I am of the opinion that the substitution of live ammo for blanks was
a deliberate act. The question is why was it done and who did it. As a
disclaimer, I must admit that my knowledge of current weapons design
is small. Ask me about the ones that I carried when I was eighteen and
will tell you every imaginable detail
Here is a thought to ponder. For those who know very little about
military weapons, most of them are semi-automatic or full automatic.
Semi-automatic means that a round is fired each time the trigger is
squeezed. Full automatic means that the gun keeps firing as long as
they trigger is held back, or until you run out of ammunition. To pick
up a round from a clip or a magazine requires enough =93blowback=94 from a
gas operated gun to eject the old round and chamber a fresh one. Some
weapons used by the French army are non-blowback and use a spring to
push the bolt forward and back. All crew-served weapons ( a machine
gun, must use the gas blowback principal).
Now to my point. A blank round does not have enough energy to eject a
used round AND chamber a new one. So in order to make shooting and
tactical exercises more realistic, it is necessary for the gun
shooting blanks to be made to feel realistic.
In order to do this, the militaries of the world use what is called a
BFA, or Blank Firing Adapter. In essence is a tube that covers the
open end of the muzzle. There is a small hole in the cap of the BFA.
It allows enough gas to escape so that the barrel doesn=92t explode from
the buildup of pressure, yet keep enough gas inside the barrel to
eject the spent round and chamber a fresh one. The principal applies
to other than gas operated weapons.
Now, if you are shooting live ammo out of a gun with a BFA, the live
round will explode when it hits the BFA. The result will be a ruptured
barrel, or the bolt mechanism driven back into the face of the
shooter.
So who ever substituted live ammo for dummy ammo had to take the
problems of using a BFA into consideration. So it had to be someone
with access to weapons and ammo, therefore military. Keep this in mind
while you read the re****t listed below and take a guess what the
motivations was. And I am sure that whatever court of enquiry does the
investigation, the findings will be that =93someone made a mistake=94
regardless of the truth.
Seventeen people, including a child left in a critical condition, were
injured Sunday when French soldiers fired live bullets instead of
blanks during a visitors day display, regional officials told AFP.
Fifteen civilians and two soldiers were injured in the incident, of
which the details remained unclear late Sunday, involving a
demonstration by members of a marines parachute regiment of a hostage
liberation exercise, the regional authority said.
Witnesses said the incident took place shortly before 6 pm (1600 GMT)
on a demonstration ground just inside the barracks, which was open to
the public over the weekend.
Four of the 17 were seriously injured, with two described as critical
following "incomprehensible" scenes at the barracks near Carcassone,
in the country's south-west.
According to local authorities, five children were among the injured.
Five helicopters, 11 firefighters' first-aid vehicles and two
ambulances rushed to the scene to help the injured.
One soldier had been detained, although no explanation was immediately
forthcoming for why the wrong ammunition was loaded into weapons.
"All hypotheses are being considered," said a national police
spokesman late Sunday, adding that the weapons had been "seized and
placed under lock and key."
Hospitals in the southern cities and towns of Toulouse, Narbonne,
Montpellier and Perpignan, as well as Carcassone, were treating the
injured.
Colonel Benoit Royal, head of the army's information unit, said a
number among the injured were from military families.
France's Defence Minister Herve Morin traveled to Carcassone on Sunday
evening to visit victims of the incident in the hospital.
"I have ordered an immediate inquiry ... to determine as quickly as
possible the cir***stances of this tragic incident," he said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was urgently awaiting the results of
the top-level military probe, according to a presidential statement.
Sarkozy said he "shares with the families the pain caused by this
tragedy. My first thoughts are with the victims. Everything will be
put in place to care for them."
Lemaire added that investigators believed the deadly ammunition was
loaded by mistake.
"The question being asked is 'Did the soldier engage in a criminal act
or not?'," Lemaire said. "For now, no one can answer that, but the
theory being worked on is one of error.
Seventeen people, including a child left in a critical condition, were
injured Sunday when French soldiers fired live bullets instead of
blanks during a visitors day display, regional officials told AFP.
Fifteen civilians and two soldiers were injured in the incident, of
which the details remained unclear late Sunday, involving a
demonstration by members of a marines parachute regiment of a hostage
liberation exercise, the regional authority said.
Witnesses said the incident took place shortly before 6 pm (1600 GMT)
on a demonstration ground just inside the barracks, which was open to
the public over the weekend.
Four of the 17 were seriously injured, with two described as critical
following "incomprehensible" scenes at the barracks near Carcassone,
in the country's south-west.
According to local authorities, five children were among the injured.
Five helicopters, 11 firefighters' first-aid vehicles and two
ambulances rushed to the scene to help the injured.
One soldier had been detained, although no explanation was immediately
forthcoming for why the wrong ammunition was loaded into weapons.
"All hypotheses are being considered," said a national police
spokesman late Sunday, adding that the weapons had been "seized and
placed under lock and key."
Hospitals in the southern cities and towns of Toulouse, Narbonne,
Montpellier and Perpignan, as well as Carcassone, were treating the
injured.
Colonel Benoit Royal, head of the army's information unit, said a
number among the injured were from military families.
France's Defence Minister Herve Morin traveled to Carcassone on Sunday
evening to visit victims of the incident in the hospital.
"I have ordered an immediate inquiry ... to determine as quickly as
possible the cir***stances of this tragic incident," he said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was urgently awaiting the
results of the top-level military probe, according to a presidential
statement.
Sarkozy said he "shares with the families the pain caused by this
tragedy. My first thoughts are with the victims. Everything will be
put in place to care for them."
Lemaire added that investigators believed the deadly ammunition was
loaded by mistake.
"The question being asked is 'Did the soldier engage in a criminal act
or not?'," Lemaire said. "For now, no one can answer that, but the
theory being worked on is one of error.
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