I’m a supporter of gun rights because it’s in the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. I think it was reasonably believed by our Founders to be a necessary bulwark against the potential Tyranny of the governed by the government.
Having said that, idiots like Troy Brown of New Albany, Indiana make it difficult at times to respect the wisdom of our Founding Fathers.
Police say a man firing a rifle to celebrate the new year wounded a 13-year-old girl while she was inside her aunt and uncle’s home in New Albany.
Floyd County Sheriff Darrell Mills says 44-year-old Troy Brown fired at least a dozen rounds from an AR-15 rifle outside his home shortly after midnight on Thursday. Mills said at least three bullets went a couple hundred yards to the family’s home, with one hitting the girl’s leg and others hitting a television and the refrigerator.
. . .
His father, Leroy Brown, said the girl’s injury was a “freak accident” and that his son would not intentionally shoot anyone.
It’s only a “freak” accident if one is unfamiliar with the scientific concept known as “gravity.” If you’re firing a dozen rounds into the air, chances are a dozen rounds are going to return to earth traveling at high, potentially deadly velocities. But what do a bunch of egghead scientists and their fancy-pants gravity know about New Year’s celebratin’ anyway?
I purchased this T-shirt a few years ago – this is how I interpret the 2nd Amendment.
http://www.bustedtees.com/secondamendment
On another note, I like the idea of a pro-gun lobby like the American Hunters and Shooters Association(a sensible pro-gun lobby, not Charlton Heston’s NRA) supported Barack Obama. Its nice to see there’s another option for gun rights advocates than simply the NRA nutjobs.
Here’s their website:
http://www.huntersandshooters.com/
I love the “freak accident” claim – that really makes the story: “The hits the TV and fridge took, well, we expect a little appliance loss on New Year’s, but a kids leg? FREAK!”
I won’t even go into why it is necessary to fire a gun to celebrate a New Year. Who am I to judge? But if you must fire a weapon, it seems to me that putting real bullets in it is not only unsafe, but wasteful.
Well, I can believe the kid’s a freak!
There’s a really nice range ten miles down the road. But a few on my road prefer to just step outside the door and start pumping 50 or 100 rounds into the hill in the backyard.
The only thing that silences the guns is when they get their meth labs raided.
An AR-15?! It doesn’t surprise me at all that a person who would own an assault rifle would do something this stupid. His father’s comment is my favorite part. He would never intentionally shoot anyone?! It’s an assault rifle!! What other uses are there? Oh right, he needs to be prepared for when ‘them Damn Commies’ try to take over his property.
An idiot’s misuse of a gun shouldn’t bring question to the wisdom of the Founders any more than an idiot yelling ‘Fire!’ in a crowded theater should bring question to the 1st Amendment.
Prosecute the idiot, and leave the rest of us who are responsible to enjoy continued freedom.
It shouldn’t, and yet it does. Somehow prior restraint of idiots wielding AR-15s seems more reasonable to me than prior restraint of idiots wielding their mouths. The problem is that it’s tough to figure out who the idiots are before hand. (With my pro-Union, anti-treason bias, I’d go looking for Confederate flags first. But I’m sure that’s unfair.)
All that snark aside, I just want to be clear that I agree with you, Mike. This story does not state a case for infringing the 2nd Amendment.
I dunno, Doug. It wouldn’t be that hard a test to separate out the idiots. One question: “explain what gravity does.”
Most 5-year olds would pass. But apparently not Troy Brown.
I find this story as bad as all of those that deal with people getting killed by motorists. However, driving isn’t a right, yet those stories don’t end up in the news as much as these.
This is apparently a BIG tradition in the Hispanic community as our local paper kept stressing the week prior that East Chicago police would be cracking down on this sort of action.
The good news is that: 1. only one person ended up being dumb enough to get caught and 2. No one got hurt.
Maybe they should just set up some loudspeakers playin that ’70’s song: “What goes up must come down…spinning wheel…”
Brett–
This guy should be barred from owning guns from now on. The effective range of 600+ yards needs to be respected (I hit four out of four pop-up targets at 300 yards with the military version in basic training). This guy, at age 44, probably knows whatever he is likely to ever know by now. And yet he seems to know little about the weapon he was firing. So society should help him out with that by keeping him away from guns.
I own an AR-15, and occasionally go out to the range to fire it. Its only purposes are to make holes in targets at an appropriately secured range, or making lethal holes in people. It’s not intended to make celebratory noises at parties.
T,
I’m very much for gun rights, and I’m very much agreeing with your point.
Do something stupid with a gun, you don’t get a gun anymore.
This includes drunks that go hunting and shoot at any sound of a twig breaking, killing or hurting them.
When you pull the trigger, you better know for a fact where your bullet will go. You should also know that the target is going to die, unless it is already dead (see paper target).
This is why I don’t bird hunt. I couldn’t be effective with quickly shooting the bird because I’d be too busy trying NOT to pull a Cheney and checking my background.