Hello, America. There were five accidental shootings during a 7-day period in Tennessee this month. Most involved “responsible” gun owners who should have known better. So let’s dispense with the bullshit that gun owners are the “safest, most responsible citizens EVAH” who should be allowed to carry everywhere and anywhere to keep us all safe because calling 911 is useless.
Get over your damn selves.
The Tennessee Gun Report used to be a regular feature over here but it fell victim to my work schedule, along with everything else on this blog. However, five accidental shootings in one week is just too obvious to let pass.
All of this comes as Middle Tennessee cities like Murfreesboro and Nashville attempt to tackle gun violence.
It’s like saving a sinking ship with a bucket, guys. The problem is a culture that glorifies guns, views guns as the solution to every problems, and people who mindlessly repeat NRA propaganda without stopping to think what they’re even saying. “Ah have a raaaght to protect mah self and mah fambileee.” Yes, and of course a gun is the only way to do it, too. Meanwhile, these 2nd Amendment heroes are leaving their guns lying around for kids to find, shooting themselves and others while at the Walmart, or else their weapons become easy targets for thieves, who sell them to gangs.
Yesterday I had an argument with a friend who is an NRA supporter. He got so angry with me that he said he was going straight to the shooting range to let off some steam. Just as the Founders intended, amiright? I mean, that tells you everything you need to know about gun culture and the guys who love it. Saying you’re going to the gun range to let off some steam pretty much negates every single pro-NRA argument we’ve heard, but he was too stupid to see it.
As for those 5 accidental shootings in one week? Here they are:
• May 22, 2017:
18 year old Murfreesboro teenager accidentally shot himself in the foot.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) – Police now say an 18-year-old who suffered a gunshot injury to his foot accidentally shot himself in Murfreesboro not too far from Middle Tennessee State University.
It happened at University Gables on South Rutherford Boulevard just after midnight.
According to a police report, the victim initially said he was at a party at the apartment complex when shots were fired while he was by the basketball court and that he was struck in the foot when he began to run.
He was taken to St. Thomas Rutherford with minor injuries and police later determined it was an accidental shooting.
They always initially blame it on some drive-by or non-existent assailant. Of course it was an accidental shooting. They usually are.
• May 19, 2017:
2 injured in reported accidental shooting at gun store
NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) – Two people were shot in what appears to have been an accident at a Madison gun store.
The incident happened just after 11 a.m. at nRange on Gallatin Pike North.
One person was shot in the ankle. The other was shot in the finger.
Police are continuing to investigate the situation.
At a gun store. You’d think people who handle firearms for their goddamn job would know what they were doing. You would be wrong.
• May 18, 2017:
Man’s gun goes off while shopping at Clinton Walmart
An off-duty employee of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department accidentally caused quite a bit of a scene inside an East Tennessee Walmart when his gun discharged during a shopping trip.
According to an incident report from the Clinton Police Department, on May 18 Brian Ball told authorities he had just made his purchase at the Clinton Walmart and was walking past the restrooms when he heard a loud bang. Ball then realized his gun had gone off.
He told responding officers that the bullet blew a hole through his shorts and grazed off the inside of his foot, but he wasn’t severely injured.
According to Chief Deputy Mark Lucas, Ball is an employee of the jail.
Ball explained to officers that the firearm wasn’t holstered and was loose in his right shorts pocket when it went off, according to the report.
Another customer standing across from the bathrooms reported hearing a loud bang and then “a small sting on her foot.” She then noticed a small scratch bleeding from one of her toes “that possibly came from the bullet fragments,” the incident report noted.
Ball said that right after the incident he checked to make sure he wasn’t hurt, then sat down on a bench inside the store and cleared the firearm and took out the magazine.
Investigators found that the gun that discharged was not his service weapon, but was one he had registered with a Tennessee handgun carrying permit.
Ah, a CCW holder, one of our “safest, most responsible NEVER” citizens. I’m so glad our state legislature elevated CCW holders to near holy status, making sure they can carry everywhere and anywhere, as if they’ve got some kind of damn superpowers, even though this dufus had a gun loose in his shorts pocket.
Let us dispense with the assumption that these idiots are any safer or more responsible than your average Walmart redneck.
• May 16, 2017:
Police report: 10-year-old in Bradley Co. accidentally shot himself with his parents’ gun
BRADLEY COUNTY, Tenn. — A ten year old boy accidentally shoots himself in Bradley County, and according to an incident report he used his parent’s gun.
Family says the boy is ok and now out of the hospital.
[…]
According to a police report, the 10-year-old was in his bedroom when he accidentally shot himself in the arm.
His parents told officers that he was talking to his friend on the computer when they heard a gunshot.
His parents also told police they didn’t know he had gotten a hold of the gun they’d “put up in a safe place.” The police report doesn’t specify if it was locked up.
Warren Duncan owns a gun shop.
Dad owns a gun shop. You’d think people who handle firearms for their goddamn job would know what safe gun storage is all about. But I repeat myself.
• May 16, 2017:
Teen accidentally shot after home burglary
MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) – Video helped Memphis police chase down a 15-year-old, who they say accidentally shot a 14-year-old right after a burglary.
Using video from a camera inside the home, police instantly recognized the two teens. They knew where they hung out and quickly left to find them.
An alert of an intruder on Rhonnie Brewer’s phone Saturday afternoon warned she and her daughter about the two teens inside their home.
Brewer called police as her daughter watched the teens rummage through their East Memphis home looking for valuables.
“They had pretty much pulled out every drawer, every (sic) clothes from out of the closet, I mean just deeply looking at things,” Brewer said.
An alarm triggered by Brewer’s phone scared away the two boys before police arrived.
Two iPads, about $500, her daughter’s backpack with a library book inside, and Brewer’s hand gun were all taken that afternoon from her Leatherwood home.
“I wasn’t so much worried about myself and my own safety as much, as it was what he would do while he was afraid with a loaded weapon,” Brewer said.
That loaded weapon was fired accidentally not long after the burglary, hitting a 14-year-old boy.
I love that Rhonnie Brewer has a sophisticated in-home security system with video cameras and cell-phone alerts but doesn’t have a goddamn gun safe in her house. Lock your fucking weapons up, lady. What the hell is wrong with you?
People are just too stupid to own guns.