The Use of Firearms.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 14, 3 April 1902, Page 18

The Use of Firearms.

Easter fell unusually early this year, and probably because the opening of the shooting season did not take place until Tuesday last a good number were probably debarred from taking part in the slaughter which annually marks the day. Hence the number of accidents from firearms which have been reported is mercifully small. It would appear that familiarity with the handling of firearms is as dangerous as complete ignorance of their peculiarities A young man named Raymond was killed in Southland la«t weekby an accident most unaccountable in one who from his pursuits was probably acquainted with the use of firearms from his childhood. While getting through a wire fence he seems to have drawn the loaded rifle after him, muzzle first. The trigger must have caught on a loose piece of wire, and the consequent explosion resulted fatally. This method of handling guns is one that learners are specially warned against, and it is very likely that the victim himself must have been one of the loudest in condemnation of it. Yet a momentary inadvertence of the kind caused his own death. The perfection to which firearms are now brought greatly increases the danger. The old and now almost obsolete muzzle-loader was alow in its manipulation, but it was much safer, because greater deliberation was necessary. The condition of the weapon was also more easily discerned. There was the further consideration that the price was higher,and consequently firearms usually fell into skilled hands. But nowadays firearms are cheap, and consequently plentiful, and nearly all country youths, with many in the towns, own guns, and sometimes revolvers, and use them with all the confidence begotten of their inexperience. * How far a person is justified in carrying a weapon for tho purpose of self-defence is an ethical as well as legal question that is far from definitely settled. Some dozen years ago an emigrant who had been laying in an outfit for use in foreign lands included a revolver among his purchases. Just prior to his departure from London he was assailed by two footpads, both of whom he promptly shot dead. For this, though clearly acting in defence of his property, he was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment* which, however, was afterwards reduced to 18 months after a 6torm of public indignation and an appeal to the Home Secretary. In Victoria, only a few weeks ago, a volunteer, returning from shooting practice, encountered a buiglar flying from pursuit. He raised his rifle and shot the fugitive dead. But it transpired that he had no homicidal intention, and that he merely fired the rifle from his hip in order to cause the runaway to stop. These are instances of undesirable promptness. There are others in which what might be cousidere 1 culpable neglect of defensive measures has been shown. A certain class of robbery under arms has been frequent in Australia of late. It is that of robbing managers who are conveying from the bank large sums in wages. Notwithstanding several recent cases, which must have been fresh in public memory, the manager of a mine near Bendigo permitted himself and a companion to be ' bailed up' and robbed of a considerable sum of money by two armed men. If he had gone armed and allowed it to be made known that he was so. it is highly probable that the robbers would have been deterred. This was an example of over confidence that might be recommended to Mr. Dooley as the basis of a new chapter on the use of firearms in Kentucky.