Gun selfie goes horribly wrong
Man unintentionally left bullet in firearm he had been using as photo prop
WASHINGTON — It wasn’t the first photo the 43-year-old Concrete, Wash., resident had posed for with his gun. But it would be the last.
The Skagit Valley Herald reported Wednesday the man, whom officials did not name, fatally shot himself in the face while attempting to take a selfie while holding what he thought was an unloaded gun.
The man’s girlfriend, who was with him when the gun went off, told police that the pair had taken several selfies while posing with the gun. The man unloaded the gun before each photo session, then replaced the bullets when they were done.
But before the final photograph, he apparently left one bullet inside the gun.
Last fall, a 19-year-old from Houston died while taking pictures of himself holding a gun and posting them on Instagram. He, too, thought the gun was unloaded when he held it to his head for a photo.
At least 27 people died in “selfie-related” incidents around the world last year, The Washington Post has reported.
The problem seems to be worse in India than anywhere else: the country was home to half of those 27 deaths. To confront the growing public health hazard, the Indian government decided to ban some selfies outright.
No-selfie zones have been established around some large religious gatherings (where organizers fear that selfie-induced bottlenecks could lead to a stampede), beaches, ledges and other treacherous spots where selfies might turn deadly.
In Russia, where a woman almost died after inadvertently shooting herself while posing for a photo with a gun she had found, Russia’s ministry of internal affairs published a brochure instructing citizens on safe selfie habits.
“A selfie with guns kills,” read the warning next to an image of a stick figure holding a camera and a gun, slashed out by a red line.