{"id":226,"date":"2013-05-15T06:35:29","date_gmt":"2013-05-15T06:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/words.deviating.net\/?p=226"},"modified":"2013-05-15T15:43:42","modified_gmt":"2013-05-15T15:43:42","slug":"thoughts-on-accidental-shootings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/?p=226","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on &#8220;Accidental Shootings&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I would like to try to summarize some thoughts that I have about the term &#8220;accidental shooting&#8221; and why so many gun owners find it a clumsy and\u00a0inaccurate\u00a0phrasing. \u00a0A <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AlHannaford\">reporter whom I know and respect<\/a> and with whom I occasionally chat about firearms posted a link on Twitter&#8230;\u00a0<a href=\" http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/breakingnews\/ci_23235955\/aurora-police-investigating-accidental-shooting-at-rangeview-high\">Aurora police investigating &#8220;accidental shooting&#8221; at Rangeview High<\/a>. \u00a0Almost immediately, I raised an eyebrow. \u00a0The term &#8220;accidental shooting&#8221; is one that I&#8217;ve never liked because it almost always involves either one or both of the two biggest errors people can make when thinking about gun safety&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>That firearms have some agency or self-directing ability of their own<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>That an unintended discharge of a firearm is just an &#8220;oopsie&#8221; event<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>What is a Shooting<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Allow me to explain further and break things down a bit more. \u00a0Let&#8217;s look at the first term: shooting. \u00a0To many of us, a &#8220;shooting&#8221; is a very specific thing. \u00a0It is a deliberate act wherein one intentionally fires a round from a gun with the goal of striking a target (or in rare instances &#8212; like test firing &#8212; simply seeing how the gun operates).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/shooting.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-227 aligncenter\" alt=\"shooting\" src=\"http:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/shooting-250x300.jpg\" width=\"250\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/shooting-250x300.jpg 250w, https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/shooting.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Compare the word &#8220;shooting&#8221; with the word &#8220;discharge&#8221; &#8230; All shootings are a form of discharging a firearm, but I would put forth the notion that not all discharges are shootings. \u00a0It&#8217;s the deliberate, conscious decision to fire a gun intentionally that makes something a &#8220;shooting&#8221; in my view. \u00a0It takes a person to fire a gun; the metal device itself has no agency in this world and no means of acting in a deliberate manner all on its own. \u00a0In other oft-repeated terms, guns don&#8217;t just &#8220;go off,&#8221; they are &#8220;discharged&#8221; by the act of a person&#8230; usually because said person intended it to happen.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of course, that is not to say that there aren&#8217;t other occasions when guns fire <em>without\u00a0anyone intending them to<\/em>. \u00a0However, that brings us to the second half of this phrase which doesn&#8217;t sit well with me&#8230; &#8220;accidental&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">What is an Accident<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I recognize that the term &#8220;accident&#8221; has broad meaning in our society. \u00a0A traffic collision is casually\u00a0referred\u00a0to as an &#8220;accident&#8221; whether it&#8217;s a small fender-bender or a five-car pile-up. \u00a0You may have to clean a spot on the floor if a puppy has an &#8220;accident&#8221; or you may have to hire an\u00a0attorney\u00a0if a stevedore at the helm of a gantry crane &#8220;accidentally&#8221; drops a shipping container onto some dock equipment. \u00a0It&#8217;s quite a wide spectrum of cases which can be called accidents.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But let&#8217;s look at how we are raised to think. \u00a0A child might spill something at the dinner table and become upset, and we would be inclined to comfort them by reassuringly saying, &#8220;Don&#8217;t worry, it was just an accident&#8230; let&#8217;s get some more napkins.&#8221; \u00a0This is the definition of &#8220;accident&#8221; for most people&#8230; a situation where they might have been a little careless, but that it&#8217;s no big deal and they shouldn&#8217;t feel bad for very long. \u00a0In other words, most of us come to learn that an accident is something from which you might learn a lesson, but you really shouldn&#8217;t lose sleep over it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Contrast that with the notion of negligence. \u00a0This similar and very related term is often something quite different. \u00a0&#8220;He was a <em>negligent<\/em> father&#8221; has much darker connotations than &#8220;He had an accident with one of his kids the other day.&#8221; \u00a0Again, I&#8217;m attempting to codify very flexible words into specific definitions, and that&#8217;s never easy&#8230; but I believe that most people would think someone who is &#8220;negligent&#8221; is an order of magnitude beyond someone who merely &#8220;had an accident.&#8221; \u00a0There&#8217;s an aspect of habitual behavior wrapped up with the term &#8220;negligent&#8221; and the idea that such a person really shouldn&#8217;t simply shrug off their misdeeds. \u00a0Under the law, too, specific facts pertaining to someone&#8217;s casual disregard for safety and well-being can lead to a finding of negligence.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Thus, when discussion turns to situations wherein a firearm discharges and this was <em>not<\/em> someone&#8217;s intention, we find ourselves adrift in a sea of potential descriptor terms. \u00a0 And, of course, there is no lack of strong feelings on the part of many writers when it comes to how to best word such a situation. \u00a0&#8220;There is no such thing as an &#8216;accidental discharge&#8217;,&#8221; some people will assert. \u00a0&#8220;It&#8217;s proper to call them what they are&#8230; &#8216;negligent&#8217; discharges,&#8221; they continue, &#8220;because being careless with a firearm is an incredibly bad thing and is often criminal!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">What Constitutes Negligence<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the topic of &#8220;accidental&#8221; discharge versus &#8220;negligent&#8221; discharge, I actually believe there is some room for debate. \u00a0Yes, virtually all unintentional firings of guns involve some negligence. \u00a0Consider the following photo&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/negligent1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-229\" alt=\"negligent\" src=\"http:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/negligent1-225x300.jpg\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/negligent1-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/negligent1.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8230; there we see someone&#8217;s holster and pants which have been subject to serious powder burns and even what appears to be a bullet hole. \u00a0While I cannot speak to the specifics of this situation (this is a stock image I found on the internet) I would be willing to say that in all likelihood the operator of that gun was being negligent when it fired. \u00a0Chances are high that they had their finger on the trigger when drawing from their holster.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of course, there remains the remote possibility that this holster was ill-designed. \u00a0Maybe the kydex was pressed in too firmly around the trigger area and it was the act of <em>inserting<\/em> the gun that caused it to discharge. \u00a0I would assert that this would be also still be negligence <em>(what kind of person would have a gun loaded and chambered the very first time they attempt to place it in a brand new, untested holster??)<\/em>\u00a0but I think it would be to a lesser degree.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The truth is, there are some very remote situations wherein a gun can fire a round without anyone&#8217;s intention even while it is being operated according to all best practices. \u00a0Don&#8217;t believe me? \u00a0Consider something like a catastrophic extract malfunction and misfeed&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/accidental.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-231\" alt=\"accidental\" src=\"http:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/accidental-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/accidental-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/accidental.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8230; these are rare\u00a0occurrences\u00a0to begin with, and the possibility of one round&#8217;s tip banging into the rear of a previous shell casing is highly remote. \u00a0But I wouldn&#8217;t bet that it&#8217;s never <em>ever<\/em> happened throughout the course of history. \u00a0More feasible would be a firearm with a malfunctioning\u00a0firing\u00a0pin and\/or trigger assembly which could spontaneously strike a round when the action is being slammed shut. \u00a0Old revolvers were known to sometimes have the muzzle flash from an\u00a0intentionally-fired\u00a0round cause powder of other rounds elsewhere in the cylinder to ignite. \u00a0Also, if a firearm is operating at a temperature range outside of what is anticipated, the propellant within a casing can &#8220;cook off&#8221; just by the act of the round being loaded into the hot metal of the chamber. \u00a0Particularly dated firearms without modern safety interlocks could discharge a round if dropped, too.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Now, in all such cases, the <em>discharge<\/em> might be accidental&#8230; but if proper handling practices are being followed the gun would be pointed in a safe direction at all times and everyone in the area would be treating the gun as if it were loaded no matter what, so it is unlikely that anyone could be harmed. \u00a0Thus, thankfully, we wouldn&#8217;t be talking about a situation of negligence.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #999999;\"><em>Interestingly, I don&#8217;t know what I might call a scenario when a round <\/em>discharged<em> accidentally&#8230; but due to other factors of negligence someone was harmed. \u00a0I would likely still think of that as an &#8220;accidental discharge&#8221; but see it as coupled with &#8220;negligent use\/handling of a firearm&#8221; and would still see the operator as liable.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Negligent Hands<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Thus, to me, all of these &#8220;accidental shootings&#8221; are really most likely what I would call &#8220;negligent discharges&#8221; because someone is not intentionally <em>trying<\/em> to fire the gun (a.k.a. they are not &#8220;shooting&#8221;) but they are in fact <em>handling<\/em> or <em>operating<\/em> the gun (and doing so unsafely&#8230; a.k.a. &#8220;negligent&#8221;). \u00a0And, indeed, if we read the text of the article linked at the top of this post, we see&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>The [person who caused their vehicle passenger to be shot in the leg] has a second job as an armed security guard, and while moving his gun to the glove box, the weapon fired, police said.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8230; this is quite telling. \u00a0We see that the gun owner was actively handling their firearm &#8212; it wasn&#8217;t just sitting somewhere &#8212; but they were not (at least allegedly) attempting to shoot it. \u00a0The very final wording is also common in news reports: &#8220;the weapon fired&#8221; states the author, a phrase that imparts some degree of\u00a0spontaneity\u00a0and\/or agency to the firearm itself. \u00a0I&#8217;ll admit, it would be quite prolix and cumbersome to say &#8220;while moving his gun to the glove box, he unintentionally caused a round to discharge,&#8221; but such news copy would make for more honest reporting, in my view.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The use of passive voice &#8212; <em>the weapon fired<\/em>\u00a0&#8212; instead of active verbiage &#8212; <em>he or she fired a round<\/em>\u00a0&#8212; contributes to the notion that guns are dangerous in and of themselves. \u00a0Of course, I recognize that this is a widely-held view embraced by many people. \u00a0However, to those of us who have grown up around firearms and see them simply as inert objects, such wording does sometimes generate frowns.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Here we see a photograph of some guns sitting on a countertop&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/table.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-232\" alt=\"table\" src=\"http:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/table-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/table-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/table.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8230; with no one&#8217;s hands upon them, are they dangerous? \u00a0If no one were to reach out and touch them, would any of these handguns wind up in a news piece reporting that <em>the weapon fired<\/em>? \u00a0To a person who is deeply-immersed in gun culture, the answer would be a resounding &#8216;no&#8217; and we would not think of any of these guns being involved in a story about an &#8220;accidental discharge.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Well, if we wanted to be fully confident of that, it might be worth stating that leaving guns out in the open on a counter is not the wisest course of action a lot of the time. \u00a0We cannot see a wider view in the above photo, so it is not possible to tell if the owner is standing nearby, but perhaps I would be remiss if I didn&#8217;t include my own assertion that in most situations, leaving guns unattended and loaded would wind up back in the &#8220;negligent&#8221; side of the\u00a0equation. \u00a0So perhaps it&#8217;s best to drop in a photo such as this&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/safe.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-233 aligncenter\" alt=\"safe\" src=\"http:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/safe-225x300.jpg\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/safe-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/safe.jpg 714w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8230; yes, I recognize that there are legitimate situations wherein a defense gun is not kept locked-up, but for the most part the above image illustrates the best means of guarding against any kind of negligent discharge &#8212; not to mention theft &#8212; and I advocate the use of secure enclosures for most of your gun collection in almost all situations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Venn Diagram Time<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The internet can be counted on to provide this type of diagram with some regularity, so I created one which is specific to the topic that I&#8217;m attempting to address&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/discharge.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-234 aligncenter\" alt=\"discharge\" src=\"http:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/discharge-300x300.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/discharge-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/discharge-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/discharge.png 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8230; so here we see my views, in a nutshell. \u00a0All of the above situations represent some kind of discharging of a firearm. \u00a0But the sub-categories are quite separate from one another and feature virtually zero overlap.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Shooting is a deliberate act: one points a weapon in the direction intended and makes the decision to fire a round. \u00a0Whether you&#8217;re talking about a justified shooting or a criminal shooting or a careless firing into the air <em>&#8212; please, never do that &#8212;<\/em> these are all part of the green circle.<\/li>\n<li>The purple circle would be the smallest part of this Venn diagram, were things drawn to scale. \u00a0Virtually no situation nowadays is an &#8220;accidental discharge.&#8221; \u00a0These are those very rare times when a mechanical malfunction happens and a round unexpectedly fires without fault or carelessness on the part of the operator. \u00a0Appropriate handling of the firearm and following of proper safety precautions would mean that\u00a0no one would be injured, of course.<\/li>\n<li>The red circle represents what are most commonly referred to as &#8220;accidental shootings&#8221; in the media, when in fact they are seldom mere &#8220;accidents&#8221; and I don&#8217;t think they typically qualify as &#8220;shootings&#8221; either. \u00a0However, I recognize that reporters are in a tight spot when attempting to describe such incidents in a manner that is\u00a0palatable\u00a0to their editors, their producers, and even their audience.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Even if the media is too entrenched in this parlance to change what <em>name<\/em> they use for such incidents, it would be at least slightly more helpful if news items were worded in a way that recognizes and identifies a <em>person&#8217;s<\/em> actions as the root cause &#8230; instead of reporting that the gun &#8220;just went off&#8221; to the shock of everyone involved, including the individual who was holding it in their own hands at the time.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I would like to try to summarize some thoughts that I have about the term &#8220;accidental shooting&#8221; and why so many gun owners find it a clumsy and\u00a0inaccurate\u00a0phrasing. \u00a0A reporter whom I know and respect and with whom I occasionally chat about firearms posted a link on Twitter&#8230;\u00a0Aurora police investigating &#8220;accidental shooting&#8221; at Rangeview High. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=226"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244,"href":"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions\/244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/words.deviating.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}