“The case remains under investigation. However, early reports suggest Scott Hazelbaker pointed the handgun at his daughter and pulled the trigger without knowing a bullet was loaded in the gun,” according to an Ankeny police statement issued Saturday."
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20130615/NEWS/130615004/1001/
There’s not really much to say about that. However, this thread was up at the top of MPSIMS along with these two for a minute:
So what’s the spin on this? If she had been armed with her own gun, she could have defended herself?
In other news, language medics are busy trying to save the life of the expression “tragic accident”, after its repeated mangling in recent news stories. “It’s not looking good”, a source has told local media, “it’s like the expression has been completely drained of its semantic value. We’re hoping for the best, but it’s touch and go at this point. Of course, even if the expression survives, it may have to spend the rest of its life as a euphemism.”
Pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger is no accident. It’s criminal negligence at least. I’m inclined to think manslaughter or deliberate.
This.
I’m fairly certain there’s never been any point in the modern history of the English language where referring to something like this as “an accident,” tragic or otherwise, would be considered incorrect.
Criminal negligence and accident are not mutually exclusive. Neither are manslaughter and accident.
Agreed. There was a recent thread on this issue. I feel that an accident can be something that was unforeseeable (which this was not) or something unintended (which this apparently was).
When I first saw this, I checked the post date to see if it was a zombie because I swear I heard this story before… No such luck.
I can get away with killing anyone by saying I didn’t know the gun was loaded. Just so long as I’m not mad at them or nobody knows I’m mad at them.
Someone killing someone else with a gun they think isn’t loaded is one of the more common “killed by accident with a gun” stories. It’s also exactly why even a non-gun user like myself knows that one of the most basic gun safety rules is to always treat the gun as loaded. And to never point a gun and pull the trigger at anything you don’t want shot.
Guns aren’t toys, and treating them as such is a major reason why so many Americans get killed by them in my opinion.
He had good reason to believe that the gun wasn’t loaded because the government has been buying up all the ammunition, or he thought she was a hooker. Either way, he’s in the clear.
nm
Interesting turn of phrase in the linked article:
If it’s an accident, can it be homicide? I’m unclear on the technicalities, but I don’t recall seeing accidents described as homicides before.
First rule of gun safety is to treat the gun as if it is always loaded, even if you are sure it is not. The gun is always treated and handled as if it is loaded and ready to fire.
Second rule of gun safety is to never point the gun at anything you do not intend to shoot.
This isn’t an ‘accident’. Pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger is murder.
I am a gun owner and would be considered a gun nut by most posters here, but damn! There is more to this story than there seems. Or dad is a fucking idiot who murdered his daughter.
Manslaughter is just too weak for this.
While I agree this rises to the level of criminal negligence, I’m not sure there’s much point to actually charging the guy unless they think it wasn’t really an accident. Losing his daughter is way more of a punishment, lesson, and deterrent than prison could ever be.
By definition: Homicide is the most general all-inclusive word for “one person killing another person”, regardless of the cause or circumstances or anything else.
Homicide doesn’t necessarily mean murder. Homicide just means it’s an act of one human killing another - it’s one of the most general ways to categorize a type of death (e.g. homicide, suicide, natural death).
[sub]ETA: I should have refreshed the page before posting, as Senegoid beat me to it. [/sub]
That’s not creepy at all.