I heard on the radio a couple of months ago about a small time theatrical production that involved firing a gun. Apparently someone from the cast or crew provided a personal gun fpr the show. The actor being "shot" in the show felt a brush on his head when the shot was fired during the preformance. It was then discovered that the gun was loaded. The people involved were joking about it on the radio program I heard that day. Unfortunately I did not hear the whole story and get the details of where this happened.
In the late 60's or at the latest very early 70's I was in a youth bowling league. At the end of the season we had anawards banquet. For what ever reason the league director included a gun safety session in the program that night. I remember the gentleman telling us that blanks aren't blank and demonstrated by shooting holes in playing cards by firing .22 blanks into them. That always stuck with me. A few years later when I first went to college I was joking around with a cap gun that fired the little red plastic caps that were somewhat realistic, and "shot" my dorm mate down the hallway. Apparenlty I scared him a bit and he didn't forget it.
A few days later he knocked on my door and I told him to come in. He had his hands behind his back and a bit of a smirk on his face. He kind of himmed and hawed for a moment and I figured he wanted to barrow some money, my car, or beer. He took a couple of steps toward me and pulled a Ruger Single Six from behind his back. I raised my hands and said "I give up." About that time he raised the gun up about two feet from my face and pulled the trigger. BANG. There was a brilliant flash and my face stung as I covered my face with my hands, spun around and fell to the ground.
I wasn't quite sure what had just happened. As I rolled over and looked at the shooter he had a ghostly look of shock on his face. I asked him if that was a blank he had fired and he said yes. Had he said "no, or I don't know", or something else I probably would have gone into shock. As it was I soon realized that I was more or less OK. The shooter was not. He was pretty shook up. I had glasses on which saved my eyes, otherwise I believe I would have been blinded. There were some pretty good dings in my glasses. My face was peppered with powder and wadding. It looked as if I had gotten drunk and fell on a pin cusion. I picked bits and pieces out of my face for years.
I took the Ruger from the shooter and explained to him that blanks aren't blank. I then "shot" a cardboard box from about the same distance as he had fired at my face. The blank shot blew a pretty good sized hole in the box with some singing of the cardboard. There was also some peppering around the main impact area. I was able to turn a potentially tragic incidence into a learning situation. The shooter also showed many others on our dorm floor just how dangerouse blanks could be.
Had I been a little quicker thinker I probably could have owned that Ruger. The last I knew, the owner of it, not the shooter, still had it. He is the only person I went to college with that I ocassionally bump into though we live about 30 miles apart. Everytime I bump into him I always ask him if he still has it.
One last note. When my neighbor was in the military, one of the guys in his group was killed by a blank that tore his throat open during a training exercise.
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