From the Arizona Republic:
David Walter, a 30-year-old Surprise resident, entered the Walmart near 129th Avenue and West Thunderbird Road around 1 a.m. While in the store, witnesses told police he repeatedly fidgeted with a holstered semi-automatic pistol.
[…]
At one point, a clerk working the electronics section told police that Walter took the gun out of its holster and then removed and replaced the gun’s magazine.
[…]
He removed the gun from the holster again, causing the magazine to come loose and fall to the floor. Walter re-inserted the magazine and continued manipulating the gun when it fired, sending one round into the ceiling…
Sweet hog of Prague, this is precisely what one should never, ever do.
If you’re going to carry, either openly or concealed, do so safely and responsibly. If you absolutely must handle your firearm, do so safely in a discreet place. Unholstering a gun and removing/replacing the magazine in the electronics department of a Wal-Mart is neither safe nor discreet. Drawing the gun a second time and, somehow in the process dropping your magazine, is even worse. Fiddling around with the loaded gun is a surefire recipe for disaster.
Don’t be like this guy. Please.
What an idiot. THis is the kind of thing that’ll ruin it for everybody else. I’ve OC’d in Walmart plenty and enver had any issue at all. Let’s keep it that way.
The timing on this couldn’t be any worse. We’re on the brink of getting permit-less carry passed in Arizona, and then some maroon decides to twirl his shootin’ iron around in a Wal-mart.
Let’s go thru the liberal anti-gun checklist:
Walmart? Check.
Handgun? Check.
Questionable ownership? Check
Someone who’s never heard of (much less follows) the Four Rules? Check.
This is pure red meat for anti-gunners. I hope they throw the book at him, and aim it at his head.
1 a.m. in a Walmart on Thunderbird Road? That reads like a recipe for trouble right there.
I have a rule about never going into a Walmart after dark (let alone after midnight) developed while living in Texas. The old saying, “They only come out at night” is very true.
I strongly suspect intoxicants were involved.