Wife Shoots Husband While Attempting to Shoot Skunk

Local news reports The action took place not far from Houston, Texas where women carry guns just in case of varmint attack.

The Background Check System Needs to be Fixed

 The Denver Post reports

More than 2 million qualifying mental-illness records are missing from the NICS index, according to the National Center for State Courts and SEARCH, the National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics.

Judges who find a defendant mentally defective under the law are required to add that person's name to the index.

"Part of the reason they don't report is lack of funding, and part is they just don't make this system a priority," said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

This is disgraceful and something should be done.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

Execution by Elephant

via The Oddment Emporium 

Execution by elephant was a common method of capital punishment in South and Southeast Asia, and particularly in India. Asian Elephants were used to crush, dismember, or torture captives in public executions. The animals were trained and versatile, both able to kill victims immediately or to torture them slowly over a prolonged period. Employed by royalty, the elephants were used to signify both the ruler’s absolute power and his ability to control wild animals.

Colorado Man Loses Fingers in Shotgun Shell Accident

via Steamboat Today from Outta the Cornfield

A 21-year-old Clark man suffered severe hand injuries Tuesday after the shotgun shell he was taking apart exploded, according to the Routt County Sheriff’s Office.

Keith West told deputies that he was working in his shed in the 56000 block of Lupine Drive off Seedhouse Road when the accident occurred. West reported he was using a Dremel power tool to take apart the shell, which he thought no longer was a live round. The tool hit the round’s primer, igniting the round.

One Fly expressed a nice sentiment, "Hope this guy heals fast and becomes much better for it."

This brings up one of the recurring themes around here.  Do people who have "accidents" learn from their mistakes and become even more careful afterwards.

I would imagine the answer is in some cases, yes, in some cases they learn for a while and then slip back into their improper behavior, whatever it was, and in some cases, no.

That's why I preach the one strike you're out rule.  When it comes to guns and ammo, we cannot take any chances.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Disgraceful Negligence by Carlisle Police Chief Stephen Margeson

Yahoo News reports with video

Someone stole a loaded gun from a police chief's car in central Pennsylvania. 

Carlisle police Chief Stephen Margeson's .40-caliber Glock was taken from his unmarked police SUV, which was parked in front of his home. Police said it happened between 1 p.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m. Thursday. There were no signs of forced entry. Police said it's unclear whether the vehicle was unlocked or someone knew the combination to open the keyless entry door.

Yeah, sure, someone knew the combination. Or, maybe the aliens did it.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Neil Armstrong R.I.P.

Arming the Good Guys is the Answer - Not

New York Times op-ed by Gail Collins

We had a shooting near the Empire State Building. An aggrieved ex-employee of an apparel company killed his former co-worker, and was himself killed by police. Except for the famous-landmark location, it was not actually a very big story. Remember the mass shooting at the lumberyard in North Carolina earlier this year, or the one last October at the California cement plant? No? Neither does anybody else except the grieving families. 

Nine passers-by were also wounded, and it seems almost certain that some or all were accidentally hit by the police. This isn’t surprising; it’s only in movies that people are good shots during a violent encounter. In 2008, Al Baker reported in The Times that the accuracy rate for New York City officers firing in the line of duty was 34 percent. 

And these are people trained for this kind of crisis. The moral is that if a lunatic starts shooting, you will not be made safer if your fellow average citizens are carrying concealed weapons.

The pro-gun crowd will quickly point out how much better they are than the cops at hitting their targets. SOME of them are, for sure, but some cops are well-trained marksmen too.

The average gun owner is not better trained and better equipped to handle an emergency than the average law enforcement officer, in spite of what the tiny fringe element of extremists says.

Good guys carrying guns in public does not make us safer. The proof is in examples like Tucson, where the armed civilians DID NOT STOP IT, and in the most recent Empire State Building incident, in which the shooters made matters worse.  Both of those, interestingly, were not gun-free zones.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.