We have yet another tragic case of an individual killed by fooling around with a loaded gun. In this case it was one of the most highly trained military service members, Navy Seal Petty Officer 3rd Class Gene “Geno” Clayont, Jr. Police report that Clayont returned from a bar with a woman and was showing her his guns when he placed a gun to his head that he thought was empty and pulled the trigger.
We have seen a horrible line of such cases. Yet, even the best trained individuals, continue to do this reckless type of conduct with weapons. The military treats any individual who points an unloaded gun at someone else as a serious offense for this reason.
Recently, I learned that this senseless accident claimed the life of former Ohio Representative Clement Laird Vallandigham. Vallandigham is well known to civil libertarians as the leader of the Copperhead faction of anti-war Democrats who opposed the American Civil War and was unconstitutionally arrested on the orders of Abraham Lincoln. He has accused “King Lincoln” of “crushing out liberty and erecting a despotism.” In 1864, the Supreme Court ruled that it had no power to issue a writ of habeas corpus to a military commission (Ex parte Vallandigham, 1 Wallace, 243).
What I did not know until recently is that Vallandigham, 50, died in 1871 in Lebanon, Ohio, when he was trying to demonstrate a defense for his claim in a murder case. Vallandigham was showing his defense team how he intended to show that the victim in the case could have shot himself by simply drawing a pistol from a pocket while in a kneeling position. He proved the point when he proceeded to put a bullet in his own head from what he thought was an unloaded gun. However, his demonstration worked. His client, Thomas McGehan, was acquitted.
Source: Washington Post
Kathleen, yours is an interesting perspective. You may be right. There is a technique called ‘Psychological Autopsy’ where a forensic psychologist or psychiatrist does a retrospective analysis of the deceased person’s last days and weeks. Sometimes it is possible to tease out the truth of such a suspicion.
In this case, since it has been ruled “accidental,” it seems best to let sleeping dogs lay, for the sake of his family, friends and loved ones.
Anyone who points any gun at their self, ever, with or without pulling the trigger, and survives, needs to examine why they have a death wish, because they most certainly do wish to die, on some level.
The SEAL most definitely had sufficient firearm training to fully understand the mechanics of the weapon, while drunk or not, and pretending otherwise just gives him a free pass on the intentionality of his act.
Pointing guns at any living thing you “don’t intend” to kill is either suicidal or murderous, even when it might be claimed to be otherwise, and suicide can often be subtle, with all the appearance of one just being “accident prone” or “reckless.”
I feel sorry for the witness.
Fascinating. I have never heard of Valladigham.
“Absolutely no reason a person should point a firearm, whether loaded or not, at his own head.”
Oro Lee said it first, but others followed. Let’s think about this though, why would someone bringing a woman home, presumably for sexual reasons, then try to get her into bed by pointing a gun at his head and firing it, even if he thought it was unloaded? Did he think this was some symbol of his masculine attraction. Were I the woman I would have gotten out of there quickly. In my estimation he was a major league moron, his life a harsh reality of natural selection. There are a lot of gun owners posting on this thread, have any of you ever pointed a gun, or rifle at your head, in a “humorous” pretense of shooting yourself? I would think not. This was monumental, ironic stupidity.
yeah, the cliche of forgetting about the round left in the chamber. Big shame for anyone. Distracted by the environment of beer, female, macho show and tell. Or … was it something nefarious perpetrated by the date? In any case, a total waste of a dedicated soldier. Let’s all learn from this.
Don’t point the barrel of a gun at anything you aren’t trying to kill ….
He apparently forgot the old boot camp poem: “This is my rifle; this is my gun . . . .”
Back in my good ol’ hippie anti-war days “Wanna see my gun?” had an entirely different meaning. Sadly, sometimes things don’t change for the better.
Ok…Don’t know why this has not been said yet….But that the Danger of Clubbing Seals….
i’m guessing there won’t be a second date.
well she won’t have to wonder why he didn’t call afterwards.
Anybody remember the actor that blew his brains out with a blank gun? They were between takes & he put the prop gun to his head & pulled the trigger. The wadding went into his brain & killed him.
The punchline (as if blowing your brains out with a blank gun was not sad enough) was the TV show issued an in memorium for him at the end of the show . . . and misspelled his name.
LIke Lrobby99, no matter how sure I was a gun was unloaded I would never put it to my head and pull the trigger…the action itself is just too disturbing.
It amazes me that this sort of thing happens…simply astounds me. I’ve been around guns since I was a tike. Started shooting the old .22 rifle at the lake when I was 5, not even then would I consider something like this anything but moronic.
Here’s a question for the conspiracy theorists. Maybe he was on the Bin Laden mission and those Seals are slowing being taken out? A helicopter full of them here and ‘accidental’ shooting there? Not that I believe in conspiracies (all that much.)
First nominee for the 2012 Darwin Award.
Even if I first removed the magazine, then worked the action, confirmed no round in the weapon, and then dry fired a couple times, still I would not aim at myself and pull the trigger. Anyone who would should not be allowed to handle a firearm. Or, for that matter, not even a bow.
Mighty suspicious for a bunch of fifth graders. Mom must not of hugged you guys enough.
“Police report that Clayont returned from a bar with a woman”
It seems to indicate he picked her up there (not enough info.)
If so; it seems unlikely she would kill him and stick around. More likely take his roll and run.
Of course if it turns out she was his Fiance or something; all bets are off.
Anyway guys; have some Graham Crackers and Milk and see if you can get us more facts to go on.
Get back to us after recess. And don’t leave your lunchbox in the cloakroom all night…..closed.
By tomorrow it will smell like a Skunk died in it.
Sometimes a mans jacket can smell like a skunk too……….but your too young for that talk.
Sorry, JuDeB, but the significant element here seems to be the phrase “was showing her his guns.” Absolutely no reason a person should point a firearm, whether loaded or not, at his own head. But guys have been losing their heads over women for a long time.
BTW, using the word “weapon,” instead of “gun” is just fetish language. Pert near anything can be a weapon.