Is Discussion on the Cowtown Incident Allowed? Seems Like A Critical Topic

sammyba83

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Aug 17, 2017
Location
Eldridge, Iowa
For those who may not have heard, a younger man portraying a Confederate during this Kansas event a few weekends ago was fired at from a few feet away by an as-yet unidentified Federal re-enactor during an unscripted “tactical.” There are conflicting reports on if the shooter stayed at the scene or fled.

The injured party was taken to an area hospital and thankfully was not seriously injured, but will likely be permanently marked by powder lodged in his facial skin.

This is the kind of nonsense that will kill this hobby faster than all the stitch Nazis or farbs in the world. Does anyone have any insight, or first-hand accounts of what happened? What was the info on the scene? How did this happen, and most importantly how does it never happen again?
 
For those who may not have heard, a younger man portraying a Confederate during this Kansas event a few weekends ago was fired at from a few feet away by an as-yet unidentified Federal re-enactor during an unscripted “tactical.” There are conflicting reports on if the shooter stayed at the scene or fled.

The injured party was taken to an area hospital and thankfully was not seriously injured, but will likely be permanently marked by powder lodged in his facial skin.

This is the kind of nonsense that will kill this hobby faster than all the stitch Nazis or farbs in the world. Does anyone have any insight, or first-hand accounts of what happened? What was the info on the scene? How did this happen, and most importantly how does it never happen again?
That sounds unfortunate.
 
How horrible!

The powder may not be permanent. My hubby had a cook off and the powder was embedded in his hand. It took probably a year for the skin to fester all the powder out and new skin to grow, but it did eventually go away.

That’s good to hear, praying this gent has similar healing
 
I hadn't heard about it so don't know anything but hopefully he'll be ok and it was just an unfortunate accident. They do happen occasionally, I took one in the face from a pistol years ago from one of our favorite dismounted cavalry guys and it certainly doesn't tickle.
 
With the hopeful assumption that the discharge was unintentional, these things, unfortunately, are bound to happen sometimes. While I do not know the particulars, accidental firings in the heat of it aren't all that uncommon among amateurs and weekend warriors at small events, especially when rules and guidelines are only loosely followed (or barely present at all.) I have encountered them myself and heard (possibly apocryphal) horror stories about gentlemen pulling tamping rods out of barn doors and fences, fired at them by forgetful or negligent infantrymen across the line.

For me this has always been less of a turn-off of the hobby and more of a cautionary tale: mind your aim always, take care of your equipment, and do your utmost to educate newer re-enactors in the realm of safety and responsibility. It can be easy to get lax, but then folks are liable to get hurt.
 
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