Apparently, David Waldman posts a list of gun-related accidents every week, and I thought I'd re-post a few excerpts from this one:
Heavy volume this week, as we top 50 listings for the first time in quite a while. But that just gives me a chance to remind you that statistically, I'm capturing only about 20 percent of accidental gun injuries each week, and there's no telling how many accidental discharges or other types of GunFAIL are being missed that don't immediately cause injury. I suspect that the arrival of November—and with it, deer hunting season—is partly responsible for the increase in gun cleaning accidents, of which there were eight admitted instances. Three people were accidentally shot in hunting mishaps, as well. Four, if you count the one who says he and his friends were out hunting for Bigfoot. In Tulsa, Oklahoma. Because of course. A fifth victim shot himself in the face when he took his rifle out while telling hunting stories.
It was likewise a rough week for law enforcement, with four officers accidentally shooting themselves, one contract security guard accidentally putting a round in the floor in the El Paso, TX municipal court building, and one McLennan County, TX prosecutor accidentally shooting out a colleague's office window. McLennan County prosecutors are armed, it should be noted, in response to the murders of two prosecutors in nearby Kaufman County earlier this year. It might well make sense as a matter of policy for criminal prosecutors, but I thought it made an interesting footnote to the related question of whether it makes sense to arm teachers. Here, after all, were two respected professionals in their place of employment, and still we not only saw an accidental discharge, but afterwards, the insistence that, "I was being extremely safe," from the very person who caused the accident. ...
In other recurring theme categories, two people who shot themselves were caught lying to police, at first claiming some mysterious stranger had shot them, one person accidentally shot himself with his concealed weapon while reaching for his wallet at the grocery store, four people were injured in three separate accidents at practice ranges, two helpful patriots shared freedom projectiles with unsuspecting neighbors (including one very giving person who fired through a total of four neighboring units), one 11-year-old boy accidentally shot his sister, and one resident of Rock Hill, SC accidentally shot himself, bringing the grand total of Rock Hill GunFAILS this year to nine. ...
Other twists this week: the man who shot his friend not because he didn't think his gun was loaded, but because he thought he had loaded it with blanks (but hadn't); the Denver road rager who accidentally shot himself (for a change); and the toddler who accidentally shot his father (grabbing an unsecured, loaded shotgun as he climbed into dad's truck).
The child victims of GunFAIL this week were ages 4, 4, 5, 14 and 16.
So, just an ordinary week in America, right? But I thought I'd post it because of this story. One of Nebraska's dumbest state legislators is trying, again, to get guns in our public schools.
Oddly enough, right-wingers tend to hate teachers. Well, they're not too fond of education, in general. But they commonly think that teachers can't be trusted with anything,... except guns. Obviously, these complete incompetents, intent on brainwashing their little charges to accept socialism, UN black helicopters, and the coming gay dictatorship, should still be well-armed, though.
It seems weird to me, but right-wing Republicans apparently love guns more than they hate teachers.
Of course, no teacher, no matter how incompetent, is going to have a gun accident, right? They're not going to drop the gun or accidentally pull the trigger or leave it lying where a kid can get to it, not like what happens to trained police officers. And when an emergency occurs - a loud BANG, say - these teachers will handle it like a trained SWAT team, including not shooting all the other teachers who've also pulled their weapons.
But then, if there is a problem with this, we can just arm the students, too, huh?
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