DEA Agent Suspended After Shooting Himself in Foot while Teaching Gun Safety

A DEA agent shot himself in the foot while deliverying a gun safety lecture to a class of fourth graders. This ironically happened after he held up a gun and said:

"This is a Glock 40. Fifty Cent, Too Short, all of them talk about a Glock 40, OK?," he said. "I'm the only one in this room professional enough that I know of to carry this Glock 40."

The funny thing is, people are upset that this event was videotaped because it is improper to let his face be seen by the public in case he is recognized and his cover is blown.

"It puts a lot of undercover agents in jeopardy if their faces are videotaped," the masked agent told Local 6 News. "His identity is burned. His identity is known as a police officer and its a potential personal safety hazard to himself as well as his family members."

It seems to me this guy is already his own biggest "safety hazard to himself as well as his family members". I found the full video clip on the internet, and this guy is apparently an idiot. He talks of how he is "the only one in this room professional enough" to carry that gun, sweeps the muzzle of the gun past either a student or his assistant (a big gun safety no-no, even if it was empty) and then shoots himself in the foot. He then tries to continue his demonstration without seeking medical attention. Less than a minute after shooting himself, he asks an assistant to hand him a rifle and limps over to take it. People in the class get really upset, yell at him to "put it down!" and the demonstration is ended.

I understand accidents can happen, but there is absolutely NO EXCUSE for this particular chain of events. You don't use a loaded weapon in a classroom demonstration (unless the demonstration requires live fire), you don't point it at other people or yourself even if you don't think it is loaded, you don't shoot yourself, you don't ignore the wound (you can bleed to death from some wounds before you realize how severe it is) and you sure as hell don't reach for another gun to continue the demonstration while impaired with that kind of pain and stress.

Note: For the record I am an NRA certified pistol instructor and range safety officer and I have been in a classroom setting where I had to demonstrate safe firearm handling to a group so my comments are not merely armchair quarterbacking.

In my opinion he disgraced his agency, disgraced gun owners and gun users throughout the nation and set back the concept of safe firearm usage for people all over America. Many of the kids in that classroom and some of the people who watch that video are going to be too frightened of guns to ever bother learning how to safely handle a firearm because they saw a "professional" shoot himself. Some of these untrained people might later encounter a firearm, or even worse, grab one as a last ditch method of defense, and chances are they will not have the skills to safely handle it. After all of this, I find it troubling that the focus is on "who leaked the video" and not why this idiot was dangerously incompetent when carrying out his demonstration.