It seems to me that Ginty is being extremely unfair to Nicola here. When the gun goes off it proves it was in fact loaded contrary to everyone's belief. Since in the previous five minutes Patrick has pointed it first at Lawrie (without pulling the trigger but allowing himself to be disarmed by force in circumstances where he could inadvertently have pulled the trigger) and himself (while deliberately pulling the trigger) Nicola hitting Patrick's wrist has merely deflected what the gun was pointing at when discharged not whether it discharged at all.
Two possibilities I can think of for Peter - first that he checked one gun twice over and overlooked the loaded one, secondly that he managed merely to cock the trigger rather than pulling it fully. I'm not sure, either, whether a pistol might previously have failed to discharge because of damp, but the constant fires and warmth in the room over the Gondalling period have dried out the charge sufficiently to cause it to work.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: the (probably improbable, but nevertheless) gun incident
Date: 2014-10-17 02:38 pm (UTC)Two possibilities I can think of for Peter - first that he checked one gun twice over and overlooked the loaded one, secondly that he managed merely to cock the trigger rather than pulling it fully. I'm not sure, either, whether a pistol might previously have failed to discharge because of damp, but the constant fires and warmth in the room over the Gondalling period have dried out the charge sufficiently to cause it to work.