Heels and Handguns

First Rule of Safety: Don’t use a rifle as a crutch, or you might kill someone.

Has this man ever heard of “Tools and their uses?” This was the name of an old Navy Correspondence Course we had to do as part of the advanced electronic program. We learned the proper use of every tool from a hammer to a plane to a level to a micrometer. The course also went into great deal about what NOT to do, centered around trying to use one tool in place of a different necessary tool. Using the correct tool for the job applies 1,000 fold when one is talking about firearms. I just read the following news article:

A man in Grants Pass, Oregon named Jon Andrew Meyer, Jr. told police he was using his modern rifle as a crutch to help him get up from the couch when it fired a burst through the ceiling of a Grants Pass apartment and killed a little girl upstairs, according to court records. Mr. Meyer says the gun went off accidentally. Defense lawyer Gary Berlant adds that Meyer had been assured the gun was not fully automatic.  Meyer is being held on $250,000 bail on charges of manslaughter, assault and unlawful possession of a machine gun. Authorities say he was responsible for the reckless burst of rifle fire that killed 5-year-old Alysa Bobbitt of Shady Cove and wounded apartment resident Karen Hancock.  Read more Here.

He had a moment of complete stupidity, maybe more than one. He had a moment of laziness, maybe more than one. He used his rifle as a crutch to help him off of his couch. What if he had not had his rifle loaded, what if he had kept his finger off the trigger, and most importantly – what if he had used something else for leverage BESIDES his rifle to stand up at that moment? His booking photo says it all:

The look on a person’s face as they have their mug shot taken following the death of an innocent 5 year old girl because they did something 100% preventable and 100% final.

Please, THINK before you act. When there is a firearm actively or even passively in the vicinity – remain vigilant. A firearm is meant to fire a bullet and somehow accidental discharges have a way of finding innocent targets. Do not wait until you have been Mirandized and are standing in front of a police photographer to think about what you should have done. It is too late, lives have been deeply affected or ruined. In this case, the life of little Alysa, the wounded Ms. Hancock, anyone who loves these ladies, and yes, the life of Jon Meyer.  He has to live with the lackadaisical way he treated the power in his hands and no matter what other punishment he receives, this look on his face will be somewhere inside of him forever.

Fly with the angels little Alysa Bobbitt… May other lives be saved in your memory.