# Is it possible to shoot someone by accident? Oscar Pistorius shot his girlfriend by mistake. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 14, 2013, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266 "2013-02-14T08:23:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/21 "2013-02-14T14:59:12Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > It’s still unclear what happened in the Pistorius case. If it truly was a tragedy involving mistaken identity, then he’ll have to live with the guilt of killing someone he loved, and orphaning her children. If he killed her out of rage, then he’ll have a lot of time to ponder the error of his ways while sitting in his jail cell. Unfortunately courts of law aren’t about the truth, but about convincing a group of people one particular version of events is most likely to have happened. It may very well turn out to be that he killed her in cold blood, and gets away with murder, or that he made a terrible mistake, and serves time for murder. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/22 "2013-02-14T15:29:07Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > “Intent” is a key element of our justice system because it distinguishes accidents from deliberate acts. The end result is the same (someone is harmed or dead), but we mete out punishment completely differently based on the degree of the crime. As it should be. > > I, personally, know a fellow who killed his best friend when he drove his car into a parked truck. His friend, the passenger, was killed instantly. The driver didn’t serve any jail time, in part because the victim’s mother pleaded with the judge to spare him because she knew that it was an _accident_. > > Had he gotten into a fight with the same friend and bashed his head in with a baseball bat, I daresay that he’d have gone to jail AND lost the good will of the victim’s mother. This is a grossly inappropriate comparison to the case at hand. Suppose instead that your driving acquaintance was alone in the car. Arriving home at dusk, he sees a person in his driveway. He takes this to be someone threatening him, the object in the figure’s hand a weapon. _So he deliberately runs them down._ Then he discovers, alas, it was actually his best friend, with a cell phone. _That_ is an analogous situation, to the “accident” scenario for Pistorius. > [@PunditLisa](#): > > If it truly was a tragedy involving mistaken identity, then he’ll have to live with the guilt of killing someone he loved, and orphaning her children. If he killed her out of rage, then he’ll have a lot of time to ponder the error of his ways while sitting in his jail cell. Maybe you can argue that Pistorius merits _less_ time if there was a mistaken identity, but surely he deserves prison either way. How can failing to identify your targets before killing them not be seen as deeply criminal recklessness, at best? ---
**Author:** ![solosam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@solosam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solosam)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/23 "2013-02-14T15:45:45Z")
+1 to OP. He pulled the trigger without positively identifying his target. This kind of negligence cannot be allowed. That’s one of the responsibilities inherent in gun ownership. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/24 "2013-02-14T16:17:03Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > In the present case, if he really did think she was a burglar, then he did intend to kill her; he pointed the gun at her and deliberately pulled the trigger. Well, we don’t even know his intent then. Did he intend to kill the person, or wound the person? If he didn’t know it was ‘her’ then he didn’t intend to ‘kill her’, he intended to kill a random burglar. Or wound a random burglar. He did deliberately point the gun, and pull the trigger, but, we don’t know the rest. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/25 "2013-02-14T16:18:10Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > If you accidentally shoot someone, you should face the exact same penalty as if you had done it intentionally. Gun ownership is a serious responsibility, and ‘whoops’ shouldn’t be a mitigating factor. Do you believe an accidental car killing should receive the same punishment as an accidental gun discharge? Vehicle ownership is a serious responsibility. Do you see the ‘whoops’ as being a mitigating factor? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/26 "2013-02-14T16:21:11Z")
> [@solosam](#): > > +1 to OP. He pulled the trigger without positively identifying his target. This kind of negligence cannot be allowed. That’s one of the responsibilities inherent in gun ownership. I concur 100% with this. Any effing retard should know better than that. I cannot equate it with ‘murder’ as the anti-gun lobby would have, but, I would put it at criminal negligence, or some such, and lock this idiot away for some time. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/27 "2013-02-14T16:23:49Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > Will you be my Valentine? **gwendee** , you are encouraging that kind of behavior. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/28 "2013-02-14T16:28:49Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Hey, [it worked for Ty Cobb’s mother](http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/history/2011/08/the-knife-in-ty-cobbs-back/). > > _“Amanda Cobb…had been arrested on charges of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Cobb’s father, William Herschel Cobb. Amanda Cobb said she thought her husband was an intruder trying to enter their house through the bedroom window when she shot him twice. But there had been rumors in town that William suspected his wife of infidelity and had unexpectedly returned home late that fateful evening, when she believed him to be out of town. During her trial the following year, prosecutors carefully questioned Amanda Cobb about ambiguities over the time that had lapsed between shots, but she was ultimately acquitted.”_ Let me see…“woman in house with a gun…yes, that’s the ticket! I’ll sneak in thru the window!” I think the court should have desecrated the corpse, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/29 "2013-02-14T16:37:11Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > I concur 100% with this. Any effing retard should know better than that. > > I cannot equate it with ‘murder’ as the anti-gun lobby would have, but, I would put it at criminal negligence, or some such, and lock this idiot away for some time. It’s not just the “anti-gun lobby.” Are you saying that the woman was not murdered, just “the victim of negligence?” ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/30 "2013-02-14T16:45:10Z")
“As a society we should not accept that it’s possible to shoot someone by accident. You can’t shoot someone by accident. Having a gun means you’ve already taken several deliberate steps towards shooting someone” That’s utter nonsense. Aside from statistics which exist and media reports we have all read or seen of accidental shootings, I can certainly say that I have had and fired guns neither of which actions were “deliberte steps towards shooting someone” and that indeed, I have fired guns countless times in the presence of others without the intent of harming anyone - Ive been successful at that too. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/31 "2013-02-14T16:46:09Z")
There are a lot of different kinds of mistakes, so a lot of the examples and distinctions being suggested here aren’t all that relevant. And we don’t know that this was a mistake. The police are saying they never suggested he mistook her for a burglar and they noted that there’s a history of domestic disturbances. We don’t know where or how she was shot, so nobody knows if that theory is remotely plausible. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/32 "2013-02-14T18:01:39Z")
> [@JamesQueue](#): > > I hope they string him up and hang him. Isn’t “string him up” a synonym for “hang?” “String him up **and** hang him” would be double jeopardy. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/33 "2013-02-14T18:17:08Z")
> [@JamesQueue](#): > > I hope they string him up and hang him. anybody got any string? ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/34 "2013-02-14T18:21:07Z")
How about if you string him up and let him back down instead of leaving him hanging. The string him up action is absolutely seperate from the hanging. You can’t hang someone from the ground without string them up, but the converse is not so. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/35 "2013-02-14T18:22:15Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > This will drop off the front page very quickly. The story doesn’t have legs. > > Regards, > Shodan He’ll present a defense at trial, but it won’t help, because he doesn’t have a leg to stand on. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/36 "2013-02-14T19:25:19Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > It’s not just the “anti-gun lobby.” > > Are you saying that the woman was not murdered, just “the victim of negligence?” Excuse me. The antecedent was ‘anybody’ who shoots without knowing who/what they’re aiming at, not this particular case. I haven’t read anything about this guy. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/37 "2013-02-14T19:31:54Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > How can failing to identify your targets before killing them not be seen as deeply criminal recklessness, at best? So some guy comes into my bedroom wearing a stocking over his head, and I’m not allowed to (stab/shoot/pummel him with a baseball bat) until I can turn on the lights, pull off the stocking, and identify him? Interesting sense of justice you have there. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/38 "2013-02-14T19:32:28Z")
This thread will run and run and run… ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/39 "2013-02-14T19:32:58Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > He’ll present a defense at trial, but it won’t help, because he doesn’t have a leg to stand on. You are about 6 hours too late for that joke. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266/40 "2013-02-14T19:38:48Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > So some guy comes into my bedroom wearing a stocking over his head, and I’m not allowed to (stab/shoot/pummel him with a baseball bat) until I can turn on the lights, pull off the stocking, and identify him? > > Interesting sense of justice you have there. I hadn’t read that she had a stocking over her head. The house was in a guarded (we’d call it “gated”) community in South Africa. Perhaps he mistook his very blonde girlfriend for one of the folks kept locked out… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-shoot-someone-by-accident-oscar-pistorius-shot-his-girlfriend-by-mistake/650266.md?page=3)