Ugh, more bad press "potato gun" kills 21 year old

[Insomniac]

I really want to find some way of contacting the people who did this story, to clear up a few matters. Like the guy saying potato guns can never be safe. Techinically that means a sch80 gun running on propane will ALWAYS fail and explode. Which anyone with half a brain and a little knowledge knows is false. Solid propellent in PLASTIC launchers however, is a bad bad bad idea. As jimmy101 said, with gas fueled guns using air as an oxidiser (excluding hybrids) you cannot overfuel them. They simply won't fire. The problem with most plans on the internet is that they are not discussed, reviewed, improved and made SAFER like most of the guns on this site are.

I do feel extremely sorry for the family of the poor bloke though. Lack of knowledge killed him, not the spudgun.

[Redcoat]

It is a shame that he died.I do feel sorry for his family my condolences to them.
But the so-called "expert" (whose probably an expert on firearms)
who doesn't really know what he's talking about really ticks me.

[Hotwired]

If it's sealed up it can explode. Depends on the pressure rating of the material and how well it can take shock loads.

That idiot gives spudgunning a bad name just by having a goddam potato in his black powder cannon when he fragged himself.

If it had been a bunch of ball bearings or just anything other than a potato spudgunning would never have been dragged into it.

[Novacastrian]

Where does it mention that he was using a spud as ammo?

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Where does it mention that he was using a spud as ammo?

No mention of ammo, cannon construction, all they confirm is the use of explosive powder.

Have you seen the video? All the cannons they illustrate are pneumatics or combustions, they even show a segment of this site where only pneumatics are illustrated.

Again, this proves very poor research on the part of the media crew involved and the irresponsible parading of conjecture as fact in order to cause sensation.

Shame on them, for trying to make a martyr out of someone who should have known better.

[MrCrowley]

Just watched the video, that reporter sounds like a child.

I just realised after thinking how bad it would be if spud guns were banned, that spudguns are already banned here They're not illegal unless they find out

Apart from pneumatics, where you just have to be over 18 and you're fine.

[Insomniac]

Hahaha that post made me laugh MrCrowley. You make a point though, for all the Aussie and NZ spudders. What are they gonna do? Ban them? I suppose they could make the fines worse, but I can't see why they would, unless some moron did somthing stupid and attacked somone with one (then got arrested while he spent 2 minutes reloading )

[frankrede]

How come we never see an article like this one?

The Sioux County Sheriff's office responded to an car crash with injuries at 915 Hayes Street in Hull, Iowa around 8:20 Friday night. 21-year-old Ryan Meerdink was reportedly driving the car when he lost control and crashed. Meerdink was rushed to the Sioux Center Hospital with life threatening injuries and later died. The state fire marshall is calling the crash an accident.

KSFY spoke with Ryan's family today about what happened last night to with the car. They said that Ryan recieved fatal head injuries when the device crashed. Three other people were with Ryan when the accident occurred, including his soon to be fiance, Cortney.

When KSFY spoke with Ryan's mom, Donna, she said "He was a young man who's life was taken too early. He was a good man to all. He has many friends and loved the outdoors and was very adventurous."

While the family did not want to appear on camera at this time, they say they do want to raise awareness about the dangers of cars. We spoke with a local expert about the dangers that come with driving such a device.

"When something goes wrong with a car, it goes very wrong," said Jim Sideras, Division Chief of the Sioux Falls Fire Department.

Ryan Meerdink's life was taken by a car when something didn't go as planned.

"They sound very innocent. It sounds kinda fun. When you see them being driven it looks fun, but just because of the nature of what involved they're very dangerous," stated Sideras.

According to Division Chief Jim Sideras, "The problem can be if someone isn't careful, they can easily lose control and crash."

The problem with cars is that while they're very dangerous, they're also very easy to drive. There are hundreds of videos and websites that have directions on using such a device.

"It's very concerning when you see the amount of information on the Internet on how to drive them," said Sideras.

But no matter much information is available, there is no safe way to drive one.

"If you or your child has a car, its best just to get rid of it. Its not safe. Sooner or later someones going to get hurt with it and the injuries can be very severe and be life threatening," stated Sideras.

Once again, Ryan Meerdink's family members hope people will learn from their son's accident and that it will keep future incidents from happening.

damn sensationalist tabloid press!

Well done Jack, well done

[rna_duelers]

Natural selection at it's finest.

Darwin award material....Solid Propellant...


What type of "expert" is he,he should know it's impossible to over fuel such a device if he was an expert on the matter.

[paaiyan]

I like your little modification to the story jack, nice. I really think this guy was just a ignorant. I do feel sorry for him and his family, but it's his fault. Maybe someone should change the story and insert ignorance where they said potato guns.

When ignorance goes wrong, it goes really wrong.

[noob of noobs]

So are we sending e-mail or not d@mnit!

[Tweetybird]

"An Explosive Powder." I cannot think of anything that could be other than them using gun powder scraped out of fire crackers. Then to shove something so tight down the barrel that it could not come out. What was he thinking.

Pneumatic cannons usually fall under the same guidelines as paint ball guns, air nailers (construction use), etc. and are not usually regulated by the ATF.

However, cumbustion cannons which fire "Potatoes" and use an "aerosol" to fire are ok according to this letter posted by another membber, PCGUY, on Spudfiles.

Link below.

[url]http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/viewtop ... 3324#13324

What sucks is that potato guns are getting a bad rap from this idiots stupidity.

Is the above news clip on the "WIRE?"

[Hotwired]

Where does it mention that he was using a spud as ammo?

No mention of ammo, cannon construction, all they confirm is the use of explosive powder.

I'm making the assumption on the basis that if it was firing, say steel ball bearings even the medias limited and hyped reporting wouldn't be calling it a potato gun.

[paaiyan]

"An Explosive Powder." I cannot think of anything that could be other than them using gun powder scraped out of fire crackers. Then to shove something so tight down the barrel that it could not come out. What was he thinking.

Pneumatic cannons usually fall under the same guidelines as paint ball guns, air nailers (construction use), etc. and are not usually regulated by the ATF.

However, cumbustion cannons which fire "Potatoes" and use an "aerosol" to fire are ok according to this letter posted by another membber, PCGUY, on Spudfiles.

Link below.

[url]http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/viewtop ... 3324#13324

What sucks is that potato guns are getting a bad rap from this idiots stupidity.

Is the above news clip on the "WIRE?"

Yea, I'm thinking it had to be either gunpowder, or flash powder from fireworks. Either way,the guy was ignorant. I know I probably shouldn't be saying that about a dead guy, but ignorance is what killed him.

[joannaardway]

Never has the statement:
"Knowledge is a dangerous thing, but ignorance is fatal." been more appropriate.