell you that the story of Bill Jordan accidentally shooting a fellow Border Patrol officer is true. That man was my father, John A. Rector.

I was 13 years old and in the 8th grade, and that has been some 55 years ago, but my memory is very clear. According to the Coroner's inquest, this is the way it happened:

Bill Jordan was showing a pistol, a 357 Magnum, to another man. They were in Bill's office at the headquarters of the San Diego Sector in San Ysidro, CA. The gun was unloaded initially, and Bill was demonstrating how he drew and fired. He then reloaded the gun and put it into a desk drawer.

The conversation continued, and forgetting he had loaded the gun he took it out of the drawer, aimed it at the wall and fired. My father was sitting at his desk on the other side of that wall. The bullet went through the wall and hit him in the head. He died about 3 hours later. There was no wrongful death suit, or anything like that. Bill was so upset that he had to be taken home under sedation and the next day I remember he and his wife coming to our house, and he sobbed as he told us how sorry he was. He and my Dad were friends.

I have often given my story as an example of how ANYONE can have an accident with a gun, no matter how expert you are with them.

My Dad did not see me complete my education, he was not there to walk me down the aisle when I married, nor did he see me graduate from college. He never knew that I had a successful career.

I don't hate Bill Jordan, nor bear him any ill will. I expect he is gone from this earth now too.

I just wanted to set the record straight for those of you in this forum and elsewhere who think this might have been a false story.


Bill Jordan. Colt Border Patrol. Is this Bunk? - Page 2 - The Firing Line Forums

 

[robertrwalsh]

I disagree with some of the sentiments above. I will happily agree that an honest-to-god ACCIDENTAL discharge is much less common than a negligent discharge. But they do happen. They are however exceedingly rare. When they happen they are often caused by equipment failure. I had one myself ages ago. A previously fired Colt 1903 .32 auto decided to slam-fire on the range. Since it was pointed down range at the time and in a safe environment no damage nor injury resulted, but it certainly was an accidental discharge. Caused by a burr on the firing pin.

 

[max503]

Wow. The two Bill Jordan stories are shocking.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Some of my safety practices:
1. I am a firm believer in snap caps.
2. For my 22s I use the yellow drywall screw anchors.
3. For dryfiring semiauto pistols I use dedicated magazines. A blued pistol gets a nickel or stainless magazine, a stainless of nickel handgun gets a blued magazine.
4. The only handgun I keep loaded is my bedside duty handgun.

 

[kbm6893]

Mine was in 1994. Took the magazine out of my Glock and was dry firing it. Got bored and out the mag back in. Little while later I racked the slide again forgetting I put the mag back in. BANG!! Went through wall. I’m honestly grateful it happened because over 30 years later the scene still
Flashes through my mind when I pick up a gun.

 

[Hawg Rider]

Thank goodness, I've never had a negligent discharge. I credit that to the fact that I've always practiced the 4 basic rules when handling firearms. Before cleaning or handing a firearm to someone, I always double check to be sure that it's unloaded. We are empty nesters, so it's relatively safe for me to keep a couple of handguns loaded and hidden in the house. I also have a couple of handguns that I keep loaded in the gun safe...a little extra security in case I was ever forced to open the safe by some bad actors. Paranoid? Maybe.

My biggest issue is whenever I'm looking around in a gun store or perusing a gun show and the owner hands me a firearm without checking to be sure that it's unloaded. Scary! That's when I leave.

 

[ken158]

Old saying.....No such thing as an accidental discharge, only negligent ones.

When the OP describes “pulling the trigger” then we have a negligent discharge and nothing accidental about it.

 

[Venom6]

In the early 80's we carried revolvers in our mid-size (800 officers) PNW agency, but you could carry a personally owned/department approved semiauto. One of the guys had an HK P7, and one night going off shift he took it from the shelf in his locker and placed it on the bench next to him. Another guy came in, did a double-take at the strange, new, exotic piece, and asked if he could handle it. Owner says yes, "but be careful, it's loaded." The admiring officer picked it up, said, "I've heard you have to squeeze the frontstrap, then pull the trigger. But what happens if you pull the trigger, then squeeze the..." BANG!

 

[H Richard]

I was told many years ago the saying, "There are those who have had an ND and there are those who will have and ND".


I unfortunately had one. About 25 years ago I was doing a trigger job on a new RIA 3 1/2" Compact 1911 .45. As many of you know, that entails quite a few total disassembly's and reassembly's. Then trigger pressing numerous times. I often let the gun sit so I could have a trigger test with a "cold" finger to get a better feel. I usually had one loaded gun in most every room of the house, so I left it with a full magazine in it. One day I went into my shop and the gun was laying on my bench off to the right and I unconsciously Picked it up,racked the slide, and pressed the trigger. It had been pointed down and off to the side and the round went through a bottom cabinet and embedded in the concrete foundation behind that.



You can get too familiar with a gun in a particular orientation. So If you are routinely doing trigger jobs, don't leave them laying around, put them away in your safe, "unloaded".

 

[demkofour]

As Col. Jeff Cooper and the renowned Gunsite Academy said (SAY!):

RULE I: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED

RULE II: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY

Rule III: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET

RULE IV: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET

 

[45Smashemflat]

When much younger, I ND’d with a small 380 I was not familiar with. Basically, I made the mistake of removing the mag and not clearing the chamber. I did knowingly point it at the ground to drop the hammer, so no harm other than to my drawers.

That experience does make me step through many checks before dry firing anything. I do keep loaded guns around the home, and everything is “loaded” until proven otherwise. Dry fire practice is carried out with snap caps and no ammo in the room.

Bottom line is you can’t be too careful, and it’s easy to get complacent, so don’t.

 

[Drm50]

There is no accidental discharge, only negligence. If you can’t take responsibility for your actions you need not own a firearm. If your inability to comprehend this results in death or injury to another it should result in a prison sentence that aligns with the level of negligence. People go to jail because they “accidentally” kill others in automobiles.

 

[Glenn R. McMannly]

One thing I’ve learned is guns and alcohol do not mix.

I’ve got a .357 diameter hole in an apartment somewhere to prove that.

 

[MelvinWalker]

There is no accidental discharge, only negligence. If you can’t take responsibility for your actions you need not own a firearm. If your inability to comprehend this results in death or injury to another it should result in a prison sentence that aligns with the level of negligence. People go to jail because they “accidentally” kill others in automobiles.

It is both accidental and negligent...If it can happen to a world class shooter like Jordan and even cause an accidental death, it can happen to anyone, especially the longer you are around firearms and the more you shoot and handle them.

I never thought it would happen to me...until it did and I TAUGHT firearm safety in an academy setting.

just like an automobile accident, look away for a split second and you have merged in the wrong lane or worse.

 

[Drm50]

It is both accidental and negligent...If it can happen to a world class shooter like Jordan and even cause an accidental death, it can happen to anyone, especially the longer you are around firearms and the more you shoot and handle them.

I never thought it would happen to me...until it did and I TAUGHT firearm safety in an academy setting.

just like an automobile accident, look away for a split second and you have merged in the wrong lane or worse.

Excuses are like butt holes, they don’t feed the bull dog when
somebody is dead. Being a Firearms Safety Instructor is not some high degree and it isn’t space science. There would be even less excuse for a negligent discharge for those whose job it is to pay attention. There is no excuse for it. At the very least one who causes death or injury with a firearm should be banned from ever owning one.
Gun Safety is 100% common sense.

 

[MelvinWalker]

Excuses are like butt holes, they don’t feed the bull dog when
somebody is dead. Being a Firearms Safety Instructor is not some high degree and it isn’t space science. There would be even less excuse for a negligent discharge for those whose job it is to pay attention. There is no excuse for it. At the very least one who causes death or injury with a firearm should be banned from ever owning one.
Gun Safety is 100% common sense.

OK, buddy...

 

[M29since14]

Here’s a happy story that doesn’t involve an AD or ND. I was at the Beretta booth at the SCI show this last Thursday. A young fellow walked up, I would guess maybe twelve years old, and was drawn to the pistols on display. He picked up a 92 of some sort and tried to retract the slide to check the chamber. He couldn’t get it to come back for some reason, so he immediately returned the pistol to the display. He then picked up another 92 and tried to retract the slide, this time successfully. He carefully checked the chamber, then proceeded to examine it and eventually returned it to the display. He did the same thing with another pistol. In each case, he checked the pistols to see that there was no magazine in place before retracting the slide. Great work!

As he was getting ready to walk away, I told him “good job!” and complimented him on taking the time to check each pistol before handling it further. Someone had started this lad off right.

 

[cmdrcody]

I've only seen one negligent discharge. I was 14 and hunting with my best friend. we went to climb a fence so I said you know the rules empty the firearms before climbing the fence.
I quickly removed the magazine from my 10-22 and then racked and locked the slide back.
Bob had a new Browning SA-22. He pulled the magazine assembly and dumped his ammo into his hand and then put that in his pocket. He put the magazine assembly back in and then cycled the bolt which had no lock back.
I showed him my empty chamber and asked is yours empty.
I expected him to open the chamber, instead he pointed his gun down and pulled the trigger. Boom, we both stared at each.
"Bob What did you do?"
"You NEVER pull the trigger to show a gun is empty!"
The bullet went between his big toe and second toe. There was a cut along his big toe I bandaged.
I never went shooting with him again, because if it had been pointing at me I could have been dead.
I am anal with my firearms I always check a firearm empty if I plan to pull the trigger. Then I load snap caps for the trigger pulls. I'd rather be anal than dead.

 

[Bald1]

I wonder why no charges were filed against Jordan? Did he keep his job? Granted this was not the technology age but c’mon someone died. Was he untouchable because he wrote books? This is the first I’ve heard of this. On the surface it looks like two tiered justice. But again, I know nothing about it. Hopefully someone here can explain the aftermath.

 

[Muley Gil]

I wonder why no charges were filed against Jordan? Did he keep his job? Granted this was not the technology age but c’mon someone died. Was he untouchable because he wrote books? This is the first I’ve heard of this. On the surface it looks like two tiered justice. But again, I know nothing about it. Hopefully someone here can explain the aftermath.

Yes, he kept his job and retired from the Border Patrol about 7 years later.

From what I've read, the incident was determined to be an accident.

If you tour an older police station or sheriff's office, you will find evidence of ADs.