I used the headline from Pittsburgh’s post-gazette.com because it’s an excellent example of the mainstream media’s inability to understand that guns do not go off by themselves. Perpetuating the idea that guns “accidentally discharge” sows fear amongst gun muggles, degrading our gun rights at the voting booth. It also removes responsibility from irresponsible gun owners, and misses an opportunity to emphasize the importance of firearms safety training. Anyway, you know all that. Here’s the beef: “A 20-year-old man was accidentally shot in the leg Thursday night following a competition shoot at Pine Creek Gun Club [a.k.a., the Pine Creek Sportsmen’s Club] in Armstrong County . . .
State police said Tyler Glenn Peters, of Kittanning, was wounded in the left upper thigh when another shooter’s rifle accidentally discharged while the shooters were putting away their rifles after the competition. The incident occurred around 9 p.m. at the gun club in Boggs, Armstrong County.
Police said Mr. Peters was treated at Armstrong County Memorial Hospital and then transferred to Allegheny General Hospital. They said he is expected to survive.
As are American gun rights. But it would be SO much better if someone would take these reporters out and teach them gun safety basics. Assuming that they’re not passively constructing these stories passively, to avoid embarrassing community members. [h/t JP]
Ouch, sounds like he knew his way around a gun too. Add it to the ‘gun violence’ stats
Always treat your weapon as if it is loaded! Then treat it as if it is loaded! Then pretend that it’s loaded. Oh, and if you’re done shooting at a competition, empty the magazine and check to make sure the chamber is empty before you put the blasted thing away. Then ALWAYS TREAT YOUR WEAPON AS IF IT IS LOADED!
Was it anywhere near a school? Add it to the “school shootings” stats.
I think the rule is if it happened within 100 miles of a school, or 100 miles from the eroding foundation of where a school used to be, then it’s a “school shooting” according to the demanding moms.
That is one of my worries about going to public ranges. I have no idea what the skill levels are of the folks around me, and I really don’t want to get shot, even by accident.
100% agree
One of the largest ranges here in my city has over 60 bays available and is a very busy place. On the weekends, you have to get there early to get a bay half the time. In the 20 some odd years of operation, the only incidents have been suicides with rentals.
Further, they have many safety officers keeping watch at all times.
I’m pretty confident in my safety while attending that range.
i agree. I belong to a rifle and pistol club that requires its members to be NRA members in order to cut down on novices. Even at that I avoid ranges where someone is standing next to me on the firing line. We have six ranges that have been cut into the side of a hill. I can shoot there without worrying that someone’s rifle or pistol is going to “go off.”
I was the recipient of a shower of hot, spent cases from a kid firing an AK-47 clone next to me at another range in town.
The lamestream media also used the same language against SUV’s while pushing more fuel economical wind up hybrids,..
“Large SUV loses control and kills family in Honda”. Than in paragraph 10, they mention the driver, was drunk with a suspended license, or not even at all.
Bonus points if the people killed were honors college students driving a Prius.
But yeah when an armed citizen stops a crime, there’s no mention of how it ended. Just the heroic statist police showing up to arrest them.
Guns just ‘go off’ all the time. That’s why they’re so dangerous. Buncha’ gun-nazis just ignoring the obvious. Scheech. [sarc]
20 yrs old ? They’ll lump him in with the chilluns.
I live in Pittsburgh. Fortunately we’re pretty good about stuff, though I was out changing targets at the hundred yard line a few weeks ago when some dumb kid started shooting. I screamed at them “You said clear!”, since I’d called cleared and they had agreed. They claimed it was a misfire. Rangers talked to them shortly after and kicked them off the range. I didn’t have to say a thing.
A ND is bad… a ND where you injure yourself is worse… a ND where you injure someone else is just inexcusable.
It sounds like the cops said it was an “accidental discharge”.
Somehow that term seems more appropriate for sewage…..
I’ve shot at Pine before, they run a safe range. Problem comes when you have events with lots of people who are not used to firing at a controlled range. Shooting in the back pasture or some spot in the woods tends to ingrain bad safety habits.
As for “accidental discharge”, all the State Troopers I have known use negligent discharge, no accidents with firearms, at least among the cops I know.
Honest question here– what *is* the best way to phrase the headline?
Negligent discharge of a firearm.
Well, these crazy leftists would try to blame the gun – It IS called gun violence, after all – but then they would eventually be forced to defend the guns’ rights in court. After all, we KNOW that most guns these days are black and therefore they could not possibly get a fair trial in America today.
So, you see, the twisting of the English language is absolutely necessary as leftists try to desperately disentangle themselves from the spaghetti of hypocrisy that surrounds their ideas.
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