“Authorities say a 19-year-old man was reloading a rifle [not shown] during a party at his home in Bear when it discharged and struck two people,” Delaware’s wmdt.com reports. Did the word “party” jump out at you, too? I mean, there’s a time and place to show off your firearms. A party isn’t it.
I recommend a relatively quiet, alcohol-free zone in a space without a lot of coming and going and other, um, distractions. But what do I know? My guns don’t discharge on their own, no matter where I am in the loading process. Anyway . . .
Police say Wing was reloading the rifle after he gave the unloaded weapon to a 16-year-old who had asked to look at it . . .
Authorities say a round from Wing’s gun hit an 18-year-old woman in the torso and passed through her, striking a 23-year-old man in the hip during the party.
The man was released from the hospital, while the woman remained in stable condition.
So Mr. Wing unloaded his rifle before giving it to a friend for inspection/admiration. Right answer! And then decided to reload it before [presumably] putting it away. Wrong answer? Well . . .
I’ve unloaded my everyday carry gun and handed it to someone to have and to hold. And reloaded it upon its return before holstering. Would I do the same for my home defense rifle? Yeah. Probably.
So the the irresponsibility here centers — as it always does — on the gun owner’s failure to observe ye olde “always keep a gun pointed in a safe direction” rule as well as the “don’t put you finger on the trigger until your sights are on target” admonition.
To which I can only add what I mentioned at the top of this post: it’s not always a good idea to manipulate your gun in front of folks. A responsible gun owner puts safety above vanity. That is all.