[Drizzt]

Woman who shot husband while hunting will get guns back
Associated Press

BUTLER, Pa. - A woman who accidentally killed her husband as they hunted deer will have her guns returned to her.

Investigators had taken away Jan Campbell's guns after she shot William Campbell during a December 2004 hunting trip with their son. Jan Campbell, of Center, said the gun misfired and pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of shooting at human beings. She was fined $2,000.

A judge ruled Tuesday that Campbell can have the guns back after July 24, 2006, the last day she may appeal her conviction.

Campbell said she plans to give the guns to her 14-year-old son, but that she'll destroy the gun that was used in her husband's shooting.

"They are family heirlooms handed down from generation to generation from grandfather to father," Campbell said.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/13821781.htm

[PlayboyPenguin]

If this was an accident, then I think she has been punished enough by the loss of her husband. I always have trouble believe people when they try to blame the weapon though. It is almost always due to careless handling. That however is a cross she will have to bear and if saying it was a misfire helps her deal with the loss then who is it hurting.

[MrTwigg]

I feel sorry for both this woman and her son.

Here in Massachusetts before you can get a F. I. D. (Firearms Identification Card ) you have to take a either a firearms safety or hunter education course which is about twenty hours of instruction. You get a litttle wallet sized card with the ten basic rules of firearms safety on it.

It does not matter if there was a "Misfire" or if the gun went off by itself. Line #2 states; "Keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction."

[svtruth]

Hemmingway's The Short Happy Life of Francis McComber.

[Molon Labe]

If this was an accident...Firearms accidents are very rare. They only occur when a gun malfunctions (e.g. when my FAL blew up in my face).

Assuming her gun did not malfunction, this was a case of negligence.