Dave Higginbotham

[Niederlander]

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Gentlemen,
       I regret to report I received an e-mail today advising me that Mr. Dave Higginbotham of Lone Star Rifle was killed this morning by an accidental gunshot.  Please keep his family in your prayers, and use this as a reminder that SAFETY should always be of paramount importance.

[G.W. Strong]

I also was notified of his passing. How sad! My prayers are with his family.

[Niederlander]

Before anyone gets the wrong impression, I want to stress I'm not denigrating the man's safety habits;  I'll bet if we're honest with ourselves we can all think of several times our gunhandling left something to be desired from a safety standpoint.  The point is that sometimes you don't get the chance to do it right "the next time".

[Marshal Deadwood]

EVERY ONE OF us,,,has at sometime shaded some safety corner,,no need to say we haven't.  At the best we can do, slips happen,,,most often it's harmless,,,but it still happens.

My heart really goes out to his family and prayers said for all concerned.

Deadwood

[Pitspitr]

Anyone who handles a gun long enough will eventually have a gun accident. The secret to surviving them (and to those around you surviving it) is to always try to do everything right. This minimizes the effect of the mistake.

BTW both of mine were when I was trying to put the safety on.  Once my finger was really cold and I thought it was on the safety of my Mini-14 when it was actually on the trigger. The other was putting an old shotgun on half cock and my thumb slipped off the hammer.

Prayers up for Dave and his family.

[Pony Racer]

I did the hammer thing once myself....had to get rid of that gun...

Thankfully it only cost me buying a new special sized window in my parents farm house...course two of their prized german short hair hunting dogs were close by - the dogs were not hurt at all but the the thought of what I had almost done due to a very simple mistake and slip of the thumb was enough to get rid of the gun.

Thankfully, anytime I think about cheating safety leven to the smallest of degrees, my minds eye reminds me of that incident.

PR

[LoneStarJr]

Hello All...

Dave Higginbotham is my father.  Yes, my father made a mistake, and in the end it robbed the world of a truly good man.  We don't know the details of why he picked up his AR-15 from the muzzle, but I suspect he was trying to cut his trips back and forth to the truck short.  My father suffered daily with horrible arthritis.  Some days the pain was manageable, others it was not.   I believe he had his hands full and rather than make another trip back to the truck, he probably thought, "well, lemme just grab this real quick.."

My father worked on and around guns all his life, and if he had seen someone else do what he did, he'd been the first to pop them upside the head and call them a "Dadburn Idgit".

My father used to always tell me, "Son, a gun is like a snake... As long as you're safe and take all the right precautions handling them you'll be fine, but the first time you get careless, it's gonna bite ya."

Unfortunately as we all know when you work with something day in and day out over a period of years, you get complacent... too self assured.

Please always remember to practice what you preach... please.. in the end it could be just the thing that saves your life.

God Bless you all, and thank you all for the kind words you've spoken about my Dad.

<><

[Niederlander]

Mr. Higginbotham,
      Please accept my sincere condolences.  I regret I never got to meet your father in person, just visited with him by e-mail a couple of times.  He was going to fix a Rolling Block for me, and I was looking forward to having "the master" work on my rifle.  (Every time I look into gunsmithing Rolling Blocks, every reference refers to your dad.)  I've been praying for your family and will continue to do so.  Semper Fidelis

[Grizzly Adams]

Hello All...

Dave Higginbotham is my father.  Yes, my father made a mistake, and in the end it robbed the world of a truly good man.  We don't know the details of why he picked up his AR-15 from the muzzle, but I suspect he was trying to cut his trips back and forth to the truck short.  My father suffered daily with horrible arthritis.  Some days the pain was manageable, others it was not.   I believe he had his hands full and rather than make another trip back to the truck, he probably thought, "well, lemme just grab this real quick.."

My father worked on and around guns all his life, and if he had seen someone else do what he did, he'd been the first to pop them upside the head and call them a "Dadburn Idgit".

My father used to always tell me, "Son, a gun is like a snake... As long as you're safe and take all the right precautions handling them you'll be fine, but the first time you get careless, it's gonna bite ya."

Unfortunately as we all know when you work with something day in and day out over a period of years, you get complacent... too self assured.

Please always remember to practice what you preach... please.. in the end it could be just the thing that saves your life.

God Bless you all, and thank you all for the kind words you've spoken about my Dad.

<><

Sir, We all grieve with you at the lose of your father.  I never met you dad, but he was a legend few had not heard of.  He will certainly be missed.  Please know that your family is in our prayers.  God bless and be with you and yours.

[G.W. Strong]

Dear Mr. Higginbotham,
I am very sorry for your loss. Earlier this year I had been picking your father's brain about the repairs I needed done to my Model 1871 Rolling block. The thumb latch on the block had broken off and needed replacing. This week I finished the repairs to it and I will be taking it to the range tomorrow. I will be thinking of him. God bless you and keep you well in this very difficult time.