[Eug]

Man shoots wife by accident when trying to install satellite TV

Quote: "Tragic accident. Bad things happen to good people."

Maybe... if the "good people" is referring to the wife. However, the more appropriate statement for the husband would probably be "Bad things happen to idiots."

[Oisín]

“Now where did I put that drill? Ah, never mind, I’ll just shoot holes in the wall instead”



How idiotic is it possible to be without actually regressing in evolution and turning into an amœba?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

How idiotic is it possible to be without actually regressing in evolution and turning into an amœba?

You mean directly, or with passing through the intermediary stage of turning into Canadian Scandinavian first ?

-t

[osiris]

Tragic fail.

[Dakar the Fourth]

I wonder how long til the cable companies use this for their anti-satellite rhetoric.

[BRussell]

Guns don't kill people, people trying to install satellite dishes on their roofs with guns kill people.

If we outlaw guns, only people trying to install satellite dishes on their roofs will have guns.

More guns, less wives of satellite dish owners.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

This is a stupid situation in general, but it happens. My uncle was once cleaning his gun on the kitchen table and shot and killed his wife.

Human beings make lots of mistakes, every day. Give us guns at the same time and someone's bound to be unlucky.

[Teronzhul]

I install satellite dishes. I carry a 9mm glock with me in my truck. Not once have I attempted to use the gun to assist in the installation of a dish. Am I doing it wrong?

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by Teronzhul 

I install satellite dishes. I carry a 9mm glock with me in my truck. Not once have I attempted to use the gun to assist in the installation of a dish. Am I doing it wrong?

$5 says you're not meeting your daily quota.

[Eug]

Note to self: Don't p!ss off the cable/satellite/phone installation guys when in Florida.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

This is a stupid situation in general, but it happens. My uncle was once cleaning his gun on the kitchen table and shot and killed his wife.

Human beings make lots of mistakes, every day. Give us guns at the same time and someone's bound to be unlucky.

This isn't an honest accident though. I mean how the hell stupid enough does one have to be to install a dish by SHOOTING holes in a wall with a gun PLUS not even check where your wife is first?

She was probably just as stupid for marrying such an idiotic man.

[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

This is a stupid situation in general, but it happens. My uncle was once cleaning his gun on the kitchen table and shot and killed his wife.

Human beings make lots of mistakes, every day. Give us guns at the same time and someone's bound to be unlucky.

What kind of gun owner cleans a LOADED gun?

I'm sorry, and no offense intended, but your uncle is an idiot and has no business owning a gun. This isn't about being "unlucky", it's about being stupid.

A mistake is turning left when you should have turned right. A mistake is buying a PC instead of a Mac. Yes, mistakes happen, but more often than not when things like this happen it's not a mistake - it's the direct result of someone doing something completely and utterly moronic.

Cleaning a loaded gun. Please.

[sek929]

You guys didn't know about this?

Hell, I use an AK47 to install cabinets.

[Dakar the Fourth]

I'm a Fertility Doctor, and I find an Uzi indispensable.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by Mrjinglesusa 

What kind of gun owner cleans a LOADED gun?

I'm sorry, and no offense intended, but your uncle is an idiot and has no business owning a gun. This isn't about being "unlucky", it's about being stupid.

A mistake is turning left when you should have turned right. A mistake is buying a PC instead of a Mac. Yes, mistakes happen, but more often than not when things like this happen it's not a mistake - it's the direct result of someone doing something completely and utterly moronic.

Cleaning a loaded gun. Please.

Ahhhh yes. Because "doing something idiotic" doesn't happen when you "make a mistake."

My uncle hunted since he was literally a kid, had all required permits and licenses, and was also certified to own (and did own) a handgun in Canada, which means that he'd taken additional courses beyond basic gun ownership. In other words, he was as experienced as a reasonable gun owner is likely to get.

He made a stupid mistake. He'd been shooting a double-barrel shotgun, been unexpectedly interrupted by a friend dropping by, and had forgotten that he hadn't discharged a barrel. And just for that particular day, for some reason that he has never been able to explain, he hadn't checked the barrels before bringing it into the house OR starting to clean the gun – I guess because he'd just stopped shooting and "knew" he'd discharged both barrels.

Idiotic? Of course. Does it happen to experienced people? All the time. What, you didn't see the video of that police office shooting himself in the leg while doing a gun safety class in a high school?

I have a good friend who's a wildlife conservation officer. A while ago he told me how he'd been hunting on the job (they were checking deer for some sort of disease or something). He was walking through the woods, tripped while stepping over a fallen tree, somehow brushed the trigger on his rifle, and found out that he hadn't engaged the safety when he put a hole through the tip of his boot. Imagine, a conservation officer who almost shot himself in the foot, even though he swears he thought he checked the safety to make sure it was on. I'm sure that wasn't a mistake either?

greg

[osiris]

I have a .38 snubnose. You can hammer nails with it all day, and still get a straight shot.

[Jawbone54]

This thread is entertaining, and I've chuckled quite a bit going through it, but...

I can't help but feel extremely sorry for ShortcuttoMoncton's uncle. Just because the man made a mistake doesn't make him an idiot. As was already stated, crazy mistakes happen all the time to a lot of experienced people (and not just gun owners). I can't imagine the amount of guilt he had to live through.

[peeb]

It's a surprisingly common occurrence to think that a gun is not loaded, when in fact it is. Going into military bases you will often see a barrel full of sand or some such where soldiers are asked to fire their guns. The guns are supposed to be unloaded on the base, you understand, and they are asked to discharge them to make sure and to demonstrate they are empty. Most of the time you get a 'click' noise, but every now and again they go off.

[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally Posted by Jawbone54 

This thread is entertaining, and I've chuckled quite a bit going through it, but...

I can't help but feel extremely sorry for ShortcuttoMoncton's uncle. Just because the man made a mistake doesn't make him an idiot. As was already stated, crazy mistakes happen all the time to a lot of experienced people (and not just gun owners). I can't imagine the amount of guilt he had to live through.

I feel sorry for him too. However, as Shortcuttomoncton explained, his uncle didn't check the barrels TWICE: once before bringing the gun into the house and once before cleaning the gun. That, to me, is idiotic (i.e., showing foolishness or stupidity).

...for some reason that he has never been able to explain, he hadn't checked the barrels before bringing it into the house OR starting to clean the gun – I guess because he'd just stopped shooting and "knew" he'd discharged both barrels.

I think even his uncle would agree that not checking the gun to make sure it was unloaded was foolish and stupid, especially considering the amount of training he apparently had. Not intended to be disparaging, it's just a fact. You can call it a mistake if you want, but it was an idiotic mistake.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by Mrjinglesusa 

I feel sorry for him too. However, as Shortcuttomoncton explained, his uncle didn't check the barrels TWICE: once before bringing the gun into the house and once before cleaning the gun. That, to me, is idiotic (i.e., showing foolishness or stupidity).

I think even his uncle would agree that not checking the gun to make sure it was unloaded was foolish and stupid, especially considering the amount of training he apparently had. Not intended to be disparaging, it's just a fact. You can call it a mistake if you want, but it was an idiotic mistake.

Yes. You have succeeded in making your point that, in fact, he made an idiotic mistake. Everyone agrees. I think my entire point was that it was still a mistake, and that people make the same idiotic mistake all the time. Familiarity seems to breed complacency in humans. We stop thinking about what we're doing, even when we know we're supposed to be thinking about it. When we're given objects of great power, it tends to get nasty: we sail through red lights we know we shouldn't, we touch live wires we know we shouldn't, we pilot ferries straight into islands we know are there, and we fall off roofs we know we're supposed to be hanging onto.

We're an easily distracted bunch. Idiotic mistakes happen to everyone, yourself included.

greg

[ghporter]

This was obviously a mistake by the guy. A tragic, INCREDIBLY STUPID mistake. His actions make anyone who ever thought about touching a firearm look as stupid as him, and I'm both enraged and offended by that.

The problem here is that the guy seems to have figured that the gun was powerful enough to make a hole in a wall, but not that it was powerful enough to make a hole all the way through; he failed at one of the most basic rules of firearms handling: know EXACTLY where your shot will go from start to finish. I feel sorry for this schmuck. He killed his wife while trying to do a "guy" thing, and EVERYBODY knows he's an idiot that may not be safe with anything more dangerous than a juice box.

[olePigeon]

Is that an example of "two birds with one stone?" Now he can watch the ball game AND not have the wife nag him.

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

The problem here is that the guy seems to have figured that the gun was powerful enough to make a hole in a wall, but not that it was powerful enough to make a hole all the way through

Um, wasn't he shooting the holes in the wall so he could slip cables from inside to outside? Sounds to me like he knew the shot would go right through the wall as that was the whole point.