I think ‘unintentionally’ would be better than ‘accidentally’. As others have pointed out, the gun didn’t just fire itself.
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Woah there, this doesn’t say anything like that about the kid. Not everyone is an angel. For all we know they had priors.
(/s forever)
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Glocks have the safety built into the trigger - if you squeeze the trigger properly, the gun will fire. A lot of local and State LEO use semiautomatic handguns with no safety, as was previously the norm with FBI issued .40 S&W.
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Are you sure there isn’t a low IQ requirement for police? Even a hill billy hunter has better trigger discipline.
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My thoughts exactly. “Not severely hurt” likely means something along the lines of not hitting any major organs, not requiring major surgery, etc. But a gunshot wound to a limb that does far less than this can still lead to a literal lifetime of reduced mobility and the like. “Oh, don’t worry, you weren’t severely hurt, you just won’t ever regain fine motor skills in your dominant arm, but that’s no big deal, right?”
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That’s technically called a grip safety; the Springfield Armory XD series has that as well; However, it’s a side tangent, the officer should never have used a live, loaded firearm in a presentation or demonstration, period. They have training firearms For. A. REASON.
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How many times does it need to be repeated: no firearm can be made safe enough to use as a demonstrator in a school. End of sentence. If you don’t have an obvious model firearm, DON’T DO THE DEMONSTRATION.
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Thanks for introducing me to a new term. Exonerative Tense covers so many problematic statements really well.
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yes, there literally is a requirement to be below a certain IQ
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@Bonivus_elderheart you get absolutely no argument from me on the use of training firearm instead of a real sidearm, loaded or not. It was total negligence and stupidity on the cop’s part and he should be fired and charged criminally. I have no doubt the family will sue on the civil side of things as well.
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Yeah this is my understanding too. A lot of gun safeties exist to ensure that the gun won’t go off it dropped or brushed against something, but won’t prevent a trigger pull from firing the gun. Glocks have a 2-part trigger, both parts have to be pulled back for the gun to fire. Another common style is a grip safety, where you have to have the gun pressed against the back of your hand to fire. I think both of these would be sensible along with a manual safety but idk, I don’t make the rules.
re: using the gun during a demonstration, big time what the fuck. In the gun circles I’ve travelled in, I could take out a gun, unload it, clear the chamber, prove to you that it’s empty, and people would (rightly) still get pissed at you if you pointed it in their direction. No one has ever used a real gun in a demonstration in my presence unless it was pointed down range. These things kind of feel silly the first time you encounter them, but basically just never making an exception to these rules drastically reduces the risk of an accidental injury.
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Personally, I would leave out unintentionally or accidentally. It infers a motive and state of mind. We can’t know whether they did it with intent or not. We know the shooting occurred and we know that they claim it was an accident. That seems plausible, but I deeply dislike headlines that attribute motive in these situations.
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How about “stupidly” or “carelessly”.
No implication of motivation. But sufficiently descriptive IMHO 
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I believe “recklessly” is already the term of art.
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How about “since no one was killed, you’re only fired”
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As an outsider of the US I’ve started to become immune to the constant news reports of preventable gun violence and a lax system of government that allows an extremist like Trump to actually ever become president in the first place… pandering to the NRA and right wing racists.
To put hings into perspective the Ukranian people have justifiably taken up arms against the sadistic Russian invasion and are holding ground against a force that was once the biggest threat against American democracy.
Sadly gun violence in US schools just seems an inevitable part of our news stream that is no longer shocking but just part of the culture over there.
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being charged with child endangerment and attempted manslaughter would be par for the course if it were any other human being. the same rules should apply to the cops.
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Loaded or unloaded, who the hell points a gun at a child?
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Someone who is too comfortable and relaxed around weapons to be allowed to have one.
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There’s a 50:50 chance it bankrupts the kid’s family and sets them back more than a generation on wealth gain. That may even be optimistic.
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