Today, while I was at the shooting range, I witnessed the following:
Dad, with his three boys, ranging from between 10 and 14 years of age, two tables over.
Dad: "Boys, you see this hand gun on the table?"
Boys: (In unison) "Yes."
Dad: "It is a semi-automatic pistol with a slide. You have to be very careful to keep your hands below the slide, or it can hurt you. Do you understand?"
Boys: (Again, in unison) "Yes."
Dad now picks up the pistol, points it downrange. "Let me show you how to hold it properly to avoid >BANG< ... SONOFA ... "
At this point, Dad lays down the hand gun which has just had a misfeed. This was due to the slide not traveling fully to the rear, having been prevented by the fleshy part of dad's right hand, just between the thumb and forefinger. Dad now looks puzzled at the copious amounts of blood oozing from the 1" long, 1/4" deep gash (revealing fatty tissue). (Apparently this was a new pistol, which still had all the nice sharp edges on the slide.)
The nearest first aid kit is in my vehicle, 50 feet away. (The range's first aid kit is 150 yards away in the office.) I calmly walked dad over to my vehicle, where I retrieved my first aid kit. It was then that I realized virtually every roll of adhesive tape had dried hard, and all of the bandages, wrappings and various supplies were from the previous millennia. Fortunately, I was able to successfully sterilize the wound with beta-dine, followed by some antibiotic ointment, steri-strips and a sterile gauze pad, secured with some rather stiff medical tape. After a short discussion, Dad agreed that some stitches were in his future and terminated the family range visit.
Now that I have returned home, I've ordered a completely new first aid kit to go with the trauma kit which I keep in my range bag. Some of the items, it turns out, have been in that first aid kit since the early 80's (emergency scalpels, smelling salts, burn wraps, and the like). Some of these items don't generally expire, but it doesn't hurt to have a modern kit from the present century, just the same.
I'm feeling lucky in that I didn't need anything more substantial than a couple of gauze pads, today, and I don't intend to be caught with a kit in such sad shape again.
Dad, with his three boys, ranging from between 10 and 14 years of age, two tables over.
Dad: "Boys, you see this hand gun on the table?"
Boys: (In unison) "Yes."
Dad: "It is a semi-automatic pistol with a slide. You have to be very careful to keep your hands below the slide, or it can hurt you. Do you understand?"
Boys: (Again, in unison) "Yes."
Dad now picks up the pistol, points it downrange. "Let me show you how to hold it properly to avoid >BANG< ... SONOFA ... "
At this point, Dad lays down the hand gun which has just had a misfeed. This was due to the slide not traveling fully to the rear, having been prevented by the fleshy part of dad's right hand, just between the thumb and forefinger. Dad now looks puzzled at the copious amounts of blood oozing from the 1" long, 1/4" deep gash (revealing fatty tissue). (Apparently this was a new pistol, which still had all the nice sharp edges on the slide.)
The nearest first aid kit is in my vehicle, 50 feet away. (The range's first aid kit is 150 yards away in the office.) I calmly walked dad over to my vehicle, where I retrieved my first aid kit. It was then that I realized virtually every roll of adhesive tape had dried hard, and all of the bandages, wrappings and various supplies were from the previous millennia. Fortunately, I was able to successfully sterilize the wound with beta-dine, followed by some antibiotic ointment, steri-strips and a sterile gauze pad, secured with some rather stiff medical tape. After a short discussion, Dad agreed that some stitches were in his future and terminated the family range visit.
Now that I have returned home, I've ordered a completely new first aid kit to go with the trauma kit which I keep in my range bag. Some of the items, it turns out, have been in that first aid kit since the early 80's (emergency scalpels, smelling salts, burn wraps, and the like). Some of these items don't generally expire, but it doesn't hurt to have a modern kit from the present century, just the same.
I'm feeling lucky in that I didn't need anything more substantial than a couple of gauze pads, today, and I don't intend to be caught with a kit in such sad shape again.
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