Too Stupid To Stay Out of the Hospital

Here's one of those reminders that if you are stupid enough, you don't even need a gun to shoot yourself:

LAKE LUZERNE, N.Y. (AP) - A teenager who put bullets in a vise and whacked them with a hammer to empty the brass shell casings was wounded in the abdomen by approximately the 100th bullet he hit, according to Warren County deputies.

Damion M. Mosher, 18, had been discharging .223-caliber rounds, placing them in a steel vise, putting a screwdriver on the primer, and striking the screwdriver with the hammer, deputies said.

Deputies were called to his home in Lake Luzerne shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday when one bullet went about a half-inch into his abdomen. He was treated at Glens Falls Hospital and was released. No charges were filed.

Mosher told authorities he was trying to empty the rounds to collect the brass casings for scrap.

Sheriff Larry Cleveland said about 100 other rounds that Mosher hit had "fizzled," but one was somehow sent with more force. It was unclear if the bullet ricocheted or hit him directly.

An employee of Capitol Scrap Co. in Albany said Monday the business pays $1.70 a pound for scrap brass shell casings.

Cleveland said Mosher's shells amounted to just a few pounds.

This just makes me scratch my head in wonder. Fired brass is certainly worth something, enough that after going shooting, I usually pick up my brass. But unfired ammunition is worth a lot more! Brand new, the cheapest .223 is about .22 cents a round. I'm sure that with a little effort, Mosher could have sold that 100 rounds for $2 to someone--and that would have been worth a lot more than he was going to get for the brass.