In addition to gun accidents and accidental discharges, otherwise “law abiding gun owners” are prone to making foolish decisions or using their gun in a careless way. The more people we have carrying guns around, the more often these careless decisions and foolish behavior arises.

Gun carelessness

Some of the following incidents of gun carelessness will leave you shaking your head and saying, “What were they thinking?” Yet it’s quite apparent that EVERY gun owner is quite capable of such foolishness given the right situation, judging by the number of trained professionals who are featured in these stories.

• In Des Moines, Iowa, police officer Brady Pratt accidentally discharged his weapon while practicing his “quick draw” inside an office building. Thankfully, no one was injured this time. (USA Today, 12-28-2015, p. 4A)

• In Logan, West Virginia, an assistant prosecutor was apparently annoyed with the fake spiders colleagues had scattered around the office as Halloween decorations. So he pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot at them. (USA Today, 11-2-2015, 4A) He received a minor suspension for the incident.

• In Auburn Hills, Michigan, a 48 year-old woman with a concealed piston license sprayed a parking lot with bullets shooting at a suspected shoplifter. Luckily in this case, non of her errant bullets struck anyone. (USA Today, 10-9-2915, p.4A)

• Eight-year-old Christopher Bizil died after accidentally shooting himself in the head with an Uzi. The boy lost control of the gun as it recoiled while he was shooting at a pumpkin. The weapon had been given to him at a gun show. Three people, including police chief Edward Fleury, were charged in the case. (USA Today, 12-5-08)

Reckless and. stupid decisions by concealed weapons carriers

Another way concealed gun carriers endanger the community that I rarely hear talked about is simply by the poor decisions they make when it comes to how they intervene and when they intervene. Take, for example, the concealed weapon carrier who shot and killed a man who tried to rob a store with a paintball gun, not an actual weapon. (USA Today, 11-3-2015, 2A) Why should we care if an attempted robber with a paintball gun was met with a hail of bullets? Because of how commonly people miss, that’s why. Remember that even trained police officers have only an 18% hit rate in gun confrontations, meaning 4 in 5 bullets go somewhere else other than the intended target. When people are running around popping off shots in response to fake weapons, (which, based on statistics are likely to hit something [or someone] else 4-times for everyone bullet that actually hits its mark), they are more dangerous to the community than the criminals are.

In Spring Valley, Minnesota, police were called after a man used his gun to threaten two students who were covering trees with toilet paper as part of homecoming celebrations – something that had been a school tradition. (USA Today, 10-23-2015, 8A) This type of overreaction – responding to kids TP-ing a tree by pulling your gun on them – is precisely the type of lunacy that can quickly escalate into a deadly confrontation.

For example, in Huntsville, Alabama, 64-year-old Ronnie Lee Neeley was charged with 2^nd-degree assault, discharging a weapon into an occupied vehicle, and two counts of menacing. Why? He came across a group of kids who were toilet papering the neighbor’s house and decided that shooting them was a reasonable response. One 16-year-old was struck by his bullets. Several of his friends escaped injury. (USA Today, 5-2-2016 p. 4A)

In Spring Valley, Minnesota, police were called after a man used his gun to threaten two students who were covering trees with toilet paper as part of homecoming celebrations – something that had been a school tradition. (USA Today, 10-23-2015, 8A) This type of overreaction – responding to kids TP-ing a tree by pulling your gun on them – is precisely the type of lunacy that can quickly escalate into a deadly confrontation.

For example, in Huntsville, Alabama, 64-year-old Ronnie Lee Neeley was charged with 2^nd-degree assault, discharging a weapon into an occupied vehicle, and two counts of menacing. Why? He came across a group of kids who were toilet papering the neighbor’s house and decided that shooting them was a reasonable response. One 16-year-old was struck by his bullets. Several of his friends escaped injury. (USA Today, 5-2-2016 p. 4A)

Stories abound of situations like this. Because the opportunities to misread a situation, escalate a minor incident, or act in a careless way are so much more numerous than are the opportunities to play gun-hero and intervene in an actual life or death situation, the damage caused by concealed weapons carriers will ALWAYS outweigh their benefits, by a large margin.

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