Tom
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Growing up, Tom “didn’t really have a lot of experience with guns.” His family was a military family going back four generations. After his dad passed away, Tom says his grandfather became like a “surrogate father” and was “a great hero.” His grandfather taught him “all the things that normally a dad would teach me,” including about firearm safety. Tom knew from a young age that he wanted to join the Army, and enlisted when he was 18. He spent his entire career with the military, including with the Special Forces and on several combat tours. While on combat tours, he sustained several serious injuries, and once back home these experiences continued to impact him. “Once you’ve been to combat, you pretty much don’t feel safe without the ability to defend yourself even in a benign environment. It’s almost second nature.”
Tom was injured while cleaning a firearm at home when “unbeknownst to me, there was a round that had jammed in the spring mechanism and you couldn’t see it and you couldn’t feel it when you put your hand down in there.” When the firearm discharged, Tom’s foot was shot. He says his “foot’s still full of BBs, but they don’t bother me. Doesn’t affect me at all except for feeling stupid and getting ribbed by my Army buddies.” Now, Tom teaches his two children about firearm safety. “We’re very conscious about things like firearm safety in general.” He sees firearm ownership as an important means for protecting his family. “I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.”
For firearm prevention strategies, Tom says “it needs to be a Veteran. When you’re dealing with weapons, you want to talk to somebody that knows what they’re talking about.” To others who have experienced a firearm injury, he shares to keep putting “one foot in front of the other. Keep your head up and just keep moving forward.”
Tom recalls his injury as “a combination of bad luck and a weapons issue.”
Tom recalls his injury as “a combination of bad luck and a weapons issue.”
The specific incident that I had with the one firearm I had was a shotgun that is probably 1940’s vintage. And it had an internal box magazine. It was a .410-gauge shotgun and it’s my grandfather’s. And it’s been in our – you know in my gun cabinet for years. And on this day, I took the weapon out. I was cleaning – basically just cleaning weapons. I’ll do that every once in a while, just to maintain them. And it’s a bolt action gun with an internal magazine. And when you clear a weapon, you clear it. You make sure there’s nothing in there, verbal or visual, and you check with your fingers. Well, unbeknownst to me, there was a round that had jammed in the spring mechanism and you couldn’t see it and you couldn’t feel it when you put your hand down in there. And so, when you’re done clearing a weapon, you ride the bolt forward or close the bolt system and you pull the trigger and let the hammer fall to show that the weapon’s cleared.
Well, this had been done numerous times before and this round had still been in there. I had no idea it was in there. And when I racked it forward and went back, because it’s a really long gun (it’s a shotgun), and squeezed the trigger, the barrel – and this is my fault. I should’ve known. The barrel never crosses – the rule is the barrel never crosses anything you’re not willing to destroy. Well, that day I destroyed my foot. I pulled the trigger and it caught my left foot in the corner and penetrated. And I had to go in. And it’s all birdshot. But it was so close range that it did some pretty gnarly damage to it. And I want to say this was probably seven or eight years ago. I can’t even remember when it happened. And my foot is healed and fine. And the only thing I feel about the whole thing is my own stupidity. Because even if that round was in there and that barrel wouldn’t have been covered by my foot, it wouldn’t have happened. It was just something, you know, completely random and minimum complacency on my part not even thinking about it. You know okay, let’s clear everything and, you know, squeeze the trigger. But it was that one in one thousand or one in a million that happened so. But it was a complete accident. Doesn’t affect me at all except for feeling stupid and getting ribbed by all my Army buddies so. It was just a fluke. It was just a combination of bad luck and you know a weapons issue basically.
Tom recalls “getting ribbed by all my Army buddies” after accidentally shooting himself in the foot.
Tom recalls “getting ribbed by all my Army buddies” after accidentally shooting himself in the foot.
Interviewer: What about the emotional aspect of it? Did – was the – kind of emotional component to having had a – you know, firearm injury or…?
Respondent: No.
Interviewer: Okay.
Respondent: No, no. I’ve been shot before. So, it wasn’t – it was just stupidity. I just felt stupid for a while. Now I’m over it.
Interviewer: Did you – I’m curious. Did you tell others, say your friends, other, you know, extended family members what happened?
Respondent: Oh, yeah.
Interviewer: What was their reaction?
Respondent: “You’re an idiot.” Especially my Army buddies. “You know better than that.” So, but yeah. No big deal. And it’s funny because this is the first time somebody’s mentioned it in probably two or three years. Like – it’s like forgotten now you know. But with all the other stuff, it’s just – oh, that’s just Tom. That’s another thing happened to Tom, you know. No big deal so.
It was just something, you know, completely random and minimum complacency on my part, not even thinking about it. You know okay, let’s clear everything and, you know, squeeze the trigger. But it was that one in one thousand or one in a million that happened so. But it was a complete accident. Doesn’t affect me at all except for feeling stupid and getting ribbed by all my Army buddies so. But that about covers it.
After his time serving in combat, Tom feels like he always needs to be ready to defend himself.
After his time serving in combat, Tom feels like he always needs to be ready to defend himself.
Once you’ve been to combat, you pretty much don’t feel safe without the ability to defend yourself even in a benign environment. It’s just an inbred thing that you have to deal with. If you’ve been in close combat and it just – yeah, it just becomes engrained in you. And it just – it’s almost second nature.
In the Special Forces, that’s just the nature of, kind of, what we do. And in the National Guard, I had my civilian experience as well. So, it wasn’t a reintegration really. I was always back in the, you know, civilian world partially, you know, five years after I did my active-duty tour, you know? So, yeah, it’s really all a part of the mindset. And it’s not something you consciously think about. It’s just, you’re so used to living a certain way like that. And I tone it down a lot. I don’t like my family to be worried if I see a situation that I don’t like. I don’t – you know, it doesn’t do any good to get things all worked up. I know I can – you know, I can handle any situation. So, that’s just kind of how things work now.
Tom feels that if you can’t protect yourself you are “doing yourself and your family a disservice."
Tom feels that if you can’t protect yourself you are “doing yourself and your family a disservice."
I mean obviously there’s safety you know. You know, especially if I go to certain places or if we travel, I always carry a firearm with me. There’s just too many random things and too many crazy people out there in the world to not do that. That would be foolish, I think. I think you’re doing yourself and your family a disservice by not being able to protect yourself. And I’m talking totally defensive you know. I’m not talking going in and stopping robberies. This is stopping imminent threats to you or your family and that’s it.
For Tom, teaching his children about firearm safety is a priority.
For Tom, teaching his children about firearm safety is a priority.
I have two young children, 9 and 12. So, I started a little bit late. So, teaching them all about firearm safety at a very young age. We’re very conscious about things like that and firearm safety in general. It’s a – you know, it’s not like a huge priority. We don’t go out and shoot a lot, maybe two or three times a year. If we’re camping, we’ll go. I’ll take the kids out and we’ll shoot and do different things. My kids do get to accompany me when I go teach law enforcement. I do SWAT for the SWAT Teams. And I bring my kids down there, so they get to be a part of that. And you know, they’ll be hostages in the scenarios. So, they’re growing up around all of this, and law enforcement, and everything like that. So, you know our family has a very healthy respect for firearms. We have firearms in the house. They’re all locked up. We keep our firearms all secured.
In my house, my children are trained, you know. You don’t handle firearms unless, you know, I’m present. As my son gets older, he’s getting into the age where he’ll be able to handle firearms by himself, but not until I determine, you know, whatever – what that stage is. He’s going through his initial training now. But yeah, everything is – all of our firearms are under lock and key or under supervision.
Tom thinks that peer-to-peer counseling would be useful in firearm injury prevention efforts.
Tom thinks that peer-to-peer counseling would be useful in firearm injury prevention efforts.
You know, especially for me and I know other Veterans feel this way. It’s got to be somebody that knows what they’re talking about and has had experiences. And you know has shared experiences with you. So, you know, me as a combat Veteran, if I’m going to talk to somebody about something like that, then I want to talk to somebody that knows what they’re talking about. You know, they’ve got experience with it. They can relate in a way that somebody that doesn’t have that experience or doesn’t have the training would be lost. And then, you know, you just get into psychological gobblty gook and, you know, the message gets lost.
Tom believes that all firearm owners could use more training to prevent injuries.
Tom believes that all firearm owners could use more training to prevent injuries.
I’ll say, I’ve always said this, is anybody can always use more training. Anybody. Even me. I can use more training every single day. And I have been training for 25 years, 30 years now. And so, to me, it’s a never-ending process. You’re always learning. And you know, I’ve got a saying, “You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. Nothing ever stays the same.” So, you just try to get a little bit better each day. And that’s what I tell all my guys that come to me for advice or anything like that. You know, one foot in front of the other. Do the things you know how to do right and, you know, keep your head up and just keep moving forward.
Tom suggests talking to other Veterans who have had similar experiences and can relate.
Tom suggests talking to other Veterans who have had similar experiences and can relate.
That is the number one thing. And I know this has helped guys because I’ve talked to guys that were there and we’re able to talk to the guys in their unit, or their buddies, or the guys they went to combat with and can relate to that experience. You know, guys don’t want to talk to a counselor about something. They want to talk to somebody they know and somebody that they’ve – you know, maybe saved their life or, you know, they have that bond. And you know, that to me--and I have that in my group.
But being able to talk to other Veterans with the same experience, even if it wasn’t in your unit. If it was somebody that has the same type of experience, that really would be so much helpful. “Hey, we got a Marine here who was in infantry. Man, he’s having a hard time. Okay. We need to find a Marine that can relate.” Because I can’t relate to a Marine. I can talk basic stuff. But I wasn’t a Marine. And that’s a holy – totally different culture. Same thing in the Air Force or the Navy. You know, each service has their own culture and you can most relate. I mean, it’s basic stuff. You relate to what you know and what’s around you. So, you know that, I think, would, to me is the most helpful to be able to speak to other Veterans within your peerage group.