I believe that scenario is commonly called ‘suicide by Pop’.

More seriously, it’s the wording of the article that gets me the most. They very very carefully avoid any mention of Dad shooting Junior. The gun went off. That’s all they say – the gun went off.

Well, so much for the NRA’s bumper-stickerism about guns not killing people, huh?

Then I’ll hand them the gun that I just checked to see if it’s empty. If we are at a range, then I’ll use a palmed bullet and slip it into the chamber while handing it to them. If they don’t check for bullets, then the day is over and we go home.

As an aside about the “I was cleaning it line (lie)”. Cleaning a gun usually involves running some form of cleaning device through the barrel. Probably 75% of the users only clean the barrel of the gun. In a semi-auto, you CANNOT clean the barrel with a bullet loaded. It’s physically impossible to push a cleaning rod through the barrel with an object designed to fill the barrel in the way. In a revolver, you must move the cylinder out of line of the barrel to clean it.

Any competent person disassembles the gun before cleaning it anyway. Remove the magazine, clear the chamber, remove the slide/barrel from the frame. Then it’s physically impossible for it to go off. There’s no connection between the trigger and the cartridge.

Yes, this guy was lying. He was not cleaning his gun. He was jacking around with it like a moron.

But I guess a few people who are idiots ruin it for everyone else. People are too stupid to own guns.

Does anybody ever fall for that one?

Don’t buy it if you ain’t gonna draw it.
Don’t draw it if you ain’t gonna shoot it.
Don’t shoot it if you ain’t gonna hit with it.
Don’t hit if you don’t wanna kill.

Don’t buy it if you’re not prepared to kill with it.(1)

1) Ok, this only refers to guns bought for self defence, not for target shooting. But in that case:

– Don’t buy it if you don’t intend to get to know it well.
– – Practice, practice, practice! (2)
– Don’t carry or draw it purely with the intent to intimidate.
– Don’t shoot to miss, you may only get one shot
– Don’t shoot to wound, you may miss, or you may kill your assailant anyway. Don’t think you can avoid the guilt of taking a human life this way, chances are you won’t

2) I was horrified when a friend of mine bought a gun and promptly left it in his cupboard, unfired. Why didn’t he take it to the shooting range? You need to know how to use it before the lead starts flying, and anyway, isn’t target-shooting a hell of a lot of fun in itself?

I have been hunting for over 30 years, and I have done target practice. There is no margin for accidents in using guns.
You choose not to follow the rules – that is intentionally and not by accident.

There is no accident in using your gun wrongly. There is only you making the wrong choice.

Have I missed anything?

Son loaded the normally unloaded gun and conned his father into pulling the trigger. Teen suicide plus laying a ton of guilt on the father. Likely? Beats me, but it seems possible.