The Screaming Viking

Why is there no accountability for personal f’ ups?  There is an article in the in-forum about an “accidental discharge” of a handgun.  How is it possibly accidental?  The firearm was loaded on purpose, the action was worked on purpose…the owner knew it had work done on it…where did the “accident” happen?  Why is this dude not charged with reckless discharge or something?  This happened at 0145.  I have a hard time believing the neck that would piss with a loaded weapon in his house at 0145 isn’t 1/2 shitfaced, but maybe he wasn’t.  Why wouldn’t you take a quick drive out of town and try to cycle a round?  Why wouldn’t you go to the gun range in town and cycle a round?  This guy should be charged with -something-, this isn’t an accident.

I can’t get my head around the idea that it’s OK to keep a loaded weapon in the house.  There are many people that keep one for “self defense” or whatever but I just can’t do it.  Even the pistol I have locked in the pistol safe doesn’t have a round in the chamber…I can’t bring myself to keep a loaded gun in the house.  The risk/reward just isn’t there at all.

It’s these kinds of “accidents” that can easily be prevented.  These “accidents” are what keeps the ignorant public fearful of firearms and stories like this are used to back tighter legislation and further restrictions.  We need to enforce the laws on the books, this guy needs to be charged with what he can be charged with currently.

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FARGO – Police say no one was injured when a handgun accidentally discharged in a south Fargo condo early today.

Sgt. Bill Ahlfeldt said the gun’s owner had just had some repair work done on the gun and was testing it at about 1:45 a.m. to see if a round would cycle through. As he tried to extract the live round from the chamber, the pistol went off in the home in the 3000 block of 23rd Avenue South.

“It was either some type of mechanical malfunction with the weapon or operator error,” Ahlfeldt said.

The bullet traveled through an exterior wall and into an open courtyard-type area, he said.

Officers checked on residents of homes in the bullet’s likely trajectory but found no injuries and no signs that the bullet had entered another home, Ahlfeldt said.

Police plan to file a long-form complaint in municipal court against the owner for discharge of a firearm in city limits, he said.

In the wake of the supreme court’s decision on the chicago gun ban…do you think the media won’t try to color the public’s opinion?  From an article on the in-forum:

The Star Tribune reported that the victims included an 8-year-old boy who was shot in the head by a 13-year-old with a gun that shoots plastic bullets and a 4-year-old girl who was shot in the neck by a pellet gun as she sat outside her house with her father.

Reporting the pellet gun shooting is marginal at best.  I could see how something like that would get reported in a fargo (or smaller) news paper, but in the cities?  and to be reproduced in another town is pretty over the top…but the 8 year old shot with a plastic pellet gun?  In what world does that qualify as a “shooting”?  Are we going to start adding water guns to the list of shootings and the survival statistics?

Further down the article:

Police say three teenagers were also shot as they played football in the street.

Given that the first two “shootings” they reported on where a joke…when they come to one that sounds serious I can’t help but want more details…but naturally none are given.

That’s five of the shootings…the article reports seven…but there is no information about the other two people.  Maybe they were water gun related incidents.  Articles like this wreak of an agenda, and that’s unfortunate for the public.

full article:

MINNEAPOLIS — Seven people the age of 18 or younger were shot within seven hours in Minneapolis.

Inspector Mike Martin says none of five separate shootings Monday night appear related.

The Star Tribune reported that the victims included an 8-year-old boy who was shot in the head by a 13-year-old with a gun that shoots plastic bullets and a 4-year-old girl who was shot in the neck by a pellet gun as she sat outside her house with her father.

Police say three teenagers were also shot as they played football in the street.

The seven victims are either expected to survive or police didn’t release updates on their conditions

The Supreme Court has ruled that gun rights extend to the individual.  This is a monumental decision.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the five justice majority saying “the right to keep and bear arms must be regarded as a substantive guarantee, not a prohibition that could be ignored so long as the States legislated in an evenhanded manner.”

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There was an article in the in-forum today about a sporting goods shop in jamestown being broken in to.  They stole $4500 worth of stuff which seemed to consist of 8 handguns.  What is really odd to me is the store does have a security system but the window and door that were broken in to are not part of that system.  What kind of sense does it make to setup a security system and leave what seems like a gaping hole?  Also, what are the odds that someone randomly knew about said gaping hole?  Seems like an inside job…it’ll be interesting to see how this one turns out.

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JAMESTOWN, N.D. — Jamestown police say a downtown business has reported the theft of about $4,500 worth of guns.

Capt. Gary Peterson says a window and a glass door were discovered broken at Gun and Reel Sports early Wednesday.

Eight handguns were missing. Store officials were doing an inventory to determine if anything else was gone.

Office manager Gary Docktor says the store has a security alarm but the window and door that were broken were not part of the system.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press