A few days after the tragic shooting of a mother in Wal-Mart by her two-year-old son in Idaho, we have two additional negligent shooting in California and Georgia. These cases present differences how such shooting cases are handled. In California, a man was arrested after his girlfriend was hit by a celebratory New Year’s shot while in Georgia a wife was hit by a round fired by a local police chief. [Update: Sheriff McCollum now says that he was moving the gun while in bed when it discharged twice].
Stephen Lucas, 24, was arrested after he fired a gun at midnight to celebrate the New Year and the round somehow hit his girlfriend. He now faces a charge of involuntary manslaughter, among other felony charges. She died 20 hours into 2015. They have a toddler together who is now without a mother or a father.
In Georgia, the Peachtree City Police Chief William McCollom called 911 to report that he had shot his wife. She is in critical condition.
The obvious difference between the two cases is that Lucas was engaged in a clearly illegal act when he negligently fired the weapon. He appears to be one of the many morons who fire weapons to celebrate despite the obvious risk to others. That makes this more than simple negligence for Lucas.
Lloyd Blankfien – bankster – “Driving drunk makes it more likely that you or someone else will be killed by a motor vehicle.”
Driving drunk is already breaking the law so it seems like a bad comparison. What you should have wrote is that all alcohol increases the chances of people dying. So are you for prohibition?
“Either no one has the balls to bring the wrath of the NRA down on them and simply say the guy is mentally retarded and should not have access to firearms, let alone stuff like that, or they want him back.”
False choice, Isaac.
It’s also likely people do not care about his weapons, but rather that he lacks the professional decorum and thick skin needed to operate successfully as a police chief.
“For the first time in more than two decades of Pew Research Center surveys, there is more support for gun rights than gun control. Currently, 52% say it is more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns, while 46% say it is more important to control gun ownership.”
http://thefederalist.com/2015/01/02/2014-a-banner-year-for-the-second-amendment/
GILBERTON, Pa. — Town officials said Thursday they intend to fire a police chief suspended after he posted online videos of himself shooting automatic weapons and going on profanity-laced tirades about liberals and the Second Amendment.
Note: for profanity not for operating weapons of war
Gilberton council members made the decision on Thursday concerning Chief Mark Kessler, the only full-time member of the town’s police force, who’s active in gun rights circles and is organizing an armed, non-government group that critics call a private militia.
Kessler, despite insisting he was simply exercising his constitutional rights in the videos, said the town council’s decision was “no surprise.”
“We knew it was coming,” he said.
Note: Who is the ‘We’? The ‘private militia’ as in well regulated?
A closed-door disciplinary hearing earlier in the day had dwelled on allegations including that Kessler improperly used a state-administered program to buy discounted tires for his personal vehicle, failed to submit required crime data and made derogatory comments about borough officials, said his attorney, Joseph Nahas.
Nahas said the charges were trumped up to conceal the town’s intent to fire Kessler over the videos. He said after the vote he’ll request a public hearing at which both sides can call witnesses, as is Kessler’s right under due process rules. The council would then have to vote a second time to fire Kessler.
Note: Either no one has the balls to bring the wrath of the NRA down on them and simply say the guy is mentally retarded and should not have access to firearms, let alone stuff like that, or they want him back.
Kessler told reporters outside his disciplinary hearing that he had been an excellent police chief and had nothing to apologize for. He said later he’d broken no laws: “None. I’d be in handcuffs.”
“My message was to wake up the people who are independents,” he said, “to say, `We’ve had enough and something needs to change, because we’re in bad shape all around. Not only here in this little town but across the nation. It’s a mess.'”
Note: His message was an exhibition of psychotic ranting and firing weapons of war. I think it says something somewhere in the Constitution about how to deal with enemies of the state…..
Kessler solicited donations to help keep his family afloat financially during his unpaid suspension, which he said was “really stressful.”
“But I feel in my heart I’m doing the right thing,” he said. “Yeah, I made some videos with some choice language, but that’s my right. That’s my freedom.”
Kessler’s pro-gun videos have garnered hundreds of thousands of views online. He acknowledges they are inflammatory but says they’re designed to draw attention to the erosion of Second Amendment and other constitutional rights.
I’m sure Adam Lanza would agree.
Council members declined to comment after Thursday night’s vote. Earlier, Mayor Mary Lou Hannon had said she found the police chief’s language offensive.
Again, language, not the weapons.
Kessler, a former coal miner, often posts online radio shows about gun rights, has spoken at gun rights rallies and created a website on which he seeks recruits for the Constitution Security Force, whose stated mission is to defend the constitution and the country from tyranny.
Gun rights activists had descended on the community of about 800 people, in Schuylkill County in eastern Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal country, to show support for Kessler, some carrying flags and displaying weapons.
Constitution Security Force member Bob Gardner traveled from Philadelphia.
“Mark has gotten railroaded,” said Gardner, who carried a semi-automatic AK-47. “He was exercising his First Amendment rights by backing it up with his Second Amendment rights.”
In January, Kessler drafted a resolution the borough adopted that calls for nullifying any federal, state or local regulations that infringe on the Second Amendment.
This is exactly the activity that will lead to an amendment to the amendment and the very infringement on the right to own and bear arms. The level of stupidity at this extreme should be a wake up call for every one who does believe that the 2nd amendment gives the citizen the right to carry a weapon.
I don’t believe the founding fathers had this in mind.
DBQ
Right after the beginning of the New Year, drunk at four in the morning, “I can’t take another year of her….”
By the process of elimination we arrive at the truth, sometimes, this time?
DBQ – I do sometimes get up early, but I am not sure if I would clean my weapon at that hour. However, when I was teaching I would often start working on lessons at 4 am. However, none of them included deadly weapons. 😉
Harry,
However, the man has his free speech rights, rights afforded to him by the second amendment, and is, after all, an elected official. Therefore as I have stated in the past, here and here and here, he is a perfectly normal gun toting free speaking American and we should be fu*^ing proud that he is there protecting us, and our children, and your children. Hopefully he won’t have any children. What!!! did I cross a line there?
This is the argument for psychos to not be allowed to carry a gun, machine gun, machine pistol, flamethrower, aircraft carrier, etc…..
As others have said. Cleaning your gun at 4:15 AM. Reeeeallly (in Jim Careys voice) Agreed with Pogo and others, about the double standards. Either this cop is a complete moron or was completely drunk or had some other mental impairment. In any of these cases he is not fit to be an officer of the law. We shall see how this works out.
On the other hand….just what did she do to deserve being shot. THAT’S a joke folks.
The other incident. Shooting into the air! Maybe we should have some sort of an IQ screening process for gun ownership after all 😐 (kidding sort of) Morons should not be allowed to possess guns or drive cars. Maybe even sharp pencils and running with scissors should be outlaws
Unless you’re on the night shift, no one cleans anything at 4:15 AM.
The follow-up to the Police Chief William McCollom story will be an important one in re: standards of justice for LEOs versus the great unwashed.
Pogo, LOL! It’s been a LONG time since I read a Claudine Longet reference. Littering on the slopes was the charge?
If Mrs. McCollom was married to this PA Police Chief, and he was cleaning guns at 4:15am,
then she should have had a permit to carry a concealed weapon like Veronica the nuclear research scientist in the Walmart tragedy. Even the odds and level the playing field.
Darren,
Nice analysis and description. I often tell my wife (who hates firearms, and particularly my firearms) that there is no such thing (or at least almost never) as a firearms “accident”. There are lots of failures to follow proper procedures in the safe handling and storage of firearms — most of which do not result in harm. The fact that a failure of procedure results in no harm on one occasion breeds carelessness.
As I have stated on several occasions on this blog, I am a staunch supporter of the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Although I am generally opposed to the concept of zero tolerance in most cases, I make an exception in the case of gun safety. I’ve cleaned a lot of guns in the past and have never had an accidental discharge. In my experience, they happen because someone cut corners. There are occasions where there are mechanical failures, but they are rare.
I think you have probably nailed it with respect to the likely failure here. With respect to semiautomatic pistols, many people I know add to the procedure you described by jacking the slide twice and making both a visual inspection and (with the slide locked back) placing the little finger in the chamber to confirm that no round is in the chamber). Only then do they release the slide and pull the trigger while facing in a safe direction.
And, seriously, who cleans his weapon at 4:15 am? Certainly, it would be laudable to start the new year with a clean weapon, but I really doubt that was what was going on.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CfDqUYq0_Pw/TnFODM7ncmI/AAAAAAAAHQk/ZoUE-YdKfmo/s1600/claudine-longet-invitational2.png
Tom Tryman: Uh-oh! Uh-oh! It looks to me like he’s been accidentally shot by Claudine Longet!
[ Jean-Paul regains balance on his skis ]
Jessica Antlerdance: Just grazed, I think, Tom..
[ second shot rings, as Jean-Paul falls back into the show ]
Jessica Antlerdance: Oh, no! That one got him, he’s down! No, he’s down this time.. no, no! No, he’s getting up!
[ Jean-Paul continues to ski downhill, albeit a little awkwardly ]
Jessica Antlerdance: Always the mark of a fine athlete is the ability to recover in difficult situations.
Tom Tryman: I can’t believe he’s going for the finish line.. and –
[ third shot rings out, Jean-Paul is down for good ]
Tom Tryman: Uh.. here, she mistakenly dropped her gun and it went off.
[ show skiier falling into the snow ]
Jessica Antlerdance: Uh.. here, she was just showing the gun to a friend.
[ show skiier falling into the snow ]
Tom Tryman: Yeah.. I think she was just cleaning her gun here, wasn’t she?
[ show skiier falling into the snow ]
Tom Tryman: And, once again, of course, showing the gun to a friend.
[ show skiier falling into the snow ]
On another note accidental discharges of firearms do happen as well as freak accidents. This is one of the reasons that redundant checks are made such as triple check for round in the chamber and pointing in a safe direction. Many departments have sand drums where you point the gun into when you strip it down just to be extra safe.
But despite all that accidentals happen. Probably half the departments in the area I worked had a bullet hole somewhere in the office from someone getting careless and letting one fly.
Pogo Possum: That gun ain’t loaded, is it?
Albert the Alligator: O’ course not! What’s more dangerous than a loaded gun?
(Gun goes off)
Pogo (from under the table): A unloaded one?
Cleaning your gun at four in the morning, nah. It probably went more like this, “I simply can’t take another year of this.” That the cop was probably drunk is found in coming up with an excuse as lame as this. However, he will probably get off because he is a cop.
The first rule, move, dictum, whatever regarding firearms when handling, cleaning, whatever, is to point them in a direction where they will do no harm. After that remove the magazine and make sure there is no round in the chamber. If you don’t screw up during this part and the gun is pointed away from harming anyone, you have made it to step three. Now, look down the barrel and pull the trigger. If you don’t feel enough confidence in your ability to handle a firearm, go back to step one and start over.
New year but same gun stories. When guns are used by clueless boys who think they are playing with Santa’s toys, there’s not limit to the harm they can bring.
“Guns in the home increase risk: Rather than being used for self-defense, guns in the home are 22 times more likely to be involved in accidental shootings, homicides, or suicide attempts. For every one time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were 4 unintentional shootings, 7 criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides.
Deaths: From 2005-2010, almost 3,800 people in the U.S. died from unintentional shootings.ii More than a third of the victims were under 25 years of age.
Injuries: In 2010, unintentional firearm shootings caused the deaths of 606 people.
More Guns = More Accidental Shootings: People of all age groups are significantly more likely to die from unintentional firearm injuries when they live in states with more guns, relative to states with fewer guns.
On average, states with the highest gun ownership levels had 9 times the rate of unintentional firearms deaths compared to states with the lowest gun ownership levels.
A federal government study of unintentional shootings found that 8% of such shooting deaths resulted from shots fired by children under the age of six.”
http://nyagv.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Accidental-Shootings-NYAGV.pdf
I will patiently await the howls from gun people that this is a liberal site that is creating statistics out of thin air….
Facts:
Smoking often causes health problems and contributes to an earlier death.
Driving drunk makes it more likely that you or someone else will be killed by a motor vehicle.
Having a working smoke alarm cuts the chances of dying in a reported fire in half.
But when it comes to gun stats that point to gun ownership as being a major contributor to accidental death and injuries from firearms it’s considered heresy, a liberal plot to end gun rights, fabrications, lies, corrupted data, or conspiracies….. Remarkable and delusional but that’s how the NRA and its cronies have framed the gun story…….Believing more guns make us all safer is advice followed at your own peril.
As for the accusation against the police chief, like all claims of “I was cleaning the gun when it went off”, I am very skeptical when I read such matters as it is a frequently used excuse and in most cases it is hard to imagine. I don’t know either way for the allegations against this man, we will have to wait until the investigation is completed first.
As for a Glock pistol, it is a bit different than most handguns to field strip to clean. The below is a standard method for field stripping a Glock.
1) Remove the magazine
2) Rack the slide back and hold to eject any round in the chamber.
3) Inspect the pistol to ascertain that there is no round inside
4) Release the slide and have it spring forward.
5) Point the pistol in a safe direction and squeeze the trigger
6) Hold the top of the slide with one hand and pull the slide backward about 1/8th of an inch
7) While still holding the slide back pull down the two slide locks tabs just above the trigger, roll the slide slightly back and forth until it moves forward.
8) Move the slide all the way forward until it comes off the frame.
9) Compress the recoil assembly and remove
10) Remove the barrel from the slide
This is an elemental procedure that all Glock owners should use. There is a possibility that a person who violated these rules went straight to 5) and ended up shooting someone, but this is grossly negligent. In my opinion I find it very hard to believe that a LEO who is issued a Glock pistol would fail so badly in field stripping the weapon.
When pulling the slide back in 2) the extractor will remove the cartridge from the chamber. I suppose there might be a possibility where the slide was not pulled back far enough to eject the cartridge and when the slide went forward it re-chambered the cartridge and when the trigger was pulled it fired.
Some questions:
Why was the pistol not properly field stripped?
Why was it not pointed in a safe direction?
One thing about a 9mm pistol cartridge is that it can penetrate pretty well. I don’t know if the victim was behind a sheetrock wall or something because a 9mm round can go through two sets of sheetrock with little difficulty.
Again, we need to wait for the final report. It certainly was prudent to have an outside agency investigate the matter.
willy is correct, that cleaning your gun has a big red flag flying. But I disagree that he will not be prosecuted. What is needed is an independent investigation. That’s tough because there is no tighter knit profession than cops. FBI need to investigate this.
I’m skeptical of an 1) officer cleaning his weapon at 4:15AM and 2) it accidentally discharging 3) into his wife. How (in)convenient these three grave mistakes happen to occur in succession. Such luck!
Like the politician who resigns to spend more time with his family, the story of a police officer who kills his wife due to an accidental discharge while cleaning his weapon at 4:15AM doesn’t pass the smell test. I’m sure the grand jury will see that it was merely an unfortunate series of accidents.