All over the country today, people were injured, in some cases critically, in gun accidents. The available news reports make it difficult to separate those who were engaged in unsafe practices from those who were injured based on lack of safety features on their guns. In most cases, accidents can presumably be attributed to both factors.
The absence of safety features such as loaded chamber indicators, external manual safeties, manual safety disconnects and moderate to heavy trigger pulls make gun accidents like these more likely. Absence of meaningful pre-purchase gun training requirements compounds these problems.
In Woburn, Massachusetts, 22-year old Antonio Braz was showing a friend his new .40 caliber Smith & Wesson pistol inside a home when it discharged. The friend, age 19, was struck in the neck. Braz had only recently received a license to carry under Massachusetts law.
In Fairfield, Connecticut, a 51-year old man was holstering his gun inside his waistband when it discharged. He was struck in the finger. Police say the man was properly licensed and that there was no criminal negligence.
In Topeka, Kansas, a 13-year old girl was shot in an incident that is being investigated as accidental.
In Champaign, Illinois, Javier Sibley, a 20-year old man, accidentally shot his friend in a car when he was manipulating the safety on his handgun. The victim is critically injured. Sibley then turned the gun on himself and shot himself in the head. He died of his wound.
In Houston, Texas, a man was putting his gun away when it accidentally discharged and struck his 9-year old son in the chest. The boy is in stable condition at the hospital. According to the report, the family is undergoing an “unthinkable tragedy.” The report does not explain what caused the gun to go off while it was being put away, including whether the gun has a manual safety disconnect or an external manual safety.
It is likely, based on these reports, that some or all of these accidents could have been prevented with various safety features had they been present on the guns that were accidentally fired.
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