Citation

Yapici AK, Tuncer SK, Kaldırım U, Arzıman I, Toygar M. Inj. Extra 2014; 45(1): 9-11.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.injury.2013.11.015

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The incidence of firearm related non-fatal and fatal accidents has increased worldwide. Most of firearm accidents result often due to human errors included extreme carelessness while handling, carrying or storing a loaded firearm. Most of the unintentional or intentional nonfatal gunshot injuries involve an extremity. Most gunshot injuries to the hand are result of low-velocity handguns. While low-energy firearm injuries are caused by small calibre hand guns, BB (ball bearing) guns and zip guns, high energy firearm injuries are caused by high calibre handguns or assault rifles. Gun-cleaning accidents occur rarely. All firearms are being cleaned periodically and gun-cleaning mistakes can cause accidents and even fatalities. The most dangerous type of gun-cleaning mistake is forgetting to check whether it is loaded or not, before attempting to clean the gun. The MG3 is a German general-purpose machine gun and is a short recoil-operated, belt-fed, heavy-barreled, air-cooled machine gun suitable for bursts and sustained fire. The weapon and its derivatives have also been acquired by the armed forces of over 30 countries. We report a case with gunshot wound to the hand caused by ignition of a bullet while the cleaning a MG3 barrel with gun cleaning rod. In this study, the circumstances accompanying these injuries, and preventive measures are discussed. These injuries are preventable, and therefore, some basic measures may reduce the incidence of accidental injury during gun cleaning procedure.