A Wyoming man is recovering in the hospital after his dog accidentally shot him. In a phone interview on Thursday, Johnson County Sheriff Steve Kozisek confirmed that Richard L. Fipps, 46, was hospitalized Monday after his dog stepped on a loaded rifle in the bed of his pickup truck and accidentally fired it. The rifle's safety was off, Kozisek said.
According to Big Horn Mountain Radio, Fipps was removing snow chains from his truck when he was shot in the left arm.
Let me guess--you're outraged that the dog wasn't arrested, right, Mikeb?
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the genius of a poacher who was shot by one of his turkey victims.
There was actually a TV segment about it (Animal Planet, maybe?). The poacher's adult son (and accomplice) wisely informed viewers that "Turkeys are dangerous."
Was that another joke, Kurt, or are you really confused as to what my problem is in this case? Gun owners need to be held responsible for the weapons they own. Whether a dog or a kid or a thief or anyone else gets their hands, or paws, on a gun and someone gets hurt, the gun owner is responsible, unless of course the gun was locked up in a safe - but if you gun nuts would simply do that dogs and kids and thieves would not get at the guns. When carrying or hunting or using your guns at the range, you are responsible for them at all times.
DeleteWas that another joke, Kurt . . .
DeleteYes, Mikeb, the first sentence was a joke, and yes--I'm aware that I don't have much of a future in comedy.
As for the guy in Wyoming, he's being held to a bullet in the arm's worth of "responsibility," and a nice big emergency room bill. This is not a matter for the justice system to get in any way involved.
. . . but if you gun nuts would simply do that dogs and kids and thieves would not get at the guns.
Confused here--I'm not one of these notional (mythical?) "gun nuts" of yours, and no kids, dogs, or thieves have done anything with guns of mine. To whom are you talking?
"Gun owners need to be held responsible for the weapons they own."
DeleteAnd he got a more immediate consequence than any court can offer Mike.
Right, leaving punishment to dogs is a great way to secure justice and stop the same thing from happening again. Thanks for the laugh.
DeleteWould a law punish him worse than losing a arm, Mike? Great bodily injury and death are a stronger motivation to practice safe handling than fines and jail will ever be.
Delete"Right, leaving punishment to dogs is a great way to secure justice and stop the same thing from happening again."
DeleteSorry, it isn't the dogs fault. Its the owner. I just believe that he's already received adequate punishment. To quote from a non-Heinlein novel, I think it was a Niven-Pournelle piece,
" Think of it as evolution in action"
TS, is he losing his arm? Did he experience "great bodily injury?
DeleteKurt and ss, his injuries are not enough punishment for the irresponsible behavior he committed. You know what I'd like to see.
You know what I'd like to see.
DeleteYeah--I think I can take a pretty good guess at what sick perversions you fantasize about seeing.
Looks likely:
DeleteDue to the severity of the injury, Fipps is now in Billings. Although his life was saved, Fipps arm may be amputated.
MikeB: "Kurt and ss, his injuries are not enough punishment for the irresponsible behavior he committed. You know what I'd like to see."
DeleteTo lose his other arm? That way he can't commit any more gun offenses... other than constructive possession in New Jersey, of course.
To lose his other arm? That way he can't commit any more gun offenses... other than constructive possession in New Jersey, of course.
DeleteNice one, TS.
Yuk yuk, nice one.
Delete"Sorry, it isn't the dogs fault. Its the owner."
DeleteI never said it was the dogs fault, but thanks for lying about what I said.
You should get behind laws that punish idiot gun owners now that you have cited it is the idiot gun owners fault.
"You should get behind laws that punish idiot gun owners now that you have cited it is the idiot gun owners fault."
DeleteAnon, the owner has already received his punishment. Can you name any other laws that punish negligent self harm? For example, someone leans a ladder against the house, it falls on the owner and injures him. Should he be prosecuted?
Right, like that's comparable. You enjoy lying don't you?
DeleteWhether a dog or a kid or a thief or anyone else gets their hands, or paws, on a gun and someone gets hurt, the gun owner is responsible, unless of course the gun was locked up in a safe . . .
DeleteSo would that be any safe, Mikeb? If a burglar steals a gun that was locked up in a relatively cheap, relatively easily picked (or easily destroyed) safe, and uses the gun for evil (or sells it or gives it to someone who does) would you want the gun owner blamed? How about something like this with the included cable lock employed--good enough for you? How about something like this, that would keep most thieves out while they're tossing your place, but that they could carry off with them, and eventually cut their way in at their leisure?
Those are exactly the questions a judge would look at. But no safe should be a big no-no.
DeleteThose are exactly the questions a judge would look at.
DeleteA "judge would look at" whether or not a gun owning crime victim's safe was "adequate"? Meaning that even if the stolen gun had been locked in a safe, the gun owner is (arrested, or "merely" cited? and) hauled into court?
You are a monster, Mikeb, or would be, if you had the power to make your sick fantasies real. Thankfully, you don't, and never will.
Mike, for once I can't call you out on an inconsistency. That's exactly what you said last time I pressed you on what exactly constitutes "safe storage". That anyone who has a gun stolen should be arrested and put on trial and have to defend that their safe that was just broken into is good enough to keep thieves out. The law and order version of "kill them all and let God sort them out" with a Catch-22 thrown in for good measure.
DeleteYou know, it now occurs to me that, incredibly, I grossly understated the depravity of your position that "a judge should look at" what constitutes an adequate safe. That means that you're not advocating that the standard be written into the law, but instead forcing gun owners shopping for a safe to simply try to guess whether or not a given safe would satisfy the judge they may eventually face.
DeleteUtterly disgusting.
Kurt, you're rivaling Colion Noir in the exaggerated feigned indignation department. And that's saying something because he's pretty good at it.
DeleteIf mandatory safe storage were to become law, there would obviously be some guidelines for arresting officers on the scene and judges in the courtroom to determine what constitutes a "proper gun safe."
I guess that was too complicated to break through your fake knee-jerk response to my common sense suggestion.
If mandatory safe storage were to become law, there would obviously be some guidelines for arresting officers on the scene and judges in the courtroom to determine what constitutes a "proper gun safe."
DeleteAh--I see. I was expected to have predicted that you would add these hastily envisioned "guidelines," about which there had not until now been a single word.
And it's still not good enough--not even close. The gun owning gun safe buyer must have etched-in-stone certainty about whether a given safe is enough to protect him/her from the scourge of mandatory "safe storage" laws.
I guess that was too complicated to break through . . .
I take it that the "that" you mention here refers to these never-before-mentioned "guidelines" of yours? Yeah--they didn't "break through." Perhaps if they had existed before, they would have.
. . . to my common sense suggestion.
I look forward to seeing the very first of those--when will that be? Keep in mind, I probably have only a few more decades to live.
Obviously, under the one strike you're out ruling Spot should permanently lose his gun ownership rights. And of course if there are gun storage laws in place, the man shot could be charged, depending on whether the dog is an adult or not.
ReplyDeleteThis statement was sort of funny.
"Carrying a loaded rifle in a truck is never a good idea, safety on or safety off," Kozisek said. "
I'm sure that for some reason he thinks the loaded long arms in a police car are somehow different.
Do cops have loaded rifles bouncing around on the back seat? I don't think so.
DeleteNot sure about the bouncing part Mike. It appears from what the article said that the truck was stopped and the owner was removing tire chains.
DeleteNot usually in the back seat Mike but I know for a fact the Nevada Highway Patrol has their AR15s loose in the trunk of their cars with all the other crap they haul around with them..This guy is lucky he did not have a cat he would not have made it out of his driveway before the cat tried to kill him.
DeleteMBIAC.....
"his dog stepped on a loaded rifle in the bed of his pickup truck and accidentally fired it. The rifle's safety was off, Kozisek said."
ReplyDeleteOwner negligence, not an accident.