The importance of identifying your target

http://www.9news.com/news/article/370126/339/Girl-accidentally-shot-killed-by-step-father

Man mistakes step daughter for burglar, shoots and kills her. A terrible tragedy that could have been averted by closer attention to fundamental gun safety. The enforcement class does this all the time in their no knock raids and it's no big deal, just another mundane sacrificed for Officer Safety. When private citizens make mistakes with guns, you can be sure political hay will be made.

well, this type of accident occurs from time to time.

yes, highlights the need to know what you are shooting at ..

I wonder, if the rules of gun safety were given the force of law, perhaps that would be all the gun law we'd need.

I hope its thoroughly investigated... wonder how many "accidental" shootings are really murder.

cjohnson44546 said:

I hope its thoroughly investigated... wonder how many "accidental" shootings are really murder.

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What I'm really perplexed about is how many people allegedly clean loaded guns. Even ignoring the safety standpoint, you can't really clean them very well that way.

Brace said:

What I'm really perplexed about is how many people allegedly clean loaded guns. Even ignoring the safety standpoint, you can't really clean them very well that way.

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LOL !!! I clean my loaded gun everytime my wife is in the room (a joke) ...

Nightmare said:

a 14 y.o. killed at 0600? Let's not judge until the rest of the story is heard.

Neal Boortz, Esq, (WSB Atlanta AM 730) (sometime libertarian) used to caution parents that, despite any protests to the contrary, if their daughter smoked then she was most likely screwing too, what ever her age. And that tattoos never made the ugly beautiful or the fat skinny.

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You know Neal retired just shy of a year ago, right?
But yes, he did share the "if she smokes, she pokes" meme with everyone.

He used to, but he still does.

Nothing that a good tac light and good verbal commands wouldn't have solved.

davidmcbeth said:

LOL !!! I clean my loaded gun everytime my wife is in the room (a joke) ...

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You must change your underwear a lot.

Firearms Iinstuctor said:

Nothing that a good tac light and good verbal commands wouldn't have solved.

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Well, cops use those "devices" very frequently. They usually have the added benefit of friends tagging along "just in case" and yet they continue to "make tragic mistakes." But, they are largely excused because they thought one thing, at the time, when another thing was "Monday Morning Quarterbacked" as being the case. A delay before firing, induced by the armed citizen, does seem to be warranted.

When and if the facts are made known a "judgement" of that citizens acts can be rendered. The thread title says it all. Though, it is missing the "know what's beyond your target" caution.

Note: Knowing what is beyond your target does not seem to apply to cops and can likely be (is) ignored, by cops.