Missouri Man Shoots Self in Head While Giving “Safety Demonstration.”

If you were going to teach someone about driving safety would you jump in your car, drive 60 miles per hour, cross the center line and cause a head on collision to demonstrate the effectiveness of your vehicle’s airbargs? Mostly likely not but perhaps Mr James Looney would. Last Friday, with the best of intentions, the Missouri man wanted to teach his girl friend about the basics of firearms safety before taking her to a local shooting range. Looney’s problem was that his teaching methodology ran directly contrary with all the rules of safe firearm handling. Two basic tenants of firearms safety is treat all weapons as if they are loaded and never point a firearm at anything you don’t intend to destroy. According to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, to insure a demonstration filled with impressive drama and maximum impact Looney apparently placed a loaded weapon to his head and pulled the trigger. Can you say “poor judgement?” While media reports don’t specify exactly what occurred, one can surmise that Looney either didn’t engage the safety correctly or failed to engage it at all because when he pulled the trigger he fired a round directly into the side of his head. He died the next day. Putting a handgun, loaded or not to one’s head is foolish, dangerous and incredibly stupid. Anti-gun advocates will point to Mr. Looney’s death as another reason why guns are dangerous and should be controlled or even banned. The fact is Mr. Looney made the incredibly stupid decision to place a loaded firearm to his head and pull the trigger. The fact is safety goes hand in hand with common sense and the application of common sense simply can’t be legislated.