Military firearm accident in France

[toreskha]

Someone let the French use real guns instead of some blue paperweights.

A military shooting demonstration in southeast France on Sunday left 16 people wounded, including children, when real bullets were used instead of blank ones, officials said.

Four of the wounded were in serious condition, including a 3-year-old child, Bernard Lemaire, chief of the regional administration in Aude, said on France-3 television. Fifteen of the injured were civilians.

A Defense Ministry official said the incident occurred during a demonstration of hostage-freeing techniques at the Laperrine military barracks. The official said investigators will look into why real bullets were used.

They were planning on using blanks?

I don't know much about how the Europeans train, but as far as I know, in the US when we plan on pointing guns at someone and pulling the trigger, we either use things that are obviously not real guns, or airsoft guns that fire plastic pellets.

Blanks may be used for military training to get people used to the sound of gunfire, but you still don't go pointing it at anyone. Blanks are typically pointed at people in cinema and theater, and of course they're dangerous then, too...as Brandon Lee can attest.

Anyway...this just goes to show, the military can screw up just as badly as law enforcement and civilians. Firing range accidents are comparatively few and far between.

[tattedupboy]

The title of this thread should have been "Military firearm Negligence in France"

[festus]

I respect the French Foriegn Legion they are some of the best trained fighters in the world...But for the most part they aren't French. They are guys from all over the world getting a second chance after screwing up their life beyond all hope of repair.

The French Military on the other hand...
WWI...Loss
WWII...Loss
Korea...U.N. Participant
Vietnam...Loss
Desert Storm...Coalition Participant with less than 2% of the total force (not a deciding factor considering the Foriegn Legion was the bulk of the ground force.)

They don't have much respect around the world because they have not earned it!

I bet you can get some great deals on French battle rifles...Never been fired and only dropped once!

[toreskha]

Vietnam...Loss

There's some kind of standing rule that the Vietnamese throw everyone out eventually, even if they get clobbered at first. It's like a Rocky movie, or Afghanistan.

But otherwise, I agree.

[Scarecrow]

yes accidents are few and far between.. but you hear about all of them and that is what the antis try to use against us.

[SigFan229R]

I thought that the article was going to be about how to throw your weapon down and surrender.

[toreskha]

I thought that the article was going to be about how to throw your weapon down and surrender.

That's the subject of the Strategy and Tactics manual for French infantry. Throwing your weapon down and running, running with loot, attacking and raping weaker opponents and techniques for waving white flags are all covered extensively.

[Ektarr]

I hear that the French have adopted a Terror Warning System similar to our color-coded system. Their scale is graduated a little differently than ours, though... Theirs is:

"Run" " Hide" "Surrender" and "Collaborate".

And if you want to have some fun, GOOGLE "French Military Victories" and select "I'm Feeling Lucky". See what pops up. You'll be amused, I promise!

[FBMG Smithy]

Is this really a suprise???

What can I say they're French. They aren't really known as weapon experts.
Fired once...Droped once...

[toreskha]

Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion. All you leave behind is a lot of noisy baggage.