Extra excitement at the Columbus, Indiana Wal-Mart last Saturday.
Police say a gunshot wounded a woman inside a central Indiana Wal-Mart store after a man’s handgun fell from his pants and fired.
Columbus police Lt. Matt Myers says the 26-year-old woman was treated for an upper arm wound by medics at the store but declined to go to a hospital.
…
Myers says a 56-year-old man told officers that his handgun was in a holster when it fell from his waistband. One bullet hit the woman who was pushing a shopping cart with her newborn son inside.
Myers says officers confirmed the man had a handgun permit and he wasn’t arrested.
And that’s the end of the story.
The guy had a permit, and he wasn’t arrested – even though he dropped his gun in a popular discount store; even though the gun fired and injured a woman; even though the woman injured had a newborn baby with her. All fine, because he had a permit.
Something not quite right here.
So people with valid driver’s licenses can get booked for reckless/culpable driving, or driving under the influence of intoxicating substances, but there’s absolutely no equivalent for people with gun permits in Columbus, Indiana? Presumably because that would be an “abridgement” of the right to bear arms?
The founding fathers would be absolutely appalled that their method of correcting oversights and obsolescences within the U.S. Constitution by Amendments has been essentially discarded.
Something must be very wrong in Columbus, Indiana.
Why didn’t some other god-fearing white patriot with a permit pull his piece out and even up the score?
@2, that was my thought too; everyone’s lucky there weren’t a half dozen “good guys with guns” there to start shooting back…
And incidents like this should be charged as criminal negligence at the very least. Maybe the woman he shot can sue?
@ Hermit #3,
Maybe if she was a guy. After all, as a woman she shouldn’t have been out in public.
It’s incredible to think his reckless behavior wasn’t charged as such. Wielding a gun (while being a white man) makes you practically immune to any law enforcement.
Reckless endangerment seems like a reasonable charge against Mr. I Gots A Permit. Conviction might even mean revocation of his permit.
Am I being charitable in thinking that the police officers may be waiting for the woman to press charges?
Not an American, so I just did a quick image search to see what these handgun permit badges look like: official looking things that are very similar to law enforcement ID badges.
Since it’s so difficult restricting guns, may I suggest trying a different tack? Legislate the appearance of permits, such that they make the gun owner look ridiculous while wearing it. Don’t infringe their constitutional rights, just make them also wear a cartoonishly large, garishly coloured flower, for example.
I like your suggestion, Suido. Currently pondering possibilities.
How about making them all wear big, pink strap-ons over there pants so the general public is notified that someone in their general vicinity brought their penis extender with them. This should be sufficient warning, to those not interested in being in the company of the fondlers, that they should leave whichever establishment the fondler is infesting at that particular time. Maybe, after enough businesses start losing enough customers, because they don’t like getting shot in the arm by “responsible” gun owners while purchasing homeopathic asthma medicine for their child, maybe then we’ll start seeing some type of regulations. Nah–this country is too fucking stupid.
How about not delving into misogyny and transphobia when making points?
+++
I find US law enforcement about as fascinating as a traiwreck. You know it’s horrible but you can’t look away. Usually I sit there and think “they arrested this person for what?”, when it’s some small non-violent crime they are accused of(and not convicted, funny how the dudbros never cry out about that) which would result in the police taking your contact information and questioning you at a later point in time in Germany. And then there are cases like this where somebody could have killed a person yet is allowed to walk off.
I wasn’t trying to make a point, except for maybe this country I live in being fucking stupid about its gun laws.
How about you being a little more generous with your reading?
Allan Frost:
You could have made the same point if you’d recommended the gun huggers wear buttons reading “I’m armed and dangerous. If you can read this you may be already dead.” Same effect only without the misogyny and transphobia.