Why the hell won’t this Nashville man be charged for negligence?
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Police said a man was cleaning his gun when it discharged, and a shot was fired into a neighboring apartment.
Police were called to the apartment complex on Arbor Knoll Boulevard around 1:30 a.m. Friday. They said a man was cleaning his handgun when it went off, and a bullet flew into the apartment next door.
Fortunately, no one was hurt.
Investigators said the gun owner won’t face charges because he has a carry permit. His identity was not released.
First of all, kudos to NewsChannel5 for using the ol’ passive voice gun dodge. Notice the man was cleaning his gun when it discharged, all by its own self. A shot was fired for some mysterious, unexplained reason! Not, the man fired his gun into a neighboring apartment, by accident. Nope, the man didn’t do a damn thing, he was just sitting there with his hand on the trigger when the gun went kaboom all by itself. Amazing.
But second of all, if you’re a CCW holder and you’re such a dumbass you don’t know to make sure all the bullets are removed before cleaning your gun? Yeah, you’ve lost the right to call yourself a responsible gun owner. And you should not only have your CCW permit yanked but you should be charged with negligence. There could have been a kid on the other side of that wall.
[UPDATE: sadly, in Texas on Sunday, there was a kid on the other side of that wall.]
Dumbass.
This shit pisses me off like you would NOT believe. No, gun owners. I do not feel safer knowing you’re out there.
Southern Beale 
My god, you’re right! This poor man is practically a victim based on the reporting. It almost seems like he deserves to be compensated for this horrible thing that happened to him. Maybe they can find a way to fine anti-gun people….
Also, I think a large percentage of the “I was cleaning my gun and it discharged” people are actually “I was playing with my gun and accidentally fired it so I got out some cleaning stuff before the cops arrived” people.
I’ve often suspected as much …
Just playing with my gun…
http://imgur.com/gallery/MbdE34s
http://imgur.com/gallery/Fre0O
http://imgur.com/gallery/zmVZtRf
http://imgur.com/gallery/p8IWx
Or at the very least they’re “I was getting ready to clean my gun but forgot how to unload it safely” incidents. No matter how you slice it, though, this should at least classify as negligent discharge and result in some kind of criminal charges.
I seem to recall that when I worked in an apartment office, shooting a gun on property was grounds for eviction. Sure, I don’t think anybody would enforce that if the discharge was in self-defense. But it is sheer luck/Providence that nobody was injured or killed in the next unit over! If I lived there, I would be more than a tweak upset.
I used to live in those apartments.
OT but Martin Bashir interviewed Stacey Campbell on his show this afternoon. I don’t know how long before the video will be up but check it out. Bashir wasn’t having any of Campbell’s excuses for his punishing kids for school performance by taking money away from their parents. Campbell is quite repulsive.
What’s with all this obsessive gun cleaning. Can’t they just safely watch some porn like everyone else?
If guns just randomly go off by themselves, shouldn’t they be stored in bullet-proof cabinets? And if they just randomly go off by themselves, then maybe people *don’t* kill people; maybe *guns* kill people.
Do they routinely test these patriots for alcohol or other drug impairment? I mean you lose your license for going over the solid yellow if you’re stiff, no harm necessary. Why should drunk idiots with gunz get a pass?
Because FREEDOM and SHUT UP, that’s why.
…you forgot the “YOU COMMIE PINKO HIPPIE!” on the end…
😉
I am loving the irony of your sarcasm towards the constitution, while writing a blog without a license or government permission.
And yet, I do pay for internet service, and my ISP has the right to yank my blog or deliver information to the Feds (like my e-mails and search history) if I’m accused of terrorism. And my blog would be yanked or I could be fined $2,500 if Republican Gov. Bill Haslam found some images “potentially offensive.” Funny, I don’t remember Teanuts getting upset about that one.
All rights have limits, including my right to write a blog. I also could be sued for libel and all of the potential costs, penalties and fines that entails.
Welcome to how America has worked for the past 200+ years.
*shakes head* I’m getting overwhelmed
Yep, the “Freedom” and “Shut Up” is all the argument needed apparently. Kill your spouse, kid, neighbor, stranger, does it matter, guns accidentally shoot themselves continuously. These people must be required to carry liability insurance for every gun and box of ammo, and CHARGE THEM WITH IDIOCY for NEGLIGENT STUPIDITY~ARREST THEM.
I lived at Arbor Knoll for three years, and can tell you without question the walls of those apartments wouldn’t stop a BB. One of my friends had a few too many one night, pulled out his dad’s old pistol from the closet in one of those “wonder if this ol’ thing still works?” moments and promptly put a round through his stereo cabinet and then through the wall of his living room, into his bedroom, through a dresser, and then into the door frame of his bathroom. No police were called, but my buddy had a Come to Jesus moment cleaning up the place and flushing away all his recreational narcotics. He gave the gun to his brother the next morning.
Having a handgun in a house is a recipe for disaster. The paranoids who insist upon owning an arsenal to defend themselves from the government are basically fear-driven personalities being manipulated by the NRA and gun manufacturers.
Is Negligence a crime in Tennessee? I don’t know, so I’m asking.
I would think that negligent behavior may get you sued but not prosecuted.
You can absolutely be charged for negligence, everywhere. The concept of negligence is the basis of almost all personal injury lawsuits. It’s a key part of English law that passed on to the United States when we adopted British common law as the basis of our system. Tennessee law recognizes negligence of all stripes, including criminally negligent homicide and even negligent littering and negligent polluting.
Considering the amount of information about this sort of thing happening as often as it does, “negligent discharge” should be a misdemeanor. If somebody is killed because some uparmed dumbfuck shoots them, then “depraved indifference” is an appropriate charge.
Just saw another one today, Demo:
The way this story is written, the writer should get some kind of passive-voice-gun-dodge award.
And I love this part:
Really, it IS a tragedy, I’m not denying that. But it’s an entirely preventable one that happens all over the country every day. Instead of offering counseling and condolences (I think Rove referred to is as “therapy and understanding,” no?) how about taking some actual fucking action to make sure this never happens again? Oh no, we can’t do that! Because FREEDOM.
SB and Democommie – should all activities that lead to the death of a child lead to criminal charges against the responsible adult? For instance, if a child drowns in a pool, should the responsible care giver be charged with negligent homicide or some other crime? What if the child drinks a poison that was not properly stored? What if a child wanders into the street and is hit by a car?
Happens ALL the damn time, Jim. ALL the damn time. AND we have regulations about swimming pools. If you don’t have your pool fenced, for example, you’re negligent. Because it’s the law that swimming pools must be kept fenced off. And there’s a new reg in Nashville, don’t know about anywhere else, where if your pool has a cover on it you have install a special alarm, in case a kid jumps in and gets trapped under the cover. I don’t have a pool but my neighbors do and when they installed their mandated alarm they asked if I could hear the alarm, just in case they weren’t home.
Drunk driver hits a kid? Charges are filed. Day Care driver leaves a kid in the van on a hot day by accident? Charges are filed. Your dog bites a kid? Charges are filed. In fact, my Tennessee legislator is supporting a bill where owners of pit bulls and other “vicious breeds” are required to have liability insurance. I’m fine with having dog owners keep liability insurance as long as it’s applied to EVERYONE, not just pit bull owners. Because I know full and well that any dog can be vicious, not just a pit bull. And I wholeheartedly believe that gun owners should be required to have liability insurance for the same reason: accidental shootings happen ALL the damn time, regardless of what kind of gun a person owns.
For that matter, look at all of the pregnant women who have been charged for endangering their fetuses. Not just charged, but jailed. I’m SO tired of this fucking double standard.
Here a dad who left his kid in his car so he could attend college classes was ….
I’m not saying he shouldn’t have been charged, but when someone leaves their loaded gun lying around where a kid can find it and kill someone (or himself) with it, shouldn’t that person also be charged?
Jim:
When gun owners are willing to comport themselves to the same level of regulation that drivers, property owners and others are subject to; then you get to talk about them being “responsible”. As is, some gun owners are cognizant of an abide by “best practices” regarding handling, storage and securing of their weaponry–unfortunately a large number of them do not–and yet, in the main, are not “responsbile” under the law.