:shock: NONYA. There is no such thing as an accident. For every incident there is a root cause. Somebody, somewhere screwed up. Example, did someone work on the gun was that was not qualified, was the gun worn to the point that the safety no longer worked.
I was shot in a hunting incident back in 1959 while hunting on Barksdale AFB, LA. The kid that shot me thought I was a deer. It was 10 AM. sunny, and I was walking near the middle of a twenty foot fire break. The kid (about 14 years old) was hunting with an adult friend who was an experienced hunter. He provided the kid with the gun knowing he had never been hunting, and had little or no experience with guns.
Who do you blame here? Was it the fault of the kid, or should the blame be placed on the adult? Either way, they were detained for a few minutes while they provided information to the LEOs, then released to go home. I went to the hospital. I consider myself lucky.
Looking back, training and experience are the major key to eliminating an incident such as this. I think a strict age limit and extensive training should be imposed in all states. Some may not agree with this, their 10 year old may have the maturity to be trusted alone with a firearm, but most do not. And sometimes the adult is so egger to see a kid succeed, they forget about safety.
It is hard to say how an individual that shoots another human in a hunting situation should be handled. I don't think jail is always the answer, but in some cases it is. As a minimum, I think an extended restriction period in hunting, and a long retraining is in order. :roll:
