SHOOTING ACCIDENTS.

Feilding Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 244, 16 May 1906, Page 2

SHOOTING ACCIDENTS.

■■'■'■» ■ Almost every day some tragedy is chronicled in connection with firearms. Now that tbe shooting season is in full swing it may be anticipated that many more deaths will occur through carelessness in handling load* ed guns. Many person's, unacquainted with the use of guns, go out shooting and the manner in which they handle their weapons sends a cold shudder through many an experienced shooter if he happens to be in their vicinity. But it is not always the inexperienced person who is tHe cause of accidents, but the man who knows full well the risk there is in tbe carrying or laying down of a loaded gun and becoming careless and thus endangering not only his own life but 3he lives of others. Many narrow escapes occur which none but thbse immediately concerned ever hear of. It is only when an accident results in the injury or death of a person that the whole of the facts are disclosed. Of course a certain ri6k has to be taken in a shooting party, but if every member were to carry his weapon in such a way that, if, in case of an accident it was discharged, the gun would be pointed away from any person, fewer fatalities ( would occur. But, unfortunately, the danger is not confined to the field but in many cases extends to the home. A loaded gun is in many cases hung upon the wall in such a position that a Blight jar is sufficient to discharge it. A case happened some years ago in which a man seated in a room was shot dead, and it was thought that he was murdered, but an experiment was tried, which proved that a loaded gun hung upon the wall was discharged by means of the sun's rays, and a bowl of water on tbe table which acted as a- burning glass, throwing the heat upon the breech of the gun. A sad case has been reported from the West Coast, in which a girl engaged in household duties was killed through accidentally knocking down a loaded gun. Instances of this kind could be given by the score, and as long as people are so careless in dealing with loaded weapons these accidents will certainly occur. Seeing that great'interest is taken in shoot ing by tbe rising generation by means of cadet corps, rifle club?, 6t0., we think that steps should be taken to instil into the minds of the boys attending the schools of the Colony the necessity of seeing that no gun is put away when loaded.