MODESTO, CALIFORNIA — When pastor Tom Smith volunteered to act as an attacker for a scenario during a firearms safety class, he probably didn't think he'd actually get shot.

Smith was attending the class earlier this month, where instructor Phillip Rushing was teaching with a rubber gun at the Personal Protection Institute in Modesto on December 5.

Toward the end of the class, Rushing replaced the rubber gun with a real one when a student asked him to demonstrate how victims should deal with an attacker armed with a knife. Smith volunteered to act as the attacker, and this was when the gun accidentally went off and wounded him.

Smith was shot on his right side in the waist, just above the hip. The bullet missed his vital organs. He's recovering in hospital following surgery, and actually isn't angry at Rushing because — put simply — accidents happen.

Authorities are investigating, but haven't charged Rushing with a crime.

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