The teenage stepdaughter of a California police officer reportedly shot herself by accident with her father’s personal gun on Monday.
The Gilroy, California officer has been off duty since the shooting of the 13-year-old girl, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Police have classified the shooting, which took place in the officer’s Gilroy home, as an accident, the newspaper reported. It was not immediately clear whether the officer will be punished by the department.
The officer’s stepdaughter took a bullet to the leg and was rushed to surgery at a local trauma center. She is expected to survive, according to the Times. Neither the officer nor the girl were named by the Times.
The Gilroy police department will hand the case to Santa Clara County prosecutors to consider charges, the newspaper reported.
The gun industry reminds me so much of the car industry…they presume that everyone’s going to be responsible and not do something stupid so they oppose any regulation to make their products safer.
I disagree. They are well aware of varying levels of responsibility, and view it as an acceptable risk.
We’re trying figure out the best way to spin this so we don’t look like douches.
We’re handing this over to a prosecutor that will make sure a grand jury presses no charges.
At the most, the officer will be placed on paid leave for a couple weeks while we “investigate” and conclude nothing wrong happened.
True except for the mandatory insurance part, sadly.
I wish there were a syndicated column that would run a weekly update on such domestic shooting “accidents” in printed and digital newspapers across the country. It could also give practical advice about gun safety, such as Miss Manners did for etiquette. For those who eschew reading, may there be a syndicated Gun Talk program on radio and internet emulating the long popular Car Talk.
Ignorance about safely keeping, cleaning and handling firearms at home, in cars and on person is widespread among American gun owners; this ignorance is almost universal among American non-gunners, who nevertheless must live, work, and co-exist with the guns of others.