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| Photo courtesy of Raw Story. |
It wasn't quite the "gunfight at the OK Corral," but a member of the Tombstone Vigilantes gunfight reenactment group accidentally shot another member of the Vigilantes Sunday afternoon, according to the Cochise County Sheriff's Office.
One of the Vigilantes arrived late and did not have his gun properly inspected. He then accidentally shot another member of the Vigilantes. The man was shot in the upper groin area sometime around 2 p.m. and had to be airlifted to the hospital, said CCSO spokeswoman Carol Capas.
According to an update from the Tombstone Marshal's Office, actors Tom Carter and victim Ken Curtis were facing off against each other when Carter fired his gun. Curtis fell to the ground after being hit by a live round.
Curtis was flown to Banner-University Medical Center to have the bullet removed.
Why do these people always seem to get shot in the groin? Is that where everybody aims?
When the shooter's gun was inspected it was found that all six rounds had been live with five expended, and one live round in the chamber.
Two nearby businesses were also hit, as well as a bystander, but only by shrapnel.
Gee I guess guns are still dangerous even when you think you have rendered them safe.
Who knew?
I mean besides most people?
Reenactors ... Hmm ... Weird job. But hey, these ones get to play with guns. Well, maybe not Ken Curtis for awhile!
ReplyDeleteGet well soon, Ken Curtis. Loved you as Marshall Dillon's BFF Festus Hagen in TV's long-running Gunsmoke.
DeleteI'm just surprised we don't have reenactments of gladiators vs gladiators vs lions. (On second thought, maybe that's the NFL?)
ReplyDeleteooops!
ReplyDeleteLucky no one was killed.
"...but only by shrapnel."
ReplyDeleteSome people have all the luck.
You've hit on the the hardest part of being a professional gunslinger re-enactor: when do you swap out the live ammunition with the blanks?
ReplyDeleteIf you leave home loaded with blanks you're vulnerable to attacks by terrorists, assailants, muslins, thieves, robbers, highwaymen, layabouts, ne'er-do-wells, carnies, lunatics, minorities, atheists, pranksters, three year olds (have you read the news lately?) and other threats.
But if you don't swap in blanks at all, you risk reducing the ranks of fellow re-enactors at a prodigious rate. (If you do an hourly show and have decent aim, you can lose 8 troupers per day which is unsustainable for all but the most popular troupes)
That's why most groups strongly recommend doing public re-enactments with blanks only, but it's a free country and that's a decision every gunslinger - real or reenactor - must make for themselves.
Personally, I feel the courteous approach is to swap in blanks just before a performance but avoiding aiming at the groin, just to be on the safe side. But that's me...
Remember our motto. "PEW!! PEW!!! PEW!!! AMERICA!!
I participate in Civil War reenactments and living histories. Normally there are very strict weapons inspection standards--who ever was in charge of safety for this needs to be fired. The shooter should have NEVER been allowed to participate without having his weapon inspected. Most events have rules about firing distance, angle the participants fire from, etc...
ReplyDeleteAll of the events I've ever participated in would have likely kicked him out for having any live rounds on his person. Only blanks should be used period.
Why do they always seem to shoot themselves in the groin? I suppose it's one way of limiting the idiot gene pool.
ReplyDelete