On Sunday, a person doing yard work discovered a pistol in the grass. In itself, that’s hardly news, as criminals do toss weapons after a crime, and this was stolen. But in this case, the “news” is in the police claims about the firearm.
After people find weapon in tall grass, Kirby police advise on what do if you find gun
Lt. James Laymon, of the Kirby Police Department, said the gun could have easily been fired. It was completely unsafe.“This weapon was found with a round in the chamber and three rounds in the magazine, so it would have discharged if the trigger would have been pulled,” he said. “It was self-cycling, so it would have continued to do so three more times.
So Lt. Laymon is claiming this weapon is an illegal machinegun? Only a machinegun continues to cycle and discharge multiple times from a single operation of the trigger.
Not, “It would have discharged, and could be fired three more times.” It would have fired and continue to fire. Outside of military duty, relatively few people have fired an automatic weapon. Like myself, I think most people, upon hearing that a pistol had a round chambered and more in the magazine, would assume just another semiautomatic pistol. Specifying “continued to do so three more times” definitely sounds like an automatic weapon- a machinegun under the law. Prior to this, I have only seen “fire and continue to fire” descriptions used when the intent was to describe an automatic weapon. If Laymon inadvertently missppeaks so badly, I wonder if he should be speaking to the media in the first place.
Or testifying under oath in trials.
That appears to be a Springfield XD-S. That is not manufactured as an automatic weapon. One trigger operation, one shot. If it continues to discharge multiple times — “three more times” — after a single trigger pull, it is an unlawful machinegun.
I wonder…
- Did Lt. Laymon simply make a remarkably odd error?
- Is the lieutenant that ignorant of firearm operation?
- Or was he deliberately fearmongering?
For that matter, is Lt. Laymon in the habit of involuntarily/negligently firing until magazine is empty, and assumes everyone else’s gun handling/safety is just as bad? Well… the FBI, I suppose. And I once worked with an officer who would pick up her shotgun with her finger on the trigger (prompting me to dive behind a truck, as she had it pointed at me); and to be honest, she did empty a revolver cylinder into a classroom building 180 degrees from the target she was supposed to be shooting. But they took her off duties with access to guns.
I asked. Kirby PD Chief Bois… answered replied.
The weapon in question was a semi-automatic handgun, not a machine gun. It was found with a round in the chamber and three more rounds in the magazine. This particular model of handgun does not have a thumb safety and if a child (or anyone for that matter) had found it and pull the trigger it would have gone off. Because it is semi-automatic it would have cycled another round into the chamber and required the trigger to be pulled again. We apologize for the confusion and hope this clears it up.
Note that he evades the question of why Laymon claimed — at a minimum — strongly implied to an unquestioning Patty Santos — that the pistol would have continued to cycle “three more times” after the trigger was pulled; i.e.- a machinegun under 26 U.S. Code § 5845(b). I clarified that.
Chief Bois,
_I_ am quite well aware that the Springfield XD-S is a semiautomatic firearm. It was _your_ lieutenant who asserted, to an unquestioning reporter, that the pistol would have cycled 4 times if the trigger had been pulled (which would make it a machinegun under 26 U.S. Code § 5845(b)). I am attempting to ascertain _why_ the lieutenant made that claim to the media.
The Chief said, “I believe that is clear the Lieutenant made a mistake in his choice of words during the interview.”
That’s some “mistake.”
And then, there is the matter of unquestioning reporter Patty Santos. Upon hearing a police lieutenant claim that a stolen and abandoned firearm would, when the trigger was pulled, fire and continue to fire until the magazine is empty, she should have demanded answers to more questions.
- That is a machinegun?
- How do you know, since it was just found?
- Is it a registered NFA firearm? (I’ll cut her enough slack to allow that she might not realize the XD series went into production long after passage of FOPA.)
- Where is the ATF, since they have jurisdiction over NFA items?
That first question would have exposed the simple fact that it was just another semi-auto, assuming honesty and knowledge on Laymon’s part.
Santos failed to do her job as badly as did Laymon.
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