Local news reports
A 16-year-old is dead after being shot in the neck by an acquaintance holding an AR-15 rifle.
Police tell WWL-TV a 23-year-old was showing a group of people the newly-acquired weapon at around 1:00 a.m. in the 200 block of James Drive in Marrero when the incident happened.
The gun owner later told police he didn't know there was a round in the chamber, and "that he pulled the trigger to clear the weapon and it went off, striking the victim in the neck," according to WWL-TV.
Emergency responders prounounced the teen dead on the scene.
Update: JPSO (Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office) Spokesman Col. John Fortunato says Christian Cardon, who police say admitted firing the weapon, was booked this morning with one count of negligent homicide.
Forgetting there's one in the chamber happen more often in states like Louisiana. And pulling the trigger to clear the chamber while aiming at another person takes a special kind of intelligence and gun-safety training.
If there were proper screening and qualifying done before issuing a gun ownership license, many incidents like this would be avoided.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
What evidence do you have that negligence happens more often in Louisiana than other states? And even if true, you keep saying that screening and qualifying is needed to solve the problem. What, specifically, are you talking about? You've never named anything that would let us know in advance that a person is at risk for this--nothing outside of denying permission automatically, and that we'll never tolerate.
ReplyDeleteJust a couple days ago you were talking more rational:
ReplyDeleteMikeB: “When someone forgets there's a round in the chamber and then goes on to break one or two other safety rules, he should be punished in such a way that he never ever can do that again.
I know we can't anticipate who might do something like this in the future, but we can damn well ensure they never do it twice.”
But even at the end of that thread you went back to this may-issue being used to stop negligent pre-crimes idea. The problem is you want to disarm tens of millions of people who won’t negligently discharge their guns with your massive sweeping disarmament plan.
"If there were proper screening and qualifying done before issuing a gun ownership license, many incidents like this would be avoided."
ReplyDeleteMike, the problem with requiring a class to get permission from the government in order to exercise a right is going to make it a tough sell.
The problem is that in the past, government entities have used the requirement for classes, fees, background checks, more fees, and of course having to satisfy some secret committee that you have a good enough reason. Just look at the anguish displayed by the Australian political types when too many people are qualifying to own firearms.
This training, in reality should be conducted in the schools to insure that everyone will benefit and have a larger potential impact on firearm accidents.
Yep, when the number of people who took the steps to get a gun increased in Australia, their gun control proponents called it a "problem".
DeleteMike,
ReplyDeleteJust last week you posted a story about a police chief with 25 years of service that somehow forgot to clear his weapon when cleaning his firearm. They had even just returned from training on the new pistol.
You cant let your mind wander when firearms are involved.
Yeah, that's the one Greg said sounded like a true accident - a mechanical failure. I'm still laughing.
DeleteNo, Greg was talking about the Maine State Police officer who's firearm went off while he was sitting in class. It was also mentioned in the article about the police chief.
DeleteIf you weren't being smart about this, you'd remember that Greg said that regarding the story on the condition that the gun discharged in the holster as was being claimed, and not because of some idiotic handling of the gun covered for with a lie about it being in the holster.
DeleteOr is ridiculing Greg important enough to justify misrepresenting him?
It's fun having people talk about me...
DeleteYes, the story in question reported the gun going off in the holster. I don't see how that's possible, barring some kind of mechanical failure, either on the part of the holster or the gun. Now, the story may be wrong in its details, but if it's accurate, things don't make sense.
So, Mikeb, if you are laughing at that, you show yourself to be incapable of good reasoning or ignorant of the technology involved.
Forgetting there's one in the chamber happen more often in states like Louisiana.
ReplyDeleteEvidence? Oh, sorry--how silly of me. I must have forgotten whom I was talking to.