'Pop!' goes the illusion of gun safety (Roanoke)

[CornField]

Shhhh...oot, accidents happen.

A shaken and embarrassed Del. Jack Reid got an unwanted lesson Thursday morning in just how fast and unintentionally gun accidents can happen when his own .380 semiautomatic handgun discharged while he was trying to unload it -- in his legislative office, in the General Assembly Building, at one of its busiest times of day.

Yes, the Henrico County Republican has been packing heat to work, for protection against unhappy constituents, apparently. That's perfectly legal in Virginia, where lawmakers routinely gun down efforts to ban weapons from the state Capitol complex with misplaced zeal for protecting gun rights, even when they defy common sense.

Luckily, Reid happened to have been given a bulletproof vest as a joke by a county sheriff during last year's General Assembly. Luckily, Reid happened to have hung the vest on his office door. And, luckily, the bullet he shot happened to hit the vest.

(more at link)

Wow... kinda blows a hole in the "guns don't kill people - people kill people" line of thinking.

Edited to add link (you know, since I said there was more there - LOL!) http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/wb/xp-50233

[varkam]

1. Guns don't kill people...

It's just the little metal things that get propelled from the business end at high velocities that kill people. I swear, I think people like that fall asleep watching Red Dawn on a nightly basis.

[O.M.B.inOhio]

7. Not Red Dawn.

Isn't Red Dawn the movie that sympathizes with armed insurgents trying to repel a foreign invasion? Not the GOP party line anymore. The updated Red Dawn would have the Americans in the sleepy little Midwest town accept the Russians as liberators.

[Toots]

18. The sun doesn't provide heat and light either

It is just those invisible little rays that come from it...This guns don't kill argument is about as logical as saying Bush* never told a LIE.

[MercutioATC]

2. Nothing would have happened had he used the proper care.

Guns don't just go off when you're cleaning them unless you've forgotten to unload them. Nothing wrong with the gun...it was HUMAN error.

[CornField]

3. He wasn't cleaning it. He was attempting to unload it.

[ewoden]

8. well he did succeed in unloading it

Cranking off the last round while slamming home the slide on a cheap 380 gets 'er done all right.

[MercutioATC]

13. True.

:)

If he is, in fact, experienced with guns he should consider a revolver. It's VERY difficult to accidently discharge a revolver when unloading it...

[MercutioATC]

12. It was still human error. Unloading a gun isn't a difficult process.

There are many actions when, done improperly, can result in injury (driving being an example).

It doesn't make sense to blame the tool, whether it be a gun or a car, unless the tool is inherently unsafe. That doesn't seem to be the case in this situation.

[expatriot]

5. one could say all gun deaths are caused by HUMAN error. nt.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

10. Here, here

If you are too stupid to unload a fire arm safely, you shouldn't be a representative of the people. It ain't rocket science!

[ewoden]

4. Aw shucks and here I was hoping he'd have the muzzle pointed

in the direction that would do Virginians the most good.

[Crunchy Frog]

6. Stupid people with guns kill people. n/t

[hollowdweller]

17. My favorite accidental discharge story

My friend was taking a gun safety class to get her concealed permit.

At the end of the session after showing something about the gun that involved live ammo the instructor took the clip out, pointed the gun at the floor, pulled the trigger and shot a hole in the floor;-)

You KNOW that had to be embarrasing. I don't know if anyone reported him or not but I think I would have. Obviously not the person to be teaching a safety class.

[ewoden]

9. Are you sure this just wasn't an . . .

incompetent attempt at suicide. After all he is a Republican and they are having a hard time accomplishing anything lately. Maybe somebody should check his head for holes?

[gratuitous]

14. Hmmm, an incompetent suicide attempt?

You could be onto something there. Now, how to figure out if that's what it was? Does this Republican have a hole in his head? No, that wouldn't be dispositive; lots and lots of Republicans have a hole in their heads. Perhaps we could hold out his legislative paycheck or a campaign contribution. Although I believe that studies at Virginia Tech have shown that the impulse for Republicans to grab money is so innate that it survives post mortem. So that wouldn't tell us anything, either.

Perhaps if he falls over and starts to stink? No, could just be another Saturday night for the high-living Republicans (well, high-living as long as someone else is picking up the tab). Perhaps if he becomes a goddam ineffectual moron who should be locked away for his own safety and the safety of others? Wait, how would that be any change in his condition?

Well, I'm stumped. The question seems insoluble.

[Lexingtonian]

11. A half decent ricochet

and the people of Henrico County would've gotten a chance to elect a guy with some sense.

[rucky]

15. That's the thing about these con assholes...

they have to learn everything the hard way, because they are cognatively incapable of considering things from other perspectives.

[hollowdweller]

16. I've had guns for 35 years and never done anything like that.

Never click a gun even if you know it's empty and you will most likely never have an accidental discharge.