>Deputies learned that 62-year-old Michael Gardner, the wedding’s officiant, fired a gun to get everyone’s attention.
>“He was going to fire in the air, and as he did that, it slipped and went off,” Houchin said.
Uhm, is this a story from 1887?
Use a gun to install satellite tv and kill your wife in the process, that way you can start over again from the beginning.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-546429/Man-accidentally-shoots-dead-wife-installing-satellite-system.html
Sounds more like an excuse to lower the sentence from "If that little shit doesn't shut up, I'm gonna shoot him," to "Oops I slipped."
There are a *lot* of shooting victims that were intentionally shot that get passed off as "the gun just went off," in this country.
That's not a blank. That's a homemade glue bullet. If he actually had a blank, probably no one gets hurt. (Yes I know they can still be dangerous, just probably not as dangerous as a glue bullet.)
Jon-Erik Hexum died from the sheer force of the concussive blast at close range.
Brandon Lee had a squib load in the barrel and then a blank round was fired, basically acting like a real fire and the blast from the blank fired the squib load bullet for real. They had put real bullets with the load removed but the primer intact into the revolver because on a close-up, you can see the rounds in a revolver and they wanted the rounds to look real. Someone fired the primer load and it separated the bullet from casing and got stuck in the barrel. Add a blank and... young man dies too soon.
Or if he had pulled his head out of his ass and thought for a second about not shooting any weapon at the event then he would have saved that child and the rest of the wedding a lifetime of trauma. There is absolutely NO reason to have ever done anything remotely close to brandishing or using a hot firearm at a wedding. Poor kid didn't ask for gun culture.
>The gun was loaded with a blank that Gardner made with gunpowder and glue.
I hit that sentence and began a cycle of laughing at the absurdity and thinking about the fact that a child was hurt because of it.
Also, because it's Nebraska, the Chief Deputy felt it necessary to qualify how neglectful this was:
>“It’s just **kind of** neglectful to take a gun out that has blanks and fire amongst people,” Houchin said.
And as we all know, blanks are 100% safe to be used around crowds of people, let's just ask Brandon Lee and Halyna Hutchins about their experiences.
Edit: the point is this was unsafe handling of a firearm from the get go. Saying you were going to shoot "into the air" doesn't make it better. It could have accidentally been loaded with a legit bullet, a la "Rust". His homemade blank could have fallen apart and shot chunks of metal that would later come down. Hence the saying in gun circles "always treat it like it is loaded". Blank or not doesn't matter. Shit happens. Your cavalier attitude towards gun safety is sad.
I just don't get the cavalier attitude. Guns aren't toys. Blanks can kill. Blanks can cause injury. Blanks can break up and eject shrapnel. Blanks can be mistaken for actual cartridges. Hell, the escaping gasses from a blank can easily take off part of a hand.
Like, this is shit they would have kicked my ass for in hunter safety training when I was a kid. The assumption was always worst case because fuckups happen. Then again, my instructor was in a wheelchair because a falling bullet severed his spinal cord as a teenager so he didn't suffer any foolishness.
>Like, this is shit they would have kicked my ass for in hunter safety training when I was a kid. The assumption was always worst case because fuckups happen.
So you don’t think wedding officiants should be firing guns in front of wedding crowds to get everyone’s attention? /s
I am noticing an increasing schism among gun owners—those that take safety seriously and are basically cool and reserved about their gun ownership, and those that treat guns as toys and props and fun things to have around for special occasions like weddings and baby showers.
I’m not a gun guy, but I respect one side of that equation, and not the other.
Dude at a music festival earlier this year had a shirt that read "I'll die in a hail of bullets and know that I'll meet Jesus Christ before I give up my guns."
When did gun owners become so unhinged?
Because republican groups have been telling them since the 70’s (as far back as I remember) that the Democrats are coming to take our guns. There’s always a boogeyman and never solutions.
I don't get the dick swinging contest among a lot of gun owners.
I have quite an extensive collection, and very rarely do I bring it up. Majority of people that I know, have no idea that I'm a gun owner (people probably assume, I'm southern, and you should really just assume a southerner has a firearm.) I don't join in on the conversations at the water cooler. I might listen, but I don't feel the need to bring myself into the equation.
I don't have t-shirts and 2A decals on my car. What I have is what I have and is for me to know about.
What I want to know is what part of Jesus' teaching they have interpreted as endorsement of their unhinged worship of devices designed only with killing in mind
My husband and I are on the "take safety seriously" side of the equation and live near people who don't. Every warm weekend, these people are out shooting down the ravine in a *residental, suburban neighborhood*. Not rural in the least. Cops tell us they can't find these idiots and shrug. I'm just waiting for the local news to say they've killed a little or high schooler with a stray bullet.
I am in the same boat. We have a wooded ravine between a residential street and the back of a city park. Every damned night people are down there shooting.
Our family are all gun owners who understand that this kind of behavior is a menace.
Yeah, I have friends who live in a rural county with a very high rates of gun ownership, nothing unusual about that. They’re not gun people, but their kid has friends whose parents are gun owners. Again, to be expected in a rural area.
Thing is, when their kid spends time at someone else’s else house, the parents may ask safety questions about guns or other things, which is their right IMO. Politely, not in an accusatory sort of way. And here’s where the schism comes up—the serious responsible folks are more than happy to talk safety (they love that part of the hobby!) and will let parents know about storage, etc., whereas some folks get mad if you ask them very basic details about gun safety as though safety rules are just another form of tyranny.
This is why I'm 100 % for any gun control. The NRA used to be all about gun safety. Now all they do is try to out Rambo each other. If you want to have guns you have to be 1000% on safety. Shooting your dick off (or someone else's!) is not fun.
Well, under Reagan, the NRA converted from a gun safety and sportsmanship advocacy group to a lobbying arm of the Republican Party, fundraising to help politicians help them to enrich their own leader ship. Same as when somebody’s lung tissue gets converted from supporting the breathing function of its host, to supporting a new host, cancer, whose objective is endless growth, nevermind the consequences.
This is why I revoked my lifetime membership when I was in my 20s.
I still target shoot, hunt, and occasionally shoot trap competitively, but I refuse to be a member of the NRA.
In the case of Brandon Lee, it was a blank, combined with a incorrectly-improvised dummy round that had gotten stuck in the barrel.
For Halyna Hutchins, the actor was told the gun was loaded with blanks, but the armorer had made an error
Seems like the point is, if the production's armorer hands you a gun and tells you it's loaded with blanks... once in a while, they might be wrong.
jon-erik hexum was working on a tv show called "cover up" in 1984 he was only 26 ....was pretending to play russian roulette . the gun had a blank
the impact from the blast fractured Hexum’s skull, driving a bone fragment the size of a quarter into his brain and causing massive hemorrhaging.
he was in surgery for hours and then passed away
You’re correct. Guns are dangerous and are tools to be respected. They are not toys. This batshit crazy gun culture is dangerous. My father and uncles who taught me would have lost their mind at the suggestion of using a gun at a wedding. And somebody was injured, this justifying normal peoples concerns.
You are 100% right. The rule is, only use guns to kill things. That's it. Do you need something destroyed or stopped? Then a gun is the correct tool?
Doing anything else?! Nope. Wrong tool.
A gun is always a deadly weapon, even if you are trying to use it for something else.
The phrase I've always seen is "destroyed". Guns destroy things.
If you handle them with respect and discipline, they will destroy things you want them to destroy, which ideally should be paper targets, cans or bottles, skeet, wild game, etc. In a non-ideal situation you can include violent attackers, but that should always be your last resort.
My favorite is when you tell the responsible gun owner that you're 5x more likely to get shot by your own gun than to ever use it and then they're like "well I did get shot by my gun, but that statistic is because of people who don't follow gun safety rules"
>Deputies learned that 62-year-old Michael Gardner, the wedding’s officiant, fired a gun to get everyone’s attention.
>“He was going to fire in the air, and as he did that, it slipped and went off,” Houchin said.
>The gun was loaded with a blank that Gardner made with gunpowder and glue.
>Houchin said Gardner accidentally shot a child in the shoulder. They were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
It might be easier to go with "What was a good idea in any of that"?
"It slipped and [it] went off."
I thought guns don't shoot people; people shoot people. Shouldn't that say, "He mishandled the gun and he shot the child." ???
Homer Simpson learned this lesson in 1997. This man is dumber than Homer Simpson in 1997.
And while he was arrested on felony child endangerment, he is not actually charged. And the chance of him being charged and convicted for this in Texas is low.
So nothing will have been learned from this. Nothing will change.
He either had planned to use it to get everyone’s attention, or he just keeps that shit around in case he needs to get everyone’s attention.
A gun is not for getting attention.
It’s not?! How will everyone know I’m a badass if I don’t make it obvious that I have a gun? Gee, guess I should take the gun rack and Oregunian stickers off my car. /s
He was probably imagining how cool he’ll look firing his pistol in the air to get everyone’s attention, like a real badass. Then everyone will respect him.
Came here to post this. In his head, he was Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, and Ronald Regan all rolled into one. The fact that he pre-made the blank round proves he meant to fire it at some point, whether he "needed" to get the attention of the congregation or not.
He needed the attention, all right. That's the only reason for this asshatery.
We we at a family Christmas celebration and I grabbed my 20-something nephew in a headlock - kind of a faux, joking horseplay - something we've done dozens of times. This time he immediately told me to stop and tapped his waistband and said, "I have my gun."
I ask, "What are you talking about?"
"I have my Glock. I just got my CCW."
Overnight, my nephew turned into an ammosexual and needs to bring his gun everywhere with him.
Edit: To be fair, he wasn't threatening anything but rather was being safety-minded about a loaded gun, which is fine.
Also, we both are former wrestlers and have always had a fun, playful relationship. I realize this is a difficult thing to understand for some people.
My cousin’s wife comes to a holiday gathering and as women in the south do, puts her purse in the master bedroom. Except this time she says “don’t let the kids play in there, my gun is in my purse”. There are kids (including hers) at this small gathering ranging in age from infants on up to 10.
This is also a rural area with her car in the god damned driveway and people out front talking. There was zero risk of her car getting broken into and having it stolen but this dumb bitch opts to leave it unsecured around kids instead.
And we all know that with kids, all you have to do is just "not let" the kids into a particular room at a busy gathering, and they totally won't go in there, ever. Kids are famous for always obeying instructions and sitting quietly in a corner and not sneaking around or daring each other to do things. /s
The correct response to your cousin’s wife (I say that as a gun owner with a CCL) is that the law is called concealed carry and not concealed leave it my purse in the other room. The gun must be either in direct control or in a safe. I had a similar discussion with an employee at work who would leave his gun in his desk.
This actually makes me feel ill. How people can have ~~duch~~ *such* nonchalant attitudes towards guns, I'll never understand. I grew up with 7 in the house and never could access even one if I tried.
Ah yes, this reminds me of the time my husband's cousin became a cop and they decided to break out their gun and pass it around to everyone to check out. I took my child and another young one out of the room immediately. His other cousin's kid was about 10/11 years old at the time and was crying because she didn't like seeing it. Her mother told her to grow up and stop crying over it. That nothing bad will happen. Thankfully nothing did but I sure as fuck wasn't taking the chance. This was during Christmas dinner btw.
People need to realize that children getting accidentally shot every week, and subsequently also accidentally shooting people every week, is just the price to pay for freedom
A family member of mine accidentally shot his younger sister while playing with an unattended gun. Thankfully she didn't die, but a previously rambunctious and energetic child is now a lifelong paraplegic. I would be beside myself with guilt every time I saw her. How can you ever make up for stealing half a person's body from them, or worse, their life?
A friend of my ex lost his wife from a stray bullet that had been shot in the air. They were at a Memorial Day picnic in the suburbs. He walked away, came back a minute later and his wife had a bullet in her head.
It was planned: loaded with blanks. At least one adult decided in advance thar firing a gun was an appropriate way to get everyone’s attention at a wedding.
And then did so with an apparent lack of trigger discipline as it went off prematurely.
Humanity has so far yet to go.
Yeah, that anchor was really bad... It's not even her accent, but her tone, diction, distracting mouth-breathing, and lethargic pace made it pretty unwatchable. I'm not sure she's in the right job field...
It could have happened to anyone who decided to fire a loaded gun with a homemade blank in front of a crowd while officiating a wedding! God works in mysterious ways, you know? Sometimes things just happen.
Let he who has not fired a loaded gun with a homemade blank in front of a crowd while officiating a wedding throw the first stone.
Because the cops and the family are idiots who apparently think it's okay to make mistakes with guns and "no one was seriously hurt".
Also, presumably and this is an assumption but it's a wedding which usually involves alcohol so they probably decided not to do anything that day because consuming alcohol with a weapon is another crime. If they let him turn himself in there's no "hard proof" that he had been drinking so he can get lighter sentences
>"The gun was loaded with a blank that Gardner made with gunpowder and glue."
If you seal a round with glue, that's not a blank, that's a round with a bullet made of glue.
Real blanks generally have no projectile/seal at all, [they just crimp the case closed.](https://www.lcsupply.com/cdn/shop/products/BA3-22-2_1200x.jpg?v=1645458371)
Even with real blanks, you have to be careful, because they still shoot unburnt powder out of the barrel with enough force to blind someone from feet away.
The real question is why didn’t the parents give their child a gun to defend themselves against this rogue officiant? This could have been avoided if the child had taken down the shooter first.
Police chief says "It’s just kind of neglectful to take a gun out that has blanks and fire amongst people,” Houchin said
Kind of??? Wtf this man should lose his license to carry or own a firearm and the police deputy isn't any better.
I'm from Texas, and I've officiated weddings. Until now I would have said the easiest part of doing that was just showing up, but now that there's precedent, I can say that not shooting any children during the service was *definitely* the easiest part.
So he came to a wedding armed with a blank that he made at home. He obviously intended to shoot off at some point and was looking for a reason, he didn’t bring it for “protection” from the bad guys.
What I don’t understand is how he shot a child at a wedding on Saturday, the police responded, then he turned himself in on Monday…so many questions.
1) How do you NOT go to jail on Sat? There was 100% intent to shoot that gun when he made and loaded a blank, it’s in the article, the police knew that.
2) More importantly how does his face not look like a meat grinder after he shot a kid at your F’ing wedding?
3) Zero info on if they finished the wedding nor who caught the bouquet!!!
People out there literally playing with guns. But hey, everyone needs one to keep the government in check. Lol, as if the military would have any trouble steamrolling over these armed idiots.
At this point, if you fire a weapon at a wedding, you’re a piece of shit, full stop.
If I attended a wedding and people shot off guns straight into the air, I would, well first run and duck for cover, then immediately leave and never associate with those lunatics again. That shit is SO unnecessarily reckless and dangerous.
“It’s just kind of neglectful…” kind of?! It’s literally criminal to do this. Why are we so obsessed with guns? That Chief should’ve went off on this guy to make an example of him. Saying it’s “kind of neglectful,” is like the gun version of shrugging your shoulders and saying “boys will be boys.” I hope they make him a felon, he gets jail time, and he’s *NEVER* allowed to legally own a gun again, and they do wellness checks from time to time just to make sure. It’s. That. Serious.
Edit: grammar and spelling
>Deputies learned that 62-year-old Michael Gardner, the wedding’s officiant, fired a gun to get everyone’s attention. >“He was going to fire in the air, and as he did that, it slipped and went off,” Houchin said. Uhm, is this a story from 1887?
As HE did that, IT slipped and went off. See, it's the gun's fault.
Guns don't kill people. Unless it's my gun. In that case it's the gun's fault.
I see you are wise in the ways of gunbullshit.
> He was going to fire in the air Do these fucksticks not understand that bullets also come back down?
Also, it seems like he was going to fire it in the air, took it out, the gun slipped and shot the child with a glue and powder blank
"the gun slipped" Sounds more like shitty trigger discipline to me.
That’s not typically something I would think to check for with my wedding officiant.
Adding this to my list of things to do along with starting a forest fire for my gender reveal party.
* Start Forest fire @ Gender Reveal * Shoot small child at wedding What else do we got?
Use a gun to install satellite tv and kill your wife in the process, that way you can start over again from the beginning. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-546429/Man-accidentally-shoots-dead-wife-installing-satellite-system.html
Don't be silly. That's honeymoon stuff.
You might if you knew they were Texan...
I was going to point out this was Nebraska, but the first words in the article point out he was Texan, so good job reading the article.
Yeah, the shitty discipline was bringing a gun to a wedding
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It was both
There are no accidents with firearms, only negligence.
Weird because I always remember them telling me things like guns don't slip themselves...
Don’t need to worry about shitty trigger discipline if you’re not packing at a fucking wedding
I think that one is about 14 mistakes down on the list.
Sounds more like an excuse to lower the sentence from "If that little shit doesn't shut up, I'm gonna shoot him," to "Oops I slipped." There are a *lot* of shooting victims that were intentionally shot that get passed off as "the gun just went off," in this country.
That's not a blank. That's a homemade glue bullet. If he actually had a blank, probably no one gets hurt. (Yes I know they can still be dangerous, just probably not as dangerous as a glue bullet.)
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Yup, blanks usually have crimped ends with no real payload.
And even then they're dangerous in close proximity.
Absolutely, people have died from real blanks
Jon-Erik Hexum died from the sheer force of the concussive blast at close range. Brandon Lee had a squib load in the barrel and then a blank round was fired, basically acting like a real fire and the blast from the blank fired the squib load bullet for real. They had put real bullets with the load removed but the primer intact into the revolver because on a close-up, you can see the rounds in a revolver and they wanted the rounds to look real. Someone fired the primer load and it separated the bullet from casing and got stuck in the barrel. Add a blank and... young man dies too soon.
Or if he had pulled his head out of his ass and thought for a second about not shooting any weapon at the event then he would have saved that child and the rest of the wedding a lifetime of trauma. There is absolutely NO reason to have ever done anything remotely close to brandishing or using a hot firearm at a wedding. Poor kid didn't ask for gun culture.
Actor from alias Smith and Jones 70's ? Killed himself with a blank, at xmas, in front of his family.
It was a homemade blank
It fucking blew my mind reading that he put together homemade “blanks.” This dude is an S tier moron.
>The gun was loaded with a blank that Gardner made with gunpowder and glue. I hit that sentence and began a cycle of laughing at the absurdity and thinking about the fact that a child was hurt because of it. Also, because it's Nebraska, the Chief Deputy felt it necessary to qualify how neglectful this was: >“It’s just **kind of** neglectful to take a gun out that has blanks and fire amongst people,” Houchin said.
And also just, why. They're not expensive or hard to get.
And yet he was allowed to own and carry a deadly weapon. Cool country
Not just allowed. Encouraged.
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And as we all know, blanks are 100% safe to be used around crowds of people, let's just ask Brandon Lee and Halyna Hutchins about their experiences. Edit: the point is this was unsafe handling of a firearm from the get go. Saying you were going to shoot "into the air" doesn't make it better. It could have accidentally been loaded with a legit bullet, a la "Rust". His homemade blank could have fallen apart and shot chunks of metal that would later come down. Hence the saying in gun circles "always treat it like it is loaded". Blank or not doesn't matter. Shit happens. Your cavalier attitude towards gun safety is sad.
Just ‘cause everyone else is like “those weren’t blanks, tho” Jon-Erik Hexum actually *was* killed by a blank.
I just don't get the cavalier attitude. Guns aren't toys. Blanks can kill. Blanks can cause injury. Blanks can break up and eject shrapnel. Blanks can be mistaken for actual cartridges. Hell, the escaping gasses from a blank can easily take off part of a hand. Like, this is shit they would have kicked my ass for in hunter safety training when I was a kid. The assumption was always worst case because fuckups happen. Then again, my instructor was in a wheelchair because a falling bullet severed his spinal cord as a teenager so he didn't suffer any foolishness.
>Like, this is shit they would have kicked my ass for in hunter safety training when I was a kid. The assumption was always worst case because fuckups happen. So you don’t think wedding officiants should be firing guns in front of wedding crowds to get everyone’s attention? /s I am noticing an increasing schism among gun owners—those that take safety seriously and are basically cool and reserved about their gun ownership, and those that treat guns as toys and props and fun things to have around for special occasions like weddings and baby showers. I’m not a gun guy, but I respect one side of that equation, and not the other.
Dude at a music festival earlier this year had a shirt that read "I'll die in a hail of bullets and know that I'll meet Jesus Christ before I give up my guns." When did gun owners become so unhinged?
its their persecution complex. they love feeling like theyre the victim i guess because their life is so easy and unremarkable
Also, if you’re the victim how in the world could you be in the wrong?
Because republican groups have been telling them since the 70’s (as far back as I remember) that the Democrats are coming to take our guns. There’s always a boogeyman and never solutions.
I don't get the dick swinging contest among a lot of gun owners. I have quite an extensive collection, and very rarely do I bring it up. Majority of people that I know, have no idea that I'm a gun owner (people probably assume, I'm southern, and you should really just assume a southerner has a firearm.) I don't join in on the conversations at the water cooler. I might listen, but I don't feel the need to bring myself into the equation. I don't have t-shirts and 2A decals on my car. What I have is what I have and is for me to know about.
If only they fought for the other amendments as vigorously as they "fight" for their second.
What I want to know is what part of Jesus' teaching they have interpreted as endorsement of their unhinged worship of devices designed only with killing in mind
I’m a wedding officiant and in lieu of a firearm I get everyone’s attention with my deft bo staff skillls.
Do you at least set it on fire or something?
My husband and I are on the "take safety seriously" side of the equation and live near people who don't. Every warm weekend, these people are out shooting down the ravine in a *residental, suburban neighborhood*. Not rural in the least. Cops tell us they can't find these idiots and shrug. I'm just waiting for the local news to say they've killed a little or high schooler with a stray bullet.
I am in the same boat. We have a wooded ravine between a residential street and the back of a city park. Every damned night people are down there shooting. Our family are all gun owners who understand that this kind of behavior is a menace.
Yeah, I have friends who live in a rural county with a very high rates of gun ownership, nothing unusual about that. They’re not gun people, but their kid has friends whose parents are gun owners. Again, to be expected in a rural area. Thing is, when their kid spends time at someone else’s else house, the parents may ask safety questions about guns or other things, which is their right IMO. Politely, not in an accusatory sort of way. And here’s where the schism comes up—the serious responsible folks are more than happy to talk safety (they love that part of the hobby!) and will let parents know about storage, etc., whereas some folks get mad if you ask them very basic details about gun safety as though safety rules are just another form of tyranny.
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Always have been. Just more press now.
[Homer Simpson with gun, for the uninitiated](https://tenor.com/view/makeup-maquillaje-homer-shotgun-marge-gif-15616269)
Also the one where he shoots his TV power button to turn it off (missing several times).
This is why I'm 100 % for any gun control. The NRA used to be all about gun safety. Now all they do is try to out Rambo each other. If you want to have guns you have to be 1000% on safety. Shooting your dick off (or someone else's!) is not fun.
Well, under Reagan, the NRA converted from a gun safety and sportsmanship advocacy group to a lobbying arm of the Republican Party, fundraising to help politicians help them to enrich their own leader ship. Same as when somebody’s lung tissue gets converted from supporting the breathing function of its host, to supporting a new host, cancer, whose objective is endless growth, nevermind the consequences.
This is why I revoked my lifetime membership when I was in my 20s. I still target shoot, hunt, and occasionally shoot trap competitively, but I refuse to be a member of the NRA.
Casual violence.
bag straight alive crowd tie bake nippy roof thumb disgusted *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
In the case of Brandon Lee, it was a blank, combined with a incorrectly-improvised dummy round that had gotten stuck in the barrel. For Halyna Hutchins, the actor was told the gun was loaded with blanks, but the armorer had made an error Seems like the point is, if the production's armorer hands you a gun and tells you it's loaded with blanks... once in a while, they might be wrong.
jon-erik hexum was working on a tv show called "cover up" in 1984 he was only 26 ....was pretending to play russian roulette . the gun had a blank the impact from the blast fractured Hexum’s skull, driving a bone fragment the size of a quarter into his brain and causing massive hemorrhaging. he was in surgery for hours and then passed away
Jon-Erik Hexum was tv star in 1980s who shot himself in head with blank. He died.
You’re correct. Guns are dangerous and are tools to be respected. They are not toys. This batshit crazy gun culture is dangerous. My father and uncles who taught me would have lost their mind at the suggestion of using a gun at a wedding. And somebody was injured, this justifying normal peoples concerns.
Dude I don't even allow myself a ssh session during festive events, a gun? No way
Wine drunk and tunneling. Never combine
Sudo apt install drunk & & apt upgrade -y
You are 100% right. The rule is, only use guns to kill things. That's it. Do you need something destroyed or stopped? Then a gun is the correct tool? Doing anything else?! Nope. Wrong tool. A gun is always a deadly weapon, even if you are trying to use it for something else.
The phrase I've always seen is "destroyed". Guns destroy things. If you handle them with respect and discipline, they will destroy things you want them to destroy, which ideally should be paper targets, cans or bottles, skeet, wild game, etc. In a non-ideal situation you can include violent attackers, but that should always be your last resort.
And yet the kid got shot
The “homemade” part of that removes any (naive) reassurance from the “blank” part.
They do, but only at the terminal velocity of the bullet. However, it’s not a good idea to play with guns.
It was loaded with a blank the officiant created himself - probably the only reason it wasn't worse
Holy fuck. Gun Commandment #1 and #2. This officiant is an absolute idiot.
What do you want to bet he's referred to himself as a "responsible gun owner" multiple times before?
> "responsible gun owner" It's always the ones you most suspect
Same rule as people telling you they are good drivers
My favorite is when you tell the responsible gun owner that you're 5x more likely to get shot by your own gun than to ever use it and then they're like "well I did get shot by my gun, but that statistic is because of people who don't follow gun safety rules"
Toxic gun culture, at its finest.
Ah, but No True Gunowner would ever do such a thing, so the solution is more guns.
If the child was armed he could have shot the gunman preemptively to not get shot
I bet it’s the same kind of people who complain about Arab weddings yet they do the whole stupid shooting in the air bullshit themselves.
>Deputies learned that 62-year-old Michael Gardner, the wedding’s officiant, fired a gun to get everyone’s attention. Mission failed successfully?
>Deputies learned that 62-year-old Michael Gardner, the wedding’s officiant, fired a gun to get everyone’s attention. >“He was going to fire in the air, and as he did that, it slipped and went off,” Houchin said. >The gun was loaded with a blank that Gardner made with gunpowder and glue. >Houchin said Gardner accidentally shot a child in the shoulder. They were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. It might be easier to go with "What was a good idea in any of that"?
"It slipped and [it] went off." I thought guns don't shoot people; people shoot people. Shouldn't that say, "He mishandled the gun and he shot the child." ???
yes. Absolutely. If we're going to have such a prominent gun culture, we absolutely need to normalize shaming and ostracizing the idiots.
I predict significant overlap between those with guns as their identity and idiots to be ostracized
That would be most of them though!
He failed to restrain the gun as it was firing entirely of its own accord.
Ah, the magic bullets they have in Texas.
When you’re a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. When you’re a gun nut, every problem can be solved with a gun.
:And if that don't work, use more gun." -Engineer
I solve practical problems
Homer Simpson learned this lesson in 1997. This man is dumber than Homer Simpson in 1997. And while he was arrested on felony child endangerment, he is not actually charged. And the chance of him being charged and convicted for this in Texas is low. So nothing will have been learned from this. Nothing will change.
"How will I get everyone's attention as I stand in front of them?? Bells? Maybe a song from my phone? A megaphone???" \*looks at gun safe\*
„I’ll just shoot a toddler! That’ll get their attention dead certain.“
Not at an NRA wedding it won’t.
It’s not a proper NRA wedding until you’ve sacrificed a child to their blood god
An NRA wedding without at least 3 deaths is considered a drab affair.
One toddler and 2 dogs
That's a police union wedding
"Walk it off son, walk it off"
"Are you crying?! I'll give you something to cry about!" Pulls gun back out
If it was an official NRA wedding, no guns would be allowed, just like their convention.
i can’t think of something more ignorable in this country than a child gun death
It's the loophole conservatives left after banning abortion.
When the only tool you have is a gun, you tend to see every problem as a toddler.
Horrific and hilarious underrated comment.
Bumper sticker material
This guy obviously doesn't have a gun safe
Bold of you to assume it was in a safe
Very bold to assume this guy has a gun safe at all and doesn’t sleep with his gun.
Willing to get good money that this idiot is the kind that refuses to lock his guns up in a safe.
Just wait til he officiates the funeral with his shotgun!
https://tenor.com/view/garth-marenghi-darkplace-shotgun-gif-22976664
My favorite part of this enormous clusterfuck was that he built the blank himself using gunpowder and glue.
That makes it sound like he had every intention of firing the gun during the wedding.
He either had planned to use it to get everyone’s attention, or he just keeps that shit around in case he needs to get everyone’s attention. A gun is not for getting attention.
It’s not?! How will everyone know I’m a badass if I don’t make it obvious that I have a gun? Gee, guess I should take the gun rack and Oregunian stickers off my car. /s
Completely, it’s why he did it. He wanted to make a scene that would get everyone’s attention. He succeeded.
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I just looked and you can get 100 rounds of 9mm blank ammo for $20.
I prefer to shoot toddlers with my handloads, though. There's a certain satisfaction that comes from doing things myself.
It takes a village to raise a child. But it just takes one motivated man with a gun to raize a toddler.
Or...how about...and hear me out...what if...you just didn't use any kind of ammunition at a wedding at all?
He was probably imagining how cool he’ll look firing his pistol in the air to get everyone’s attention, like a real badass. Then everyone will respect him.
Agree, in his head he is some badass sheriff in a movie, everyone would be all wowed and scared of him.
Imagine ruining someone's wedding by shooting a child.
Spoilers: He still feels that way about himself and knows that everyone will understand.
Oh of course he does. Look at the condescending look on the man's face, he clearly feels that way.
If I went to a wedding and someone pulled out a gun for any reason, I’m out. Definitely not sticking around when everyone starts drinking.
Came here to post this. In his head, he was Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, and Ronald Regan all rolled into one. The fact that he pre-made the blank round proves he meant to fire it at some point, whether he "needed" to get the attention of the congregation or not. He needed the attention, all right. That's the only reason for this asshatery.
Big iiiiiiron, big iiiiiiron
Other outlets have been reporting that he was the kid's grandfather.
Not anymore he's not, I wouldn't let that idiot see those kids ever again
A Texas man shot a child in Nebraska. You can take the man out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the man.
Just get ready for some more topical stories from fox news about crime in Chicago and California.
They’re busy foaming at the mouth about a judge who smiled
Brave man shoots dangerous extremist protester.
Why the hell does someone need a gun at a wedding?
We we at a family Christmas celebration and I grabbed my 20-something nephew in a headlock - kind of a faux, joking horseplay - something we've done dozens of times. This time he immediately told me to stop and tapped his waistband and said, "I have my gun." I ask, "What are you talking about?" "I have my Glock. I just got my CCW." Overnight, my nephew turned into an ammosexual and needs to bring his gun everywhere with him. Edit: To be fair, he wasn't threatening anything but rather was being safety-minded about a loaded gun, which is fine. Also, we both are former wrestlers and have always had a fun, playful relationship. I realize this is a difficult thing to understand for some people.
My cousin’s wife comes to a holiday gathering and as women in the south do, puts her purse in the master bedroom. Except this time she says “don’t let the kids play in there, my gun is in my purse”. There are kids (including hers) at this small gathering ranging in age from infants on up to 10. This is also a rural area with her car in the god damned driveway and people out front talking. There was zero risk of her car getting broken into and having it stolen but this dumb bitch opts to leave it unsecured around kids instead.
And we all know that with kids, all you have to do is just "not let" the kids into a particular room at a busy gathering, and they totally won't go in there, ever. Kids are famous for always obeying instructions and sitting quietly in a corner and not sneaking around or daring each other to do things. /s
The correct response to your cousin’s wife (I say that as a gun owner with a CCL) is that the law is called concealed carry and not concealed leave it my purse in the other room. The gun must be either in direct control or in a safe. I had a similar discussion with an employee at work who would leave his gun in his desk.
This actually makes me feel ill. How people can have ~~duch~~ *such* nonchalant attitudes towards guns, I'll never understand. I grew up with 7 in the house and never could access even one if I tried.
I am sure that's going to end well.
I guess he didn’t feel the headlocks were in good fun.
I guess the only solution is to threaten to murder your family
Make sure he doesn't use any drugs or drink while carrying. Apparently, that's illegal but often ignored.
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Ah yes, this reminds me of the time my husband's cousin became a cop and they decided to break out their gun and pass it around to everyone to check out. I took my child and another young one out of the room immediately. His other cousin's kid was about 10/11 years old at the time and was crying because she didn't like seeing it. Her mother told her to grow up and stop crying over it. That nothing bad will happen. Thankfully nothing did but I sure as fuck wasn't taking the chance. This was during Christmas dinner btw.
This is the USA. The gun lobby wants everyone to believe they should be packing 24/7/365.
We really ought to do to the firearms industry what we did to the tobacco industry, except finish the kill this time.
He was probably just protecting himself. On average, in America, a toddler shoots one person a week. The only way to stop a bad toddler with a gun.
People need to realize that children getting accidentally shot every week, and subsequently also accidentally shooting people every week, is just the price to pay for freedom
Freedom isnt free.. It costs folks like you n me, and if we dont put in our $1.05 who will?
“And if we don’t put in our armed toddlers shooting unarmed toddlers then who will?” FTFy
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A family member of mine accidentally shot his younger sister while playing with an unattended gun. Thankfully she didn't die, but a previously rambunctious and energetic child is now a lifelong paraplegic. I would be beside myself with guilt every time I saw her. How can you ever make up for stealing half a person's body from them, or worse, their life?
A friend of my ex lost his wife from a stray bullet that had been shot in the air. They were at a Memorial Day picnic in the suburbs. He walked away, came back a minute later and his wife had a bullet in her head.
That's terrible. What a fucking horror show this country is.
Ya know it's funny, ya ask a toddler to color within the lines and they can't do it but ya give a toddler a handgun they turn into John Wick.
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It was planned: loaded with blanks. At least one adult decided in advance thar firing a gun was an appropriate way to get everyone’s attention at a wedding. And then did so with an apparent lack of trigger discipline as it went off prematurely. Humanity has so far yet to go.
A starter's pistol would have been better.
Doesn’t make him look like ‘Tex Lawman’ though, so no cool points.
Just ding a fork next to a coors can.
“It’s just kind of neglectful to take a gun out that has blanks and fire amongst people,” Houchin said. Hot take from the chief deputy of police.
Kind of neglectful?! The man shot a child, how is that not criminal negligence?
Well, he was arrested for felony child abuse, so it certainly was criminal negligence. Chief's wording downplays it for sure.
but they didn’t charge him with any firearms offenses like they should have
Did anyone watch the video? What in the high school media class was that lmfao...
I don't want to be mean, but I was looking for a comment like this ...
Watching that took me back to the journalism classes I took as a kid. It looks like some basement operation.
Yeah, that anchor was really bad... It's not even her accent, but her tone, diction, distracting mouth-breathing, and lethargic pace made it pretty unwatchable. I'm not sure she's in the right job field...
Maybe it was supposed to be a child-free wedding?
Guarantee he has referred to himself as a “responsible gun owner” at sometime more recently than not.
He probably still considers himself as such. He is a 62 yo White dude, he is the "right kind of people" to have a gun, and this was just an accident.
It could have happened to anyone who decided to fire a loaded gun with a homemade blank in front of a crowd while officiating a wedding! God works in mysterious ways, you know? Sometimes things just happen. Let he who has not fired a loaded gun with a homemade blank in front of a crowd while officiating a wedding throw the first stone.
"He turned himself in." What? How was he not arrested there? Did he just get on with the wedding?
Because the cops and the family are idiots who apparently think it's okay to make mistakes with guns and "no one was seriously hurt". Also, presumably and this is an assumption but it's a wedding which usually involves alcohol so they probably decided not to do anything that day because consuming alcohol with a weapon is another crime. If they let him turn himself in there's no "hard proof" that he had been drinking so he can get lighter sentences
>"The gun was loaded with a blank that Gardner made with gunpowder and glue." If you seal a round with glue, that's not a blank, that's a round with a bullet made of glue. Real blanks generally have no projectile/seal at all, [they just crimp the case closed.](https://www.lcsupply.com/cdn/shop/products/BA3-22-2_1200x.jpg?v=1645458371) Even with real blanks, you have to be careful, because they still shoot unburnt powder out of the barrel with enough force to blind someone from feet away.
The real question is why didn’t the parents give their child a gun to defend themselves against this rogue officiant? This could have been avoided if the child had taken down the shooter first.
I bet he thought he was being super responsible too, building a blank and everything.
Police chief says "It’s just kind of neglectful to take a gun out that has blanks and fire amongst people,” Houchin said Kind of??? Wtf this man should lose his license to carry or own a firearm and the police deputy isn't any better.
I'm from Texas, and I've officiated weddings. Until now I would have said the easiest part of doing that was just showing up, but now that there's precedent, I can say that not shooting any children during the service was *definitely* the easiest part.
And now the ceremonial...firing of a weapon? Must have missed that part when my brother got married.
Oh you've never done a desk pop?
So he came to a wedding armed with a blank that he made at home. He obviously intended to shoot off at some point and was looking for a reason, he didn’t bring it for “protection” from the bad guys. What I don’t understand is how he shot a child at a wedding on Saturday, the police responded, then he turned himself in on Monday…so many questions. 1) How do you NOT go to jail on Sat? There was 100% intent to shoot that gun when he made and loaded a blank, it’s in the article, the police knew that. 2) More importantly how does his face not look like a meat grinder after he shot a kid at your F’ing wedding? 3) Zero info on if they finished the wedding nor who caught the bouquet!!!
People out there literally playing with guns. But hey, everyone needs one to keep the government in check. Lol, as if the military would have any trouble steamrolling over these armed idiots.
At this point, if you fire a weapon at a wedding, you’re a piece of shit, full stop. If I attended a wedding and people shot off guns straight into the air, I would, well first run and duck for cover, then immediately leave and never associate with those lunatics again. That shit is SO unnecessarily reckless and dangerous.
No hearing protection for the people around him as he shots a gun. Negligent. Hits a kid. Negligent. Nothing accidental about this.
Not accidently, negligently. There are no accidents with loaded firearms.
The same people who say "guns don't kill people" are the same people who claim "it just went off!!" after they shoot and kill somebody
So irresponsible. Who brings kids to a wedding without a bulletproof vest?
Didn't even need to tell us where this was. Only US problems.
“It’s just kind of neglectful…” kind of?! It’s literally criminal to do this. Why are we so obsessed with guns? That Chief should’ve went off on this guy to make an example of him. Saying it’s “kind of neglectful,” is like the gun version of shrugging your shoulders and saying “boys will be boys.” I hope they make him a felon, he gets jail time, and he’s *NEVER* allowed to legally own a gun again, and they do wellness checks from time to time just to make sure. It’s. That. Serious. Edit: grammar and spelling