Yet Another Responsible Gun Owner
Although this question was perhaps innocently posed by the hosts of
Good Morning America, I imagine the gun enthusiast community can make a case for it. This in spite of a police chief in Georgia who claims he accidentally shot his wife in the back, in bed, while they were sleeping, as he (ahem) adjusted his beloved. The gun, that is.
So, I first came across this story via Pharyngula, PZ posts the most interesting things, like this little detective story.
"Oh my God," the police chief said. "How the hell did this happen?"
Well, I’m not Sherlock Holmes, but I think all the necessary pieces of the puzzle are present in the tale as told, and all we need to do is apply some elementary powers of deduction to solve the mystery of how Chief McCollom’s wife was shot.
Because Chief McCollom is a gun-fondling dumbass, that’s why.
The fantasy.
Oh, PZ, you little scamp! I'm sure lots of fine Americans sleep with their guns. When they love their guns very much and don't use protection...wait, that's right. The gun was supposed to
be the protection.
Nevertheless, as I found by searching less biased news sources, the Georgia police chief had the presence of mind (after shooting his wife in the back) to apply the appropriate spin to the 911 call.
Maybe his police training kicked in for the call, after completely failing to address the whole loaded gun under the pillow thing.
"Gunshot wound, accidental," the man says, who is later identified as Peachtree City police chief William McCollom.
The 4:17 a.m. emergency call, which took place Thursday and was released today, has McCollom on the phone saying how "the gun was in the bed, I went to move it to put it to the side and it went off."
He does not identify himself for several minutes, and when he does he uses his official title rather than his name. When the operator repeats his title back to him, he says: "Yeah unfortunately yes."
Also reported to no surprise from me, the police chief's got decades of experience and used to be a certified firearms instructor. And since it's only been a couple days since McCollum rang in the new year with the shooting, he's just on administrative leave, not charged with anything yet, and the investigation continues.
Hopefully it was just incompetence and not intentional; reportedly he's by her bedside in the hospital. Presumably she will be better protected there than she was back at home, sharing the bed with Sweetness. I see no reason to excuse it as 'accidental' as if the loaded and chambered weapon just happened to be there. Oops.
Coming up in the comments: technique critique, and the ritual throwing of the now ex-YARGO under the bus.