Campaigns calling for owners to lock up their guns are dangerously misguided. Even if an owner locks up their gun, children, teens and others can unlock it. If a child is young, Eddie the Eagle’s advice is spot on: leave it alone and go tell an adult. But at a certain point in the aging process, the best advice for gun safety is to focus on safety in a more practical manner: make sure the gun is pointed in a safe direction. Then deal with it. For the simple reason that otherwise sensible folks may find themselves in the presence of an idiot: someone else brings out a loaded gun for show-and-tell/playtime. Which is why . . .
the pro- AND anti-gun communities should launch a gun safety campaign warning owners not to play with guns. The campaign might stress the “treat all guns as if they’re loaded” rule, but it should emphasize the one gun safety rule to rule them all: never point a gun at something you’re not willing to destroy (PR-friendly wording to be determined later). Never allow anyone else to do it, either. That would save lives.
It’s also true that anyone who violates the four safety rules, death or grievous bodily harm resulting, is guilty of a negligent discharge. I’ll say it again. Gun safety is no accident, but 99.9% of all unintentional firearms-related injuries and deaths are negligent discharges. It’s past time the mainstream media labelled them as such. Not like this [via wistv.com]:
Man accidentally kills friend while showing off handgun
The Sumter [SC] Police Department is investigating an accidental shooting that killed a 24-year-old man.
Police responded to the scene 10 p.m. on Monday at a home in the 300 block of Bowman Drive.
Officials say DiQuon Jadar Morgan had been shot in the upper torso. He was later pronounced dead at Tuomey Regional Medical Center.
According to officials, Eugene Earl Martin, 22, [above] was showing a semi-automatic handgun to friends when it fired and struck Morgan. A clip was not in the handgun at the time of the shooting, witnesses say.
Martin was taken into custody and charged with involuntary manslaughter. He is being held at the Sumter-Lee Regional Detention Center pending bond.
The gun didn’t fire itself. Martin pulled the trigger. Suggesting anything else vilifies guns and misses a teachable moment. Hey professional news hounds. You listening? No, obviously not. Sigh. Over to you NRA. Or, WTH, Moms Demanding Civilian Disarmament or Everygun Banned for Town Safety. As if. If only.