As sad as this story is (Gun antics turn deadly for Concord 16-year-old)...well. Read:
The Concord resident died at John Muir Medical Center about 9 p.m. Wednesday after apparently firing one shot into his head at a friend's Antioch home, police said. Witnesses told police Christopher thought he was firing an empty chamber of a .357-caliber pistol.
Okay. One of the first couple of things Brett said to me when he was teaching me how to shoot was that you always always ALWAYS check to make sure that a gun is loaded when you pick it up. Even if you know it's unloaded, you *always* check.
Another thing he told me was that you never point a loaded gun at another human being, whether it's loaded or not. When you're at the range, always keep the barrel facing *down range*. When you're at home, you point it away from where anyone might be.
So, yes. Tragic and sad that a sixteen year old boy lost his life, but (horrible as this may sound), it sounds like it was his own fault.
The problem with this is that, once again, this is probably going to set off all the people in California (which seems to be most of them) who shriek and moan and wail about how evil guns are. It's not the child's fault, how could it be? It's the Evil Gun! We must Save Our Children and take everyone's guns away!
What? You're a responsible taxpayer who's taken safety classes in how to properly handle your firearm? Take it away!
What? You have a concealed carry permit for self defense, because you're worried someone might cause you physical harm? That doesn't matter, we don't care about you, we care about Our Children!
Arg.
It's funny, too--I didn't really care too much about this subject until I started dating Brett. It didn't matter--no one I knew owned a gun, and though there were rifles in the house where I grew up--*unlocked* rifles, with ammunition right there within my grasp--I was a responsible child, because I had a responsible parent. I'll also freely admit that there's a lot I still don't know.
I *do* know, however, that common sense is a good thing, and the lack of it can sometimes have fatal results.
Posted by Liz at October 24, 2003 02:19 PM