A former Florida sheriff’s deputy was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with the accidental shooting death of his girlfriend, authorities said.
Leslie Boileau called 911 on Thursday night to report that he had “accidentally shot his girlfriend” at their home in Ocala. The girlfriend was found with a handgun on her lap “and a rifle was also present at the scene,” the Ocala Police Department said in a statement on Facebook.
I mean, the first thing my grandfather told me about guns - the very first thing - was that you never, ever, under ANY circumstances ever fucking point it at something you do not want to kill. Ever. Period. For any reason.
Now, I might not expect some random person to maybe have any sort of proper handling training, but a fucking ex-cop? C’mon.
First rule of any gun safety thing I’ve ever been part of, heard of, or seen in action is to always treat the weapon as if it is loaded and ready to go off even if you are absolutely sure it’s unloaded and the safety is on.
There is no amount of training, experience, or ability that can prevent gun accidents.
Other activities that are life/death like surgery or airline piloting use checklists because they know that training, experience, and ability are not enough. Making rules like “a gun is always loaded” or “careful where you point that thing”, are not sufficient because instead of solving human fallibility, they ignore it.
I’d go further and say that these “rules” are more mantra than procedure. A kind of protection spell that’s spoken more than it’s followed. These spells are cast in a flurry every time someone has an accident. Not to reinforce the lesson, but to reassure that we’re not going to get hurt.
Give me an example of someone following all 4 basic rules of gun safety and accidentally killing someone anyway.