Gun store owner recovering from gunshot wound

Ronald J. Rando, who has operated Ron's Guns in East Lyme for the past 40 years, accidentally shot himself in the hand yesterday after somebody brought a loaded pistol into the store.

Rando underwent surgery at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital and returned home this afternoon. He said over the phone that he is in some pain, but he is thinking about reopening the gun store tomorrow.

"It was my own mistake," Rando said. "I screwed up. It's the first time in 40 years something like this happened."

Rando said a customer brought in two pistols for sale, a Beretta .380 caliber and a Jennings .22 caliber. He said he checked the Beretta first, and went to check on the Jennings pistol when he shot himself in the left hand.

"I must have had my finger on the trigger," he said.

The bullet went in the back and came out the front, he said. He ran to his house, which is next door to the gun shop on Boston Post Road, and put a towel on the bleeding wound while waiting for the ambulance.