North Dakota State University Ppolice Department patch (courtesy ebay.com)

“Fargo Police Lt. Joel Vettel says the incident is ‘concerning’ because there’s been a rash of accidental shootings in the area in the last month. He says the common thread has been human error.” North Dakota State University campus police officer accidentally shoots himself [via foxnews.com]

23 COMMENTS

    • Unless you consider the possibility that they’re shooting themselves to get off the front lines…

  1. I am more “concerned” about the illiteracy of supposedly educated people who do not know the difference between “concerning” (aptly put in quotation marks above) and “disconcerting.” I see/hear this all the time now. When did this nonsense begin?

    • Wait until Common Core kicks in. Give it about 10 years, and we’ll be the most illiterate country in the world. TTACC

    • What is more disconcerting is the lack of distinction between “accidental” and “negligent.”

      Accidental shooting would imply a mechanical failure that is out of control of the shooter. If my disconnector fails and my 1911 goes into full auto, that is accidental.

      If I pull the trigger thinking the firearm is empty and it goes bang, that’s negligent.

      Funny thing is I popped “accidental discharge” into Google and wound up at the Wikipedia page on the topic. Even that article doesn’t make the proper distinction:

      occur when the trigger of the firearm is deliberately pulled for a purpose other than shooting—dry-fire practice, demonstration, or function testing—but ammunition is mistakenly left in the chamber

      • Negligence, from a legal point of view, has a defined meaning. Negligence occurs when there is a duty of care owed, a breach of the duty, causation (did someone’s behavior cause damages?), and if the supposed negligence was foreseeable.

        Let me give you an example of a negligent discharge versus an accident:

        Negligent: A guy’s at the shooting range with a M1911 and someone shows up with a M91/30 at the range to his right. Because he’s on a range, guy 1911 has a duty of care to not flash people with his muzzle, and to act safely. But he doesn’t, he ends up muzzle flashing and shooting the M91/30 guy because he flashed the muzzle at the M91/30 guy while depressing the trigger because he thought the safety was on, but it wasn’t. The duty of care was to act in a safe manner on the range. The M1911 guy breached that duty. The M1911 guy was responsible for the damages caused to the M91/30 guy, because he shot him directly. Also, flashing someone with the muzzle and pressing the trigger can foreseeably cause a shooting. That’s negligent.

        An accident would be much simpler. Worker’s Comp is no-fault, meaning if someone gets a back injury during the scope of their work duties, the employer and the employee aren’t at fault, so its simply a workplace accident. If no one is at fault and the accident doesn’t fit into the definition of negligence, then there’s an accident.

    • not sure I follow you. both words make sense in the sentence. both words change the meaning of the sentence.

  2. Wow. This is a great way to start the morning. Thankfully, this wasn’t serious, because I laughed. If it was serious, I would have felt bad for laughing.
    Some people shouldn’t be around machinery that can hurt them.

  3. Freaking guns go bang all by themselves all the time. This is an epidemic and I think these guns have a hidden agenda. Maybe this is like that movie Maximum Overdrive where machines came to life because of a comet. Any comets around here recently? The common thread is human error? Nah, that’s just what they want you to think. At any moment one of these guns could go berserk and go on a killing spree. It’s clear the answer is that we should outlaw all guns. Especially the police. You know, it’s for the children.

  4. Well, we all know that guns kill people. Hope these all survived.

    In Las Cruces NM, one officer was shot in the foot! TWICE! His father, a local orthopedic surgeon moved his practice out of town. Far, far away. The officer became known as 2 shot Schatzman, according to radio personality Paul Harvey. No word on whether charges were filed against the recalcitrant firearm.

  5. Maybe some firearm training might be in order? Like I don’t know an NRA course? Idiot’s with guns what do you expect to happen?

Comments are closed.