We're back, once again. The kids once again dominated the week, with seven kids under 16 years of age who either shot themselves or were shot by other kids under 16. The youngest victim of GunFAIL this week was just 13 months old, shot by her dad while cleaning his guns. A shocker, to be sure, but then again it was the second time in the space of as many months that a dad had done the same, in Tennessee alone.
Three concealed carry ninjas had accidental discharges this week, as did five cops. Two accidental discharges were in school settings, with one student injured. The first involved a cop on a school bus, whose weapon was discharged into the floor of the bus when a student grabbed at the trigger while his gun was still in his holster. But of course, that will never happen once we quadruple the number of officers in our schools, or whatever it is people are proposing these days. The other incident involved a school employee who's apparently not a teacher, but who holds a second job as a security guard elsewhere, and who gave a student a ride home after school, but accidentally shot him trying (unsuccessfully, evidently) to put the gun in the glove compartment. I never imagined that would prove so difficult a task, and very likely, neither did he. But life—and especially life around firearms—is always full of surprises. Though sometimes those lives are a little shorter than usual.
We also recorded two folks (the 109th and 110th of 2013) shot while cleaning loaded weapons, our sixth turkey hunter accidentally shot, plus three more home invasion shootings. You're still not allowed to make a list of your neighbors who own guns, out of an abundance of concern for their privacy and liberty and such. But sometimes, they just can't help but make a public declaration of it, such is their pride.
Florida continues its dominance of the Derp Crown Sweepstakes this week, thanks to the woman in St. Petersburg who accidentally shot her friend while on a Starbucks run, with a gun she had forgotten was in her purse and which went off when she dropped her bag. The state's top run status was cemented when another concealed carry ninja in Jupiter shot himself in the leg while bowling with a loaded pistol in his pocket.
Finally, we note the passing of a young and relatively new gun enthusiast from Colorado, a 22-year-old woman killed this week with a newly purchased AK-47 style assault rifle that she apparently fumbled after sharing a few beers with friends. The very young kids are of course a special kind of tragedy, but it seems particularly sad when the victims are of an age when they're likely to have left behind Facebook photos of themselves posing with their guns, as was the case here.
Below the fold, you'll find this week's list.
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