This makes me very angry

[longhair75]

From today's Omaha World Herald:

(bolded print to make a point)

Published Friday February 6, 2009
Court records: Husband shot wife during intruder game
BY LESLIE REED
Omaha World-Herald

LINCOLN — Twenty-one-year-old Josh Beasley was pretending to clear his home of intruders on Saturday when he fired the shot that killed his 20-year-old wife, Alaina, according to court documents filed today.

Click to Enlarge

Josh and Alaina Beasley
The affidavit, based on Beasley’s interview with a Lincoln police detective on the day of the shooting, was released by Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey.

In an interview with the World-Herald, Beasley had said he accidentally shot his wife while cleaning his shotgun.

Josh Beasley’s brother, Dan Beasley, said today that he couldn’t comment on the case.

"He has an attorney, and we were told we basically can’t say anything," Dan Beasley said.

Josh Beasley was scheduled to be arraigned later today on a charge of manslaughter for unintentionally causing his wife’s death.

According to an affidavit written by Lincoln Police Sgt. Greg Sorensen, Beasley told police that he had been working on his 12-gauge shotgun in his living room because he’d been having trouble with the way it ejected shells while using it earlier in the day, according to the affidavit. Family members have said the couple had been skeet shooting at targets earlier that day.

After he finished working on the gun, he loaded it with three rounds, one in the chamber and two in the magazine.

After putting some things away in his bedroom, he said he picked up the gun and began to pretend to clear the home of intruders, something he and his wife had practiced in the past.

He rounded the corner into the kitchen, where his wife was standing near the sink. She pointed her hand at him, pretending to have a gun. According to the affidavit, Beasley said he raised the shotgun to his shoulder and fired one round. He said he had forgotten the gun was loaded.

He said he threw the gun down, went to assist his wife and called 911.

Alaina Beasley’s parents, Ron and Beth Moore, could not be reached for comment.

Alaina Beasley was hit in the right shoulder. An autopsy showed she died of internal injuries caused by a gunshot wound to her upper right chest.

Although this is a tragic accident, the guy was playing games with a weapon he had just loaded. What did he expect would happen?

 

[BADUNAME37]

Wow.
Too bad a bad guy didn't get shot instead of his darling wife.

How absent-minded must one be to do what he did!

That is precisely why we have RULES TO ABIDE BY when handling any weapon.

Never point the gun at anything you do not wish to shoot (destroy, injure, KILL)!

I don't care how much practice they need, you DO NOT point any kind of gun at each other, unless it is a controlled environment and you are using weapons blocked off with an orange tag on the muzzle. Even under those conditions, you are very careful when you go back to your regularly-scheduled program of defense, knowing that you do not aim foolishly at one another!

 

[Logos]

Sad thing is, I bet there are a lot more out there who play the same kind of games.

Lacking proper instruction......this is what happens.

 

[BADUNAME37]

I bet you are 100% right!

Keep playing these kinds of games and it is only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt or killed. And it is so pathetic that there are so few people to teach these newbies. I would be willing to help teach firearm handling and safety, but I would not know where to begin, and with everyone being sue-happy these days, I don't know as I would want the responsibility unless I am following a strict training guide or specific course and working for someone who has real good insurance (not doing it by myself).

 

[edSky]

Yeah, our instructor always released his magazine, cleared the chamber, and had someone in the class check it before he would handle his weapon. Better still, this is what blue plastic guns are for. Sad, for sure.

 

[svxapeal]

I just think it is tragic that so many kids don't have anyone to teach them about guns.

These "kids" did have someone to teach them about guns. He had just completed a safety course. There are basic courses offered all over the place.Even if you don't grow up around guns...or with parents that teach you...that is no reason to not educate yourself.

Caryn

 

[McKevrox]

Wow. So senseless. I can't stop thinking about this story and how easily it could have been prevented.

"he’d been having trouble with the way it ejected shells while using it earlier in the day"

OF COURSE, IT WAS BRAND NEW. :banghead:

 

[Maelstrom]

If you want to practice clearing, I've got a $20 solution. Pellet guns.

 

[Rush]

Wow... just wow....

People who think they don't need a course in gun safety...

I don't fault him for forgetting he loaded the gun, I've done that myself. This is exactly why you have the muzzle rule. People who've actually taken safety courses and had that rule drilled in their head aren't likely to pull a stunt like this.

 

[Mags50]

I know both of these families also. We spent quite a bit of time with both of them playing home school sports.

It is true, they are isolationists with their religion, but as a home schooler, that's not always the case. We home school and we are not like that.

Alaina was homeschooled and her family was not like that either.

I watched the courtship and engagement of Alaina and Josh and it's true, he really loved her and she really loved him.

Though I wasn't too fond of his family generally speaking, I will say they are good people. They really are. I just don't agree with how they live their life.

I'm beyond incredulous though that he would be SO FREAKING STUPID. It's just beyond my comprehension that someone could load a gun and FORGET?????????? IT'S LOADED????????

I've been crying all week long over this and I will likely cry a few more days. I'm so sorry that josh will have to live with this the rest of his life, but alaina's mother (who was incredibly close to her) will live WITHOUT her daughter the rest of her life.

She will also live WITHOUT the grandchildren Alaina would have given her. Alaina's little sister will be without her big sister and Alaina's brother will be without his sister too.

I just cannot believe this happened the way it did. How in God's name could anyone be so incredibly stupid.

 

[FoMoGo]

OK... they could do without a course in gun safety.
All it takes is a little friggin sense.
You always check a gun when you pick it up.
I do it every time I pick mine up... and I keep it loaded.
I KNOW it is loaded... I loaded it, I chambered a round, I put it on safety.
I put it on the nightstand in that condition.
I wake up and holster the gun... I check it... even tho i KNOW its loaded.
You do NOT point weapons at anything you are not willing to destroy.
You want to practice house clearing... use toy guns, use airsoft guns... even then... DONT POINT THEM AT EACH OTHER.
I mean... my kids have known this since day 1.
Anyone with a few brain cells should be able to figure this out.

I take my pistol out of my holster, drop the magazine, eject the round... hand it to my wife... who just watched me do this... and she checks the chamber... even tho she saw me unload it and check it.

These people didnt breed did they?


Jim

 

[Travis Bickle]

These "kids" did have someone to teach them about guns. He had just completed a safety course. There are basic courses offered all over the place.

Safety courses are good, but they're still a poor substitute for 18 years of having the muzzle rule drilled into your head and knowing you'll get an ass-whooping if you violate it.

 

[BADUNAME37]

These people didnt breed did they?

Sorry, but I had to chuckle at that one. I didn't mean to, but I had to. There had to be some light in all this darkness.

Anyway, about the muzzle rule. So many people that I know that claim they know so much about guns I will go shooting with once, and then never again. Why? Because even if one time during our time together that person's muzzle goes by me, loaded or UNLOADED, I tell them to watch their muzzle, and I consider them CARELESS and never want to be a part of shooting with them again.

Heck, I took some people from England who had never held a gun before and we went out and shot a bunch of rounds from most of my guns. Shotguns, rifles and pistols. I was very clear that the muzzle points away from everyone at all times and everyone not shooting stands BEHIND the person shooting. Not ONCE did I get swept by any muzzle during that entire shooting session! Am I a good teacher? Some tell me I am, but more importantly, they were doing as I was doing and in handling EVERY gun, I was extremely careful and conscious WHERE THE MUZZLE WAS at ALL TIMES!

Sure, guns can and are fun! However, I learned before 6th grade NEVER POINT A GUN AT ANYTHING YOU DO NOT WANT TO SHOOT! I would never (even in 6th grade) play a game where we are aiming guns at each other -- NEVER!
That is not a game.
That is Russian Roulette and, eventually, someone WILL LOSE.

Russian Roulette: a stunt in which you spin the cylinder of a revolver that is loaded with only one bullet and then point the muzzle at your head and pull the trigger
http://wordnet.princeton.edu/

 

[cassandrasdaddy]

Safety courses are good, but they're still a poor substitute for 18 years of having the muzzle rule drilled into your head and knowing you'll get an ass-whooping if you violate it.


that was a great point and i realize it more than some. was raised in a no gun zone. i learned after i left home fortunately i was real young when i left and had mentors that would slap you upside the head when you screwed up. no mulligans. i had a close friend shoot my dog doing something similar to what this kid did. it taught both of us a lesson but it was only gods grace we didn't kill someone as stupid as we were.