Happy Gun Appreciation Day!

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Apparently today’s Gun Appreciation Day was a great success! Only five participants accidentally shot themselves!

Emergency personnel had to be called to the scene of the Dixie Gun and Knife Show in Raleigh, North Carolina after a gun accidentally discharged and shot two people at the show’s safety check-in booth just after 1 pm. Both victims were transported to an area hospital, and the Raleigh Fire Department announced that the show would be closed for the rest of the day….

…Two similar incidents occurred at entirely separate gun shows in the Midwest, one in the Cleveland suburb of Medina, Ohio and the other at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana. In Ohio, the local ABC affiliate reports that one individual was brought to a hospital by EMS, and in Indiana Channel 8 WISH says that an individual shot himself in the hand while trying to reload his gun in the show parking lot. …

…CNN is reporting that three people were injured at the gun show in Raleigh, not two as originally reported. All were victims of a shotgun that fired while the owner was removing it from a case.

Hey, with law-abiding citizens like these, who needs criminals?

43 thoughts on “Happy Gun Appreciation Day!”

  6. The “Dixie Gun and Knife Show” comes through Charlotte every month. I’ve never attended even though it is difficult to conceive of anything more entertaining and edifying than getting to view such a glorious panoply of weaponry.

    I have a neighbor who is down on his luck. He has been on disability since the mid 1980’s, but still has a healthy distrust of “big government” don’t you know. He’s hard working and really a pretty smart guy. Hell, I get along with him. He always pays me back when I lend him money.

    A few weeks ago, he woke up on a dirt road without a shirt, freezing cold and bleeding from his shoulder. Somehow he got a ride home. When he cleaned the wound up, it seemed to be decidedly “round”. So, taking due consideration of the situation, he went to the ER and after some X-rays and such, they offered the hypothesis that he had been shot with a 9mm round.

    Being the logical sort he decided to borrow his brother-in-law’s .25 auto, piece of junk, for protection. Well, shortly thereafter he manages to shoot himself in the knee, because his B-in-law neglected to tell him that there was one in the chamber. I guess my friend skipped out on part of the gun safety lesson.

    When he went back to the ER, the doctor remarked that “He must kind of like getting shot.”

    A few weeks before, he wanted to borrow some money and presented a similar “Saturday night special” as collateral. He warned me that the safety was broken. when he handed me the gun, sure as heck he had one in the chamber.

    Some people in the “gun culture” are very careful and responsible. But, others just seem a bit too familiar with guns in the way you’re familiar with a wastrel friend. They just have too much trust in their own familiarity. They probably wind up shooting themselves most of the time, but that’s questionable consolation.

  9. Really cute, Swami. But my song has been that if you are going to own a gun, you should be required to learn how to use it. National Love Your Gun Day supports my argument. Training and certification. You want bigger guns with a higher capacity – more extensive training. Concealed Carry – sure. Extensive background check – psych test – and examination by a certificated police officer. Buying guns is not a hobby you do on the cheap. If you can’t pony up the cost of training, buy a hammer, knife or baseball bat.

    My theme would not have prevented the more spectacular tragedies. Follow the body bags – the less flashy fatalities that wind up on page 3 – are often due to ignorance. The national body count due to ignorance is way higher than the spectacular tragedies. Maybe stupidity can’t be cured, but ignorance can. Way too many yahoos who buy a gun are too proud to admit, even to themselves, how little they know. They don’t go to a shooting range because they don’t want anyone to see that they don’t know.

    The result of ignorance is obvious.

  11. “… since Robert Kennedy died in the Ambassador Hotel on June 4, 1968, more Americans have died from gunfire than died in … all the wars of this country’s history, from the Revolutionary through the Civil War, World War I, World War II, in those 43 years.”

    Does this sound like an exaggerated claim? Think again:

    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/jan/18/mark-shields/pbs-commentator-mark-shields-says-more-killed-guns/

    And what is actually more damning is that only about a quarter of those 13,000+ deaths were homicides.

    For people who really claim to care about guns, they sure don’t take care AROUND their guns.

  13. This should have been called, “The Good Ol’ Guyz ‘N Galz, ‘I’ll Show You Mine, If You Show Me Yours’ Day.”

    And, it’s amazing that no one was killed (that we know of, yet), and that there were only a handful of people injured while appreciating their guns in public. I know there are more every day in private: dead while checking out what they appreciate, and, those who make themselves potential living Darwin Awards Winners, by appreciating their guns too much in private – if you know what I mean…

    Oh, one last though:
    I wonder how many break-ins there were in the homes of the folks who were out in public, appreciating their guns?
    If I was a criminal, and needed a gun, I’d have asked the organizers of my local event if they had a list of attendee’s, and then, while they were out, break in – since most of these gun nuts own more than one gun, I’d figure they didn’t haul all of them with them to appreciate in public.

  14. Swami– Actually, my friend doesn’t drink very much at all. He lives pretty hand to mouth, on disability. But, he does drink if given the opportunity.

    He really does have a number of disabling conditions. He’s a pretty colorful character to say the least. But, he is probably the most intelligent guy I’ve met from our area, he’s mostly self educated and definitely a product of southern culture. But, as I wrote, evidently flummoxed by the semi-auto safety thing.

    He makes side money as a pool shark. He even won some money the week after the shooting incident with his arm in a sling and a really painful knee. It’s pretty easy to get shot after you’ve just taken a chunk of someone’s hard earned cash. I suspect that was the scenario. Although, alcohol was probably involved.

    I am actually glad to know the man. He’s brought me back in touch with the travails that some people face in the course of a regular day. Last year, he asked me for a ride to the ER because he had developed pneumonia, which happens to him with some regularity. I dropped him off, but he never called me for a ride back. When I talked to him he said he didn’t want to bother me at 3 a.m. so he just walked back. It’s about a seven mile walk.

    Well, I hope this isn’t too far off topic. There are a lot of colorful stories about him.

  15. Just a partially formed thought for your consideration:

    Some days back, Maha wrote about guns being a totem and receiving a twisted sort of religious adoration. I think one of the other attributes of the Gun Clan is that for some anger has become a virtue, as in the “Seven Virtues”. For members of the clan an angry rant is a way of expressing the depth of their commitment, faith, love of family and country, the whole constellation of “values” that movement conservatism claims as their property. I have a friend who is a member of the gun clan. He professes a deep fundamentalist Christian faith, but the balance of his existence is made up of anger, a seething hatred of all things “liberal” (especially you know who!) and a love of guns. From my way of viewing things, he has a miserable life balanced on the edge of violence and mental instability. He loves Glenn Beck and Ted Nugent and thinks that they are great minds in search of truth … Go figure!

    But, I think his friends and family see his anger as a measure of the extent to which he has glimpsed the truth. He is angry because he has penetrated the liberal conspiracy intellectually. He is angry because he loves his family and country and is ready to put his life on the line to save them from the traitors masquerading as Americans. The gun is a perfect totem for a group with this state of mind. To me his world seems like one big hallucination, to kindred souls, it is an article of faith.

  16. Waaaaay OT – the great Stan “Da Man” Musial has died at 92. Here’s a spot to pick some articles to read about him:
    http://www.bing.com/news/search?q=stan+musial+dies&qpvt=stan+musial+dies&FORM=EWRE

    Musial was not only a great ballplayer, and one of the greatest hitters of all time, he was one of the players who made things easier for black ballplayers when they first started coming into the Majors – NOT an easy thing for a guy playing in St. Louis to do. He helped Bob Gibson and Bill White find homes in St. Louis – ones that weren’t in all-black neighborhoods.
    He eased their way, because I’m sure many a local said, “Hey, if Mr. Musial says theys alright, then they’s alright!”

    A class act has died.
    R.I.P. Stan “Da Man” Musial.*

    *I use the Brooklyn pronunciation – to the rest of the nation, he was known as Stan “The Man” Musial.

  18. Bill Bush,
    LO!
    Yeah, those are funny!
    Seriously.

    ‘Cause NO ONE DIED!
    There are lot of dead Darwin Awards candidate whose video’s aren’t available. And they won’t show the ones where the live candidates blow their private parts to smithereens.

  19. More OT – cool look at the NY City subway systems “evolution.”

    http://secondavesagas.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/subwayhistory.gif

    Rome wasn’t built in a day – and neither was the NYC subway system.
    I got a map when I moved to NYC, and put it up as a poster in the bathroom in my apartment(s). It was something for people to look at. Plus, I got to know the whole system pretty much be heart. Back then, I obvously spent WAY too much time in the john – but, you know what they say about us men and bathrooms…

    Btw – many of us were looking for the 2nd Avenue line to be built – BACK IN THE 80’S!!!
    I don’t live there anymore, but people are STILL waiting!

  20. Noticed yesterday that every pro-gun person always makes a point of saying they are responsible about their guns. I doubt any of these people who hurt themselves yesterday consider themselves irresponsible. It’s like with driving, few admit they are poor driver but we all know their are plenty of reckless people out there.

  22. I doubt any of these people who hurt themselves yesterday consider themselves irresponsible.

    Exactly. Meanwhile I’m trying to figure out why in the hell that shotgun had to be loaded.

    Of course, in the looking glass world of the gun nuts, it’s probably considered irresponsible not to have your guns loaded. You never know when you’re going to have to fight off a bunch ATF agents, after all.

  23. Amanda,
    I agree – but, slightly OT to what you were talking about…
    Back in a bar I worked in about 20 years ago, the brother of one of the owners said this to me about drinking and driving:
    “I drink all I want in the daytime. And I can get as sh*t-faced as I want. Why? If I make a mistake, or do something stupid, in the daytime, I’m just another sh*tty driver. And night, I’m a f*ckin’ drunk.”
    So, in gun terms – “Jeez, look at what that idiot did! He doesn’t know how to handle a gun… What about me? Oh, you mean a while back when the same thing happened to me? Well, yeah – but that was an accident!”

  26. OT – But OOOOOOOOH SO GOOD!
    Here’s a great piece by John Dickerson, that I’m sure will no only raise some hackles, but will have Republicans excreting bile and noxious odors from every orifice – or, even more so than usual:
    http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/01/barack_obama_s_second_inaugural_address_the_president_should_declare_war.single.html

    I hope Dickerson, who I don’t alway agree with, can survive the tsunami of BS that will be hurled his way from Conservatives.

    If not, I hope Norm Ornstein and Thomas Mann have some room for him at the table in the lonely and secluded corner by the kitchen door of DC, that is the place where those who break the MSM “Both Sides Do It!” meme, are relegated to.

  27. erinyes…What are you doing posting online when there’s the mighty month long python round up going on down in the glades..air boats, machettes, camos and good Christain fellowship, every thing a man could want .Bill Nelson say if we don’t stop them now in the glades they’ll be coming for our yungins soon.

    Florida..Love it or leave it!

  30. gulag…A common element these people seem to share is a strong dislike for the usurping Nigra. It could be purely an academic division in interpreting the second amendment, but something in my experience as an American tells me it goes a little deeper than that.

  31. If I can blow ping-pong balls out my colon, does that count on a celebration of Gun Appreciate Day?

    Before I do it, have to ask the gerbils to get out of the way and seek safety.

  32. I saw a interesting clip from a 20/20 show entitled “If only I had a gun”. They told college aged kids that there was gun training on campus and of those who were interested in receiving it ,six were picked, given a training class(which they pointed out was more than you needed to get a concealed carry permit in most states and then they conducted an experiment. They put each of the six into another training class on protective gear, each was told that they were the only one in the class with a firearm(firearms were loaded with rubber paint bullets) but that they wouldn’t need it till later in the day. Then as the instructor lectured a gunman entered the class and opened fire. Every student, including one who had already had extensive knowledge of guns were shot by the gunman. Some couldn’t even draw the weapon, all stood up , making themselves targets for the gunman while trying to get a shot of their own in. NONE of them stopped the gunman or took him out.. Diane Sawyer took a training test cops take. She was to stay in the patrol car and give back up to her partner who approached a pick up truck . The partner walked up behind the truck, like a regular police stop and flung open the camper shell on the back of the truck. You see a man sitting inside and you hear the partner yell “GUN” before Sawyer can react her partner is dead..Replay the exact same scene with Diane, who already knows what is going to happen and even with the knowledge of what is going to happen she is still unable to react on time to save her partner… Police later told her that if they themselves go a month without training, honing their skills that they lose that “edge”.

    I think many of the gunnies think that just pulling their weapon is all the prevention that they will ever need.That the “bad guys” will piss their pants and run at the first sight of metal, because thats what they would do. I am not personally a “bad guy”. The worst thing I have ever been caught doing was going four miles over the speed limit and the prick cop gave me my first ticket a few years back, but I have to tell you, nothing pisses me off worse than having a gun pointed at me. Shoot me or I will take it from you and shove it up your ass. I have had a few experiences where people pointed guns at me. I will not go into details, but I will say it was always white men who thought they were the “great equalizer” who were trying to control behavior with FEAR. They thought the fear was of them, but it was not. I was a whopping 94 pounds the first time a 320 pound man pulled a gun on me. Really? Your 320 lb ass needs a gun to threaten a 94 pound woman? PUSSY. The dude had hands like canned hams, bigger than my entire face but he couldnt confront me with less than a mack 10? The funny part is a few weeks later he ended up dead..shot with his own gun that an intruder found in his home. I didn’t back down from the man, I told him he looked like a pussy pointing a gun at me and that I had no intentions of repeating what I had seen to get me threatened in the first place, but I told him it was not because he had threatened me, but because I was not a rat. I turned my back figuring I would be shot as I walked away. I don’t know why he didn’t fire..perhaps he felt there were too many people around. I was terrified. Maybe the person knew of me long enough to know I was not a rat..maybe he was too high on meth to believe what I did, calling him out the way I did, calling him a pussy in front of everyone, but i figured screw it , if I am going to die I am going out having spoke my mind..what did I have to lose once this nut job pointed a gun at me? He was already threatening my life, what else could he do?

    I tell this story because once you point a gun at someone, good or bad guy, there is nothing left for them to lose.

    And consider this: The story of the man who told me he would save my purse from thieves by blowing them away at the state fair (where guns are not permitted) in a crowd of people. The purse thief is committing a misdemeanor. The great savior , on the other hand is a murdering felon. So you tell me who is the greater danger? The guy who would steal my knock off Prada bag or the gunnie who would fire a gun in a crowd of people to save property?

  35. Swami – You have given me an idea. Can we train pythons in Florida to go after the young of republicans? The old republicans are dying off and if no young republicans replace them, Florida could become more liberal than California.

  37. Swami. I don’t always hunt pythons;but when I do, I drink Dos Equis……
    (We had company this weekend)

  38. justme,
    I lived in that Liberal Hellhole, the home of crime in some people minds, NY City, and NEVER had a gun pointed at me. Not even the one time I got mugged – which was by 6 kids in the East Village. And that was because of my own stupidity – I was half-drunk, and walking too close to the parked cars – something I knew better than to do. But, again, I was half in the bag, and so, a tempting target.
    I aslo never had a gun pointed at me in upstate NY, Philadelphia, or, to give the South its due – not in Chapel Hill, Southern Pines, or Fayetteville, where I lived, either.
    I’ll be 55 in a few weeks, and never had a gun pointed at me.
    I’m probably lucky – and hope I stay that way.

  39. Re this post: Darwin Award winners in waiting, I think.

    A class act has died. R.I.P. Stan “Da Man” Musial.

    Summer of 1969, Dad took my brother and me on a vacation to St. Louis. Mr. Musial owned a restaurant there at the time, and my brother, aged 10, insisted we eat there. We were enjoying our meal when my brother spotted Mr. Musial across the dining room. Bro went over to The Man: “Mister Musial, can I have your autograph?” and received a menu, signed on the spot. Prized possession for a long, long time.

    RIP Stan, and thanks for that memory!

  40. maha,
    I have no doubth you saw him play, but it wasn’t at Busch Stadium – it didn’t open until a couple of years after he retired.

    The moon-shot Mantle hit off of Barney Schultz in the ’64 WS, was in their old ballpark – and that was the year after Musial retired, at the end of the ’63 season.
    It’s kind of a shame that they tore that old ballpark down, and put the (then fashionable) multi-sport stadium. But, hey, that was the fashion back then – just look at what they tore Crosley and Forbes down for, in Cinncinatti and Pittsburg.

    • gulag — the stadium that existed during Mantle’s time with the Cardinals also was called Busch Stadium. There’s been a Busch Stadium in St. Louis since the early 1950s; they just rebuild it from time to time.

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