Veterans’ firearm injuries

Johnny

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Growing up, Johnny would often visit gun ranges with his father, where he learned about firearms and firearm safety. “I remember going shooting and that love for firearms—that healthy respect grew into me being a firearm enthusiast. But I do it safely.” After spending 13 years in the Army National Guard, Johnny has continued to use firearms for hunting and personal safety. He was injured on a hunting trip, when he was accidentally shot in the shoulder. He has since recovered, saying, “I can do almost everything that I did prior to being shot even today. I might do them a little differently than I used to. But it doesn’t stop me from enjoying my life.” 

Johnny’s injury did not have a substantial impact on his views about firearms. “I’m still very much firearm friendly. Firearms are a tool. They’re only as good or as bad as the person that has them in their hand.” He continues to recognize the importance of firearm safety. “It hasn’t changed my love for firearms. But it reminds me that people need a safety course.”

For those who have been impacted by a firearm injury, Johnny encourages hard work and perseverance. “If you keep working hard you can usually get back from it. And that’s the never give up. Never quit. Never surrender. Never accept defeat.”

 

 

When the sling on his wife’s rifle came apart, Johnny was hit with “a .243 round 100 grain bullet” from three feet away.

When the sling on his wife’s rifle came apart, Johnny was hit with “a .243 round 100 grain bullet” from three feet away.

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It started off just like any other day going hunting. We were going deer hunting, and I shot a doe down bottom of the hill. And we went down there, gutted it out, started hauling it back up to my truck. And I had told her to put a round in the chamber because there was a bear popping its jaw at us trying to come in on us.  

And she’d changed the sling out on her rifle the night before and I should’ve double-checked it. I really should’ve double-checked it, but I didn’t. So, when she went to put her rifle back on her shoulder, the sling came apart on her and from three feet away it put a .243 round 100 grain bullet into my shoulder—bottom of the shoulder, top of the chest, yeah. So, that’s how I ended up getting shot.  

I knew I’d been shot. I couldn’t feel my arm. And I remember telling myself I needed to stay calm. So, that’s what I kind of did—tried to keep my heartrate down. Then her cousin immediately started putting—applying pressure onto my shoulder. Every time they moved their hand, my shoulder went gurgly. You could hear the sucking chest wound. I collapsed a lung. Let’s see—collapsed lung, shattered four ribs, broke the collarbone to where they can’t hardly fix it. Yeah, it’s good times. But you can’t look at me now and tell. I’m still very much firearm friendly. Firearms are a tool. They’re only as good or as bad as the person that has them in their hand.  

So, Life Flight was only about a half hour helicopter ride to where I was down in Cottage Grove.  So, they got in the air, got down into my area. They put two units of blood in me. They said if they would’ve just gotten a regular picture of me, they would’ve thought that I bled out. I was that blueish gray color apparently. Yeah. Yeah, pretty lucky that those guys heard me yelling, and screaming, and fighting the EMT’s. 

So, it took the EMT’s 45 minutes to get there roughly—maybe a little bit more. And then, a 45-minute helicopter ride. That was good times. Most expensive helicopter ride I’ve ever taken, and I don’t remember none of it. But I can say that they saved my life, so yeah. Yeah. 

Interviewer: Where was your wife throughout all of this? 

She was right next to me. While I was sitting there waiting, she was in the front of the ambulance while they were taking me down to where they were airlifting me out. And then, she sat up there at the hospital with me after she got there a few hours later. So, she had to—she took all the guns out—all my guns out of my house and put them up at her dad’s house. That kind of upset me because it wasn’t the guns’ fault. It really wasn’t anybody’s fault that I got hurt. 

So, she had taken the—she had put a round in the chamber like I told her to, put it back on safe, and put it on her shoulder. It was an older rifle—made in Belgium. It’s an old Sako. And the firing pin gets pinched by the safety. And it makes it to where when you pull the trigger, it doesn’t do anything. That’s how safeties used to work back then. Nowadays, it’s a two-piece firing pin and it will not—it moves half the firing pin away to where it can’t fire. But you’re talking a rifle that was made back in the ‘50s- ‘60s. Yeah. Yeah, it’s bound to have a few issues. So, I never did blame the rifle. I never blamed her. Yeah, it was just a series of unfortunate events that day.  

 

After being shot during a hunting accident, the severity of Johnny’s injuries nearly led to his arm being amputated.

After being shot during a hunting accident, the severity of Johnny’s injuries nearly led to his arm being amputated.

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So, from what I understand from my uncle and my now ex-wife, everybody was pretty upset that—that they were coming to my mom trying to get them—trying to get my mom to say it’s okay to take my arm.  
My mom’s answer to them finally was, because they thought it was just going to rob my body of nutrients and it was going to die because of the extent of the injuries to it. My mom finally told the doctors—and this is while I was intubated still—finally told them that, “Hey look, you know, if it comes down to that, he’ll be the one to make that decision. Not us.”  

And my mom knows. My mom knows that I would’ve been a little upset, so. Especially now knowing that, you know, I got most of my arm back. So, because I would’ve fought my butt off to get to where I am. And I have fought my butt off, so. I still have—I don’t have a rotator cuff on my right arm, but I’ve worked myself hard—harder than I probably should’ve a lot of the time, so that I can raise my arm up. I do most anything with my arm, so. 

So, within like 2-3 months of me being shot, we started physical therapy. And then, we’re already—and I was already off my pain meds, or I was coming off of them, I can’t quite remember. It was right there where they started pushing me off the pain meds, but, so, he started pushing me hard. And then, I started pushing myself harder because, “Now this guy’s not going to push me around like this. I’m going to work harder than he expects me to. That way, when I’m there, it doesn’t hurt as bad.” 

And doing that, and then, just getting back to my normal routine, I kind of went above and beyond what he anticipated even. He expected me to get, you know, 50-60% back. And what? About a year and a half? About, so we did physical therapy for about six months, then I didn’t have physical therapy for about six months. And I went back after six months of not having physical therapy. And I’d been driving a tow truck for a little bit. And he looked at me and he goes, “I don’t know what you’ve been doing, but don’t stop doing it because you have far exceeded my expectations. And there’s not much I can do for you, buddy.

 

Johnny describes feelings of nostalgia and the pleasure of participating in “recoil therapy.”

Johnny describes feelings of nostalgia and the pleasure of participating in “recoil therapy.”

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I’ve realized that over the years. A lot of people, a lot of people need that recoil therapy. That’s the way we like to look at it. The smell of gunpowder hitting your nose, reminding you of the old days when you were 21 and bulletproof, and 10 foot tall. I take guys out to ranges down here in southern Oregon—guys that I know that were prior service. We go out and have range day.

 

Working as a tow truck driver, Johnny elects to carry his firearm “out in the open.”

Working as a tow truck driver, Johnny elects to carry his firearm “out in the open.”

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Oh yeah. I believe in open carry. So, driving a tow truck, I used to carry a 911 right here on my chest out in the open. Everybody could see it. And it made it to where, when I was doing an impound or towing, people didn’t try to get stupid with me. 

It was that, “Hey, you know what? That guy’s armed. I’m not going to mess with him.” When I’ve pulled bikes out from motorcycle clubs and nothing ever was done. They didn’t come at me stupid or nothing like that. I was respectful. They were respectful.

But then I go into a grocery store or something and people are, “Well, why do you need that for?” “Well, you know, I drive a tow truck and I get out here into some nasty parts of this county. And I also get, you know, bears and cougars at some of these areas where I’ve got to tow a car from. And I don’t want to be somebody’s dinner, or being a reason why I’m not going home tonight. So, I carry.”

 

Johnny talks about how access to mental health care could help to prevent firearm injuries.

Johnny talks about how access to mental health care could help to prevent firearm injuries.

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Mental healthcare—100%, because 95% of firearm injuries are self-inflicted. It’s something stupid like that. I might not be exactly right on the number, but I know it’s something stupid high like that. Matter of fact, not too long—well, a year and half ago, I had—a brother of mine is in that statistic now. So, I’ve had a few of them the last—I think we’ve lost more to self-inflicted gunshot wounds from my old battalion that we did to the enemy. Yeah. Mental health is a serious, serious—there is a serious need for good mental health in the VA system. And I don’t see it changing because they’ve known it for 15 years or more that it’s been a shortcoming, and they’re not fixing it.

 

Johnny believes that injuries could be prevented with proper maintenance of a firearm.

Johnny believes that injuries could be prevented with proper maintenance of a firearm.

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Proper maintenance. Most accidental shootings—especially like the ones that I went through; proper preventive maintenance. Had I gone through and double-checked her sling, I would’ve realized that the bottom screw for the sling was stripped out of the stock, and then I could’ve fixed it. I didn’t check it because I was tired that night because I’d worked all day at the VFW, and then cooked dinner, and fixed my truck, and was doing all sorts of stuff. And so, I was tired, and she wanted that sling—some Muddy Girl camo sling. Yeah. And I was like, you know, “We’ll take care of it tomorrow after we get back from hunting. No big deal.” And she decided that wasn’t good enough and decided she was going to change the sling. And I should’ve double-checked it. Actually, I should’ve just done it for her. I should’ve just done it and I didn’t. And I got shot the next day because, so.

 

Johnny emphasizes the importance of perseverance after an injury saying, “never give up. Never quit. Never accept defeat.”

Johnny emphasizes the importance of perseverance after an injury saying, “never give up. Never quit. Never accept defeat.”

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It can always be worse. It can always be worse with an injury, especially when firearms are involved. If you keep working hard you can usually get back from it. And that’s the never give up. Never quit. Never surrender. Never accept defeat.

If you sit there, and wallow, and “Poor pitiful me”, you’re never going to get any better. But if you keep working hard, you’ll get most of that use back. That’s what I did, and that’s the attitude that I see a lot of guys that I served with that are amputees. It’s that, “I’m not going to give up. I’m not going to quit. I’m not going to surrender.” And they’re living mostly fruitful lives now, you know. But I think that goes for anything in life. If you sit there and, “Man, I’ve had a bad shake.” You’re just down about it all the time, it’s never going to get any better. But if you work hard and keep trying to build better, get yourself be better, you’ll get further.

 

Johnny notes the need for coordinated care among different healthcare providers and specialists.

Johnny notes the need for coordinated care among different healthcare providers and specialists.

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So, my initial doctors, when I was still in the hospital, were doom and gloom. My physician—my PA down here, who was my primary care at the time, “Well, let me know. I don’t think it’s as bad as they were saying. But, you know, let’s work hard.” He gave me more inspiration than they did. Well, they gave me a lot of inspiration, don’t get me wrong, because now I had to prove them wrong. But he pointed me towards what I needed to be looking at, what I needed to be doing.

These physicians need to start talking more with the surgeons, start talking more with physical therapists in that area, and start getting more information before they just start throwing the doom and gloom right off the bat. Because had I known that I could’ve gotten my collar bone fixed prior to building my arm up for a year and a half, that I could’ve got it fixed right after I got shot, I probably would’ve, because it would’ve made it a little bit easier on me. I still wouldn’t have three of the muscles in my back and my shoulder, but I would have—I wouldn’t look, you know, it wouldn’t look quite so bad as it does. But nobody ever thought about that part.

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