Off-duty cop leaves gun on table, naive adult neighbor plays with gun shooting LEO's bother in law

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Part of the problem for me at least is that I was raised by my grandparents. So my morals, ethics, and sense of propiety come from one generation older than most of my peers. My grandparents saw fit to ensure I was taught how they were taught.

At the time growing up, I felt it was a bit old-fashioned but as an adult, I understand where they were coming from and have done my best to ensure my children are raised as closely in the same manner as I was.

Unfortunately, that lead to the occasional clash with more 'modern & cosmopolitan' folks. But hey, what I can I say? I'm a backwoods country hick that grew up amongst corn-fields.

But being raised like this, each person's property was their own. You simply did NOT touch / use / enter without express permission beforehand. Firearms especially. Now if you were out at a range with other folks, the rules of that 'range meet' typically involved everyone sharing their guns with each other. If you didn't want to, then you didn't bring that firearm.

But to pick up someone's firearm, at a party, and THEN monkey around with it?!? Had that been my house, the person who did so would be removed from the premises. Then again, I wouldn't have left my firearm out on a table like that.

Regardless, it's a bad situation all around. The police officer will have to live with the fact that he left the sidearm out where someone who was untrained could get ahold of it. The person who accidentally shot & killed someone will have to live with that result.

As for the trial, I don't see them getting anything more than neglient homocide. It's not like he had intent to kill the guy (from the article).

There is no winner here. Only losers.

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I would NEVER leave my gun out where it is easily seen.

It is NOT A TOY and I do not want people shooting me with my own gun.

The only time I may lay it down and turn my back is when it is unloaded. Then I still need to trust those around me.

What kills me is that people think this cop is held to some other standard than the rest of us citizens because he has a freaking badge. Sure, it is shocking to see a cop allow his gun to be picked up in this manner.

But that cop is no different than any of usand should have known better. It is somehow OK if WE do it and we are not to blame for what another stupid adult does. But we are quick to point fingers when a cop does something.

Last time I checked a cop was a citizen, right?

But that is what he gets for trusting the adults in that room. He is a greenhorn that has not yet learned that many Citizens are complete morons and cannot be trusted!

NEVER LEAVE A LOADED GUN OUT IN VIEW!!

Some dumb ass monkey is going to think it is a banana and pick it up and play with it.

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(I'm feeling cranky this evening.)



NOPE.

If police:

• are the darlings of the government and the gun-grabbers
• and can do no wrong (unlessirrefutable video is available)
• and are so much better trained than citizens,
• and citizensare so generally untrustworthy with firearms,

And citizens can be vilified in the press for:

• other people even seeing their gun (OCers)
• not securing their firearm against unauthorized access,

And gun companies can be forced to come up with on-board locking devices. Or sell their guns with locks and cables.

Then, fair is fair:

THE GODDAM COP CAUSED THE PROBLEM!!!

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Citizen wrote:

(I'm feeling cranky this evening.)



NOPE.

If police:

• are the darlings of the government and the gun-grabbers
• and can do no wrong (unlessirrefutable video is available)
• and are so much better trained than citizens,
• and citizensare so generally untrustworthy with firearms,

And citizens can be vilified in the press for:

• other people even seeing their gun (OCers)
• not securing their firearm against unauthorized access,

And gun companies can be forced to come up with on-board locking devices. Or sell their guns with locks and cables.

Then, fair is fair:

THE GODDAM COP CAUSED THE PROBLEM!!!

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You can be aballoon knot if you like.

Clearly this citizen could not be trusted with a firearm. He proved that to us all. The cop did not shoot anyone that night. The Citizen did!

The Citizen picking up the gun and shooting the guy is responsible for the death.

We adults are supposed to be smart enough to not do that. We have laws here in Virginia making it illegal to allow access to kids because they do not know better.

So legally, that cop was fine. I guess we need laws that require us to prevent adults from getting access to guns too, huh?

Clearly, we have one "Citizen" that was an idiot.Without permission, he picked up a gun he did not own andwas not familiar with.

But he is better trained with firearms than the cop. Clearly.

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This is a serious tragedy.

There was no malice here on anyone's part. Punishing anyone with prison time isn't nearly going to equal the punishment that any party has already placed on themselves.

I hope the law uses some common sense and lets these people go. There are no "dangers to society" here. There are just some unfortunate souls who will have to live with this tragedy every single day for the rest of their lives. I'm confident nothing like this will ever happen again in any of their personal circles.

This is just way sad. Prayers sent for them all.

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Devils Advocate wrote:

SNIP Clearly, we have one "Citizen" that was an idiot.Without permission, he picked up a gun he did not own andwas not familiar with.

But he is better trained with firearms than the cop. Clearly.

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Heh, heh, heh. You walked into that one, DA.

Well, I'm still feeling cranky, so here it goes.



Clearly, Devils Advocate is an idiot. He completely missed that I was using the anti-gunners and police elitists arguments against them for the sake of twisting their arguments against them.

Clearly DA is too much of an idiot to recognize the rhetorical device and takes it for a belief of literal truth.

Clearly DA (which can mean something else, also) is too much of an idiot to think up anything except to be contrary. He seems to revel in it. Picks it to be his monicker. Something any monkey can do. Just argue the opposite. Howhard is that? For the sake of...what? I've never met a single one who did it for any reason other than to be contrary, get in arguments, and stir up trouble.

Except that this time, his little attitude led him into missing something. A rhetorical device.

He actually thought I truly did not believe the trigger-puller caused the ND.

And showed himself to be a DA.

Yes, well. I guess it takes all kinds. Certainly, we get them on this forum.

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Again, nobody in this scenario meant to kill anyone. This is the very definition of a tragedy.

Will everyone here please stop trying to politically play each other at the expense of those who have suffered real and lasting loss and just offer up a prayer to all involved?

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You guys and girls can argue this thing until you are blue in the face, but any cop who leaves a loaded weapon laying around anywhere in a crowd of people is to blame just as much as the person who tampered with the weapon and caused it to discharge.

The cop should be charged with reckless endangerment at a minimum. It's a shame most state laws don't allow for the copto be charged with being an accessory to the murder.

Just when you think you have seen it all, along comes an event such as this! :banghead:

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Sheriff wrote:

You guys and girls can argue this thing until you are blue in the face, but any cop who leaves a loaded weapon laying around anywhere in a crowd of people is to blame just as much as the person who tampered with the weapon and caused it to discharge.

The cop should be charged with reckless endangerment at a minimum. It's a shame most state laws don't allow for the copto be charged with being an accessory to the murder.

Just when you think you have seen it all, along comes an event such as this! :banghead:

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+ 1000

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Sheriff wrote:

You guys and girls can argue this thing until you are blue in the face, but any cop who leaves a loaded weapon laying around anywhere in a crowd of people is to blame just as much as the person who tampered with the weapon and caused it to discharge.

The cop should be charged with reckless endangerment at a minimum. It's a shame most state laws don't allow for the copto be charged with being an accessory to the murder.

Just when you think you have seen it all, along comes an event such as this! :banghead:

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Amen, brother! The whole case is tragic, BUT stupid (cop) + stupid (non-cop)is still equal to STUPID! I think they both should be recipients of the Darwin awards.

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Devils Advocate wrote:

Sonora Rebel wrote:

Very irresponsible thing for the cop to do. If you're gonnaintroduce a weapon intothe presence of strangers... clear it and secure it 'somewhere' at least. As for the clown who 'fooled with it' 'n actually pulled the trigger... ya can't fix stupid. Surprise , surprise... they really do 'shoot'! 'Wonder how drunk ya gotta be to do that?

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I like how you lay it all on the cop.

An adultat the home picked up a gun that did not belong to him and pointed it in an unsafe direction and pulled the trigger.

The adult citizenwas the real problem here.

Not a good idea for thecopto leave it out but there is probably no law that says he cannot unless there are kids around. I am sure his department will create a policy to stop this in the future. All because of one dumb citizen.

That being said, it appears that some of us citizens cannot be trusted with guns, huh?

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The gun didn't magically fall from the sky. :shock:

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MeBaby wrote:

SNIP The gun didn't magically fall from the sky. :shock:

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Sure it did.

Just like the huge "recovery" bill is going to magically save the economy but not cause huge inflation or cost zillions in interest on the loan. :uhoh:

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MeBaby wrote:

Sheriff wrote:

You guys and girls can argue this thing until you are blue in the face, but any cop who leaves a loaded weapon laying around anywhere in a crowd of people is to blame just as much as the person who tampered with the weapon and caused it to discharge.

The cop should be charged with reckless endangerment at a minimum. It's a shame most state laws don't allow for the copto be charged with being an accessory to the murder.

Just when you think you have seen it all, along comes an event such as this! :banghead:

Click to expand...

Amen, brother! The whole case is tragic, BUT stupid (cop) + stupid (non-cop)is still equal to STUPID! I think they both should be recipients of the Darwin awards.

Click to expand...

I think they should both be recipients of criminal charges.

But, as usual, the cop walks away free and clear. While the civilian is slapped with a murder charge.

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Sheriff wrote:

MeBaby wrote:

Sheriff wrote:

You guys and girls can argue this thing until you are blue in the face, but any cop who leaves a loaded weapon laying around anywhere in a crowd of people is to blame just as much as the person who tampered with the weapon and caused it to discharge.

The cop should be charged with reckless endangerment at a minimum. It's a shame most state laws don't allow for the copto be charged with being an accessory to the murder.

Just when you think you have seen it all, along comes an event such as this! :banghead:

Click to expand...

Amen, brother! The whole case is tragic, BUT stupid (cop) + stupid (non-cop)is still equal to STUPID! I think they both should be recipients of the Darwin awards.

Click to expand...

I think they should both be recipients of criminal charges.

But, as usual, the cop walks away free and clear. While the civilian is slapped with a murder charge.

Click to expand...

Yup,here's the tragedy. When the shallow end of the gene pool is doing its self cleaning, seemingly (only because there is no indication as to whether this guy had any part in the incident or not) innocent people sometimes get dragged in and drowned. :uhoh:

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Devils Advocate wrote:

...Has anyone hereever just walked up and picked up a gun belonging to someone else?

NO!! Unless you are a complete moron and want your ass beat!

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Man...if some stranger picked up my loaded gun at the range, my CCW would be clearin leather and he'd be lookin down it's barrel

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I have to ask this question...we know he set the pistol down. Do we know if it had a round in the chamber or even a magazine in it? It's possible he cleared it and set the damn thing down. Still stupid for leaving them together, but I've seen people do it before when they get in the habit of doing it when they know it's safe

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This was a TRAGEDY: A disastrous event, especially one involving distressing loss or injury to life.

Look, blame can be placed everywhere, and Darwinism can be argued at every turn. What good is that?

There nothing anyone here can say, and nobody anyone here can blame - on any side of the argument - for which those involved haven't already said or blamed themselves - and THEY are the ones who will live with this guilt for the rest of their lives.

The punishment they'll levy on themselves makes this forum discussion look like a passing Jerry Springer episode.

What in God's name are you arguing about here? Haven't these people punished themselves enough without your help?

If anyone wants to use this story as a lesson to thwart further Darwinism, all you have to do is merely pass it on - in addition to prayers sent for all involved.