Comments on: Police: Fla. man kills fiancee on eve of wedding

By: Tish

Tish — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:34:11 +0000

That story is truly sad to say the least. I read your rules for owning/operating a gun. I must admit guns scare me, and really because I’ve never been around them nor shot one. I know I need to get over this fear and take some training for my license (my friend just received his).

Owning a gun is like having a child, I need to be totally prepared for the responsibility, and until them I’ll stay far away from them.

Once I’m ready I’ll study up and expose myself to those that own and operate them safely.

By: Trencher

Trencher — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:45:58 +0000

Lapse in judgement or just plan stupid it’s a shame they don’t have a test for stupid. You know to go along with background checks or something that could be initiated at the point of getting your drivers license. The red flag of stupid goes up and poof no drivers license and no chance of ever possessing a handgun. It would keep incidents like this from happening. At least most of the time. It would damn sure make my commute to work about 80% more tolerable.

By: ASM826

ASM826 — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:10:37 +0000

I would be willing to call it tragically negligent. He thought he had an intruder, the adrenalin was running, and he pulled the trigger without verifying the nature of the target.

At the very least this is manslaughter.

As an aside, i feel the same way about automobile accidents. They do occur. But they are rare. Driving on a mountain road, and a big rock rolls down right in front of you. That’s an accident.

Riding along, talking on a cell phone, changing a CD, drinking a soda, and roll through a stop sign hitting another vehicle, that’s not an accident, that’s negligence.

By: Mr Pink Eyes

Mr Pink Eyes — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:35:39 +0000

While this is a “tragic accident” and something that Tabutt will have to live with the rest of his life this should have been avoided. As you pointed out he did not follow simple gun safety rules. He fired at a target without knowing what that target was. This is the same as a hunter hearing a noise in a bush and firing only to find out that he just shot a fellow hunter. People like this just help to fuel the anti-gun crowd and giver responsible gun owners a bad name.

By: Silver Fox

Silver Fox — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 23:35:06 +0000

Quite a story vigilante, I once took a bead on what I thought to be a large bushy tailed fox squirrel high up in a tree with my trusty H.C. Higgins 22cal and much to my surprise when the critter fell I heard an unusually loud thump and discovered I had shot a small fox(not fox squirrel)–they do climb trees when pursuded. I suppose that was another time I didn’t identify the target. On a similar note: When I was a teenager we would often have an old man and his friend who would come to visit my grandfather. One man was blind as a result of a turkey hunting accident and the man who always came with him was the one who shot him in the face some years before. They had been hunting together and the one who was shot decided, foolishly, to fool his friend by shaking a bush. The result was tragic for both–for both were in error. The only good thing is that they remained , until their dying days friends and constant companions. Hadn’t thought about this for many years–it still brings tears.

By: cmblake6

cmblake6 — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:10:45 +0000

Those are the rules I always taught. The AF was using the NRA 10, and several of those just didn’t fit with the military needs. The Col. on the other hand simplified it perfectly.

By: Vigilante

Vigilante — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:06:04 +0000

Read a story about a fellow hunting squirrels with a shotgun last year who took a bead on a fox “squirrel” that was moving and playing around on the trunk of a tree like squirrel(s) usually do when there are two of them. First one side, then the other. When the hunter(A) finally made up his mind to shoot the next time that that little brown sucker showed himself it was too late for the “hunter”(B) that was setting on the other side of the tree drinking a cup of coffee while he was searching the tree tops for a squirrel. Hunter(A) in his haste to shoot almost blew Hunter(B’s)elbow off. It was determined that hunter (B) was wearing a tan hunting coat and setting on the opposite side of a gray beech tree from hunter A. When hunter B would raise his arm(s) to take a drink of hot coffee from his thermos,
his elbow(s) would show from either side of the tree. BANG!!
Another reason to “identify” your target before you pull that trigger.

By: BobF

BobF — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:23:40 +0000

One of the main reasons I got a 3-watt LED tactical light for my bedroom gun.

By: extex_cop

extex_cop — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:00:41 +0000

Yep…Gun Rules of Safety are a must. A friend of mine almost shot his son one night. The crazy kid had left the house late one night, then returned home only to find all the doors locked and no key with him. He went around the house trying windows to see if one was open. His rattling of windows woke his dad…who grabbed the shotgun. He said he saw a dark shadow of a man climbing in through the window… and almost shot his son…if not for the wife who turned on the kitchen light…at which time they noticed it was their son.

It scared my friend so bad he was still shaking a week later when he talked about it. Know your target and know when and how to shoot….all those may save your life one day…or the life of a friend or family member. I taught all my kids when they were young….we always had loaded guns in the house…not once was anybody ever hurt. The only gun accident I had was with a ‘Nail Gun’ …darn nail hit a hard knot and it curved back around and into my hand were I was holding the board

By: HoosierArmyMom

HoosierArmyMom — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:48:42 +0000

This is tragic and beyond my comprehension. I can’t imagine the guilt this man will live with for the rest of his days.

When my father was 16, he was injured in a gas station (shot point blank in the leg with an improperly monitored shot gun under the counter) and it changed his life in many ways. There had been burglaries of small businesses in his small town, and while he was waiting for the gas station owner to close, standing at the counter drinking a cola and shooting the breeze, the owner heard noises out back, reached down to get his shot gun under the counter and unknown to him, someone had pulled the hammer back during the day, so in his excitement the hammer hit the shelf and fired into my Dad’s leg point blank. Dad survived, but it had devastating effects throughout his life, which I won’t go into here. My point being, one does not have to be killed to have their life changed by an act of careless weapon handling. And it does put a negative impact on all responsible gun owners.

Every time an incident like this happens, those who would destroy the freedoms so many have died to preserve for us, wet their chops and go on the attack. It is disheartening to think about this tragedy and the effects on the families involved, but it also gives me sadness for what it does to our freedoms as well.