That's right. After the Safe Carry Protection Act passed in Georgia, many of us made the sarcastic remark, "What could possibly go wrong?' Well, Saturday night something did. In the picturesque tourist town of Helen in the North Georgia mountains, a woman died as the result of a stray bullet which had already penetrated the shooter's hand as he stood outside a bar across the street from her.
The German Alpine themed small town hosts many bars and is a popular tourist destination. The streets can be crowded on weekends and during the yearly Oktoberfest celebrations. Drinking is one popular pastime and set the scene for Saturday's tragedy.
The shooter is a 53 year old man with a previous drunk driving conviction in 1999. He was outside a bar when the shooting occurred. He was found sitting on a bench with his injured hand. The woman his bullet found lay on the sidewalk across the street, dead at the scene, surrounded by family and friends, some of them children.
Many years ago our family visited the little town during their Oktoberfest. We noticed students in various stages of intoxication staggering into a fudge shop and joked, "What could possibly go wrong?" as we imagined the nauseating mixture of fudge and way too much beer. We never imagined the deadly new combination that would result many years later.
The man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Link about the shooting:
http://www.ajc.com/...
http://www.whitecountynews.net/...
Link about the law:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Wow. Rec List. I hope that this incident shows people why carrying weapons in bars is just as bad an idea as it sounds.
The unifying theme of so much misery detailed in diaries of the last week is GUNS and weaponry. From Ferguson to Falujah to Gaza people are dying because we keep getting more of them.
9:03 AM PT: BTW, this could have happened anywhere in Georgia. It just happened to be Helen this time.