Lawful Texas Gun Owner Accidentally Shoots and Kills His Neighbor - No Charges

Debra Mishler was killed in an accidental shooting around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 5, 2014. Atascosa County Sheriff David Soward said he didn’t expect charges to be filed.

Local news reports

Tragedy strikes early in the year as Debra Mishler, 50, dies from an accidental gunshot wound to the abdomen.

A relative of Mishler's and another man were allegedly examining a .308 caliber rifle in their mobile home adjacent to Mishler's on Fern Hollow off State Highway 173, four miles west of Jourdanton around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday. One of the men allegedly pulled the trigger of the gun, thinking it was not loaded, inside the mobile home. The gun was loaded, says Atascosa

County Sheriff David Soward, and the bullet shot through a bathroom wall and struck the victim on her porch as she was walking into her house next door.

Sheriff Soward said Mishler was helped into a private vehicle and rushed toSouth Texas Regional Medical Center where she died while in route. "It's a classic example of someone treating a weapon as unloaded when in fact it wasn't," he added.

Sheriff Soward does not expect any charges to be filed in the incident.

Florida Trailer Resident Hit by Stray Bullet While Eating Dinner

Local news reports

Authorities have identified two people who were shooting targets with rifles in a yard off Bevis Road Wednesday night when an 18-year-old man was shot in the foot.

As of early Thursday morning, victim Kelley Harlow was still in an area hospital awaiting the removal of the bullet that pierced the wall of his single-wide mobile home and travelled through a bookcase before lodging in his right foot.

Investigators returned to the scene Thursday to determine whether any more bullets struck the home or any other areas outside the pile of dirt that the men were using as a firing berm.

Determining that may help officials decide, if one of the identified men is ultimately held responsible, whether a charge of criminal negligence is appropriate in the case or whether a lone bullet ricocheted out of the dirt pile in a fluke of circumstance that might not warrant a charge.

The bullet itself, once removed from the victim, may ultimately help officials determine whether one of the identified men or someone else is responsible.

The men who were identified had been shooting in an area roughly 500 to 600 yards from the Harlow home.

This is not the first time that a stray bullet has injured someone in Jackson County. Some time back, a man was struck by a bullet while he sat in a funeral procession. Authorities determined that someone who was squirrel hunting fired the shot which unintentionally struck the victim in that case.

Law enforcement officials urge people to use extreme caution when using firearms in recreational pursuits.

I suppose in gun-friendly Florida, having a shooting area so close to private residences is no big deal. When people are shot it's no one's fault.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

North Carolina Man is Dead - He Forgot the One in the Chamber and Handed the Gun to His 11-Year-old Step-Daughter

Bryan and Pamela Reno

The Charlotte Observer

An 11-year-old Cleveland County girl accidentally shot her 19-year-old stepfather to death Friday with a handgun he had just acquired, county Sheriff Alan Norman said Saturday.

When they arrived, they found Bryan Scott Reno dead from an apparent gunshot wound to the chest, Norman said.

Authorities determined that Reno had purchased the gun either through a trade or purchase within 24 hours of the incident, Norman said.

He said that on Friday evening, while his 35-year-old wife Pamela Reno slept, Bryan Reno showed the gun to his stepdaughter. At one point, Reno removed the magazine slide from the firearm and handed the .380-caliber gun to her to examine, Norman said.

“During the course of her looking at the firearm, it’s apparent that she pulled the trigger of the firearm and it discharged,” Norman said. “It just appears he failed to check the chamber to make sure there was not a bullet in the chamber, and it turned fatal.”

Neighbor Patty Saltares said the Renos had moved into their single-wide mobile home on Lemmons Road within the last couple of weeks.

At least we finally have a proper description of the unintentional discharge. What was that ridiculous pro-gun justification about using the passive voice? This way, attributing the mistake to a human person instead of the gun, doesn't seem to create any problems.

Trailer-trash red-necks, and everyone else for that matter, should have to pass a simple test in order to be qualified to own firearms.  Many of them would be screened out right there.  Those who pass should be required to have some minimal training during which they could learn that taking out the magazine is not enough to make the gun safe. I mean, how fucking stupid do you have to be to even need that lesson? Yet, how often do we read about negligent discharges that happen for that very reason?

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/09/07/4294301/11-year-old-girl-accidentally.html#.Uiwho8anrmM#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/09/07/4294301/11-year-old-girl-accidentally.html#.Uiwho8anrmM#storylink=cpy

Mississippi 5-Year-old Dead - No Charges

Local news reports

Tishomingo County authorities say a five-year-old died after being accidentally shot by a family member Thursday night.

Sheriff's officials say they were called to the Cotton Gin Trailer Park in Burnsville along with Burnsville Police around 10 p.m.

When officers arrived, they found the child.

What can I say, except the idea that fewer restrictions on the supposedly god-given, natural-human right to own a gun, which ensures that we'll have more of these incidents than we otherwise would, is wrong.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.