Accidents Happen

 Or perhaps more accurately, negligent discharges happen.  10/29/22 Police Tribune:

Salinas, CA – An off-duty Santa Cruz police officer accidentally shot himself and fatally wounded another man as he was cleaning his personal firearm last week, according to investigators.

The incident occurred near the 1500-block of Antelope Drive at approximately 5:45p.m. on Oct. 21, KTVU reported.

According to Salinas Police Department (SPD) investigators, Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) Officer Francisco Villicana, 22, was off-duty and preparing to clean his personal firearm when he unintentionally discharged the weapon.

He won't be prosecuted.  If you read California's excusable homicide statute:

1. When committed by accident and misfortune, or in doing any other lawful act by lawful means, with usual and ordinary caution, and without any unlawful intent. 

I can see how this is marginally within the definition.  How exactly, did this discharge happen?  Did he fail to clear the chamber before disassembly?  Did he load the chamber and then verify trigger functionality?  I doubt anyone will ever ask and they should.

Remember: a firearm is a dangerous tool.  No modern firearm should go off accidentally.  You make sure the gun is unloaded before cleaning.  You make sure you very carefully lower the hammer if you are going to carry or store your pistol Condition 1.   A rifle or shotgun should never be stored or carried Condition 1 except in combat; many gun trainers believe even handguns should never be stored Condition 1.  I recently cataloged a mass murder where the murderer died when the .270 Winchester rifle in the front seat fell over and killed him.

I have owned firearms since 1982.  I have never had an "accidental discharge."

Tangential point.  Gun banners insist that police can be trusted with guns because they are better trained than civilians.  Police are humans, too.  Some are very competent at shooting; some are not.  Carelessness is a common human problem.

As I was reminded, Glocks have no external safety and no hammer to lower except by pulling the trigger.   I like Glocks but they are just easy for kids to fire with no knowledge at all.

As Hunter Thompson Would Say, "When the Weird Turn Pro"

The guy being held for attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer has such a colorful history that the only words that fit are "professional Bay Area kook."  Nudist activist, hemp jewelry maker, prone to odd conspiracy theories, and according to friends unstable heavy drug user.  This article on Heavy gathers all sorts of weirdness into one pustulent pile of crazy.

I Hope This is For Domestic Consumption

10/26/22 Newsweek reports that Russia is building bomb shelters throughout Moscow.  I wonder if Putin knows that with the Ukraine War lost that he can either be taken into custody or bring everything down around him, like Hitler at the end.

Things I Love to Do

Sharing astronomy.   I took my little Televue TV-85 to a friend's house and shared Jupiter and Saturn with adults and kids of the neighborhood.   Sometimes you wonder if the scope is still on Jupiter but you never wonder if they see Saturn.   Even at 48x it is breathtaking.

Wow! Markets Work!

10/26/22 CNN:

"London(CNN Business)Europe has more natural gas than it knows what to do with. So much, in fact, that spot prices briefly went negative earlier this week.

For months, officials have warned of an energy crisis this winter as Russia — once the region's biggest supplier of natural gas — slashed supplies in retaliation for sanctions Europe imposed over its invasion of Ukraine.

Now, EU gas storage facilities are close to full, tankers carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) are lining up at ports, unable to unload their cargoes, and prices are tumbling."

If You Create a Twitter Account to Show Support for Musk Wresting Control Away From the Fascists...

Notice that Elon Musk's account has the title "Chief Twit "

I just tweeted.  Likely the only tweet I will ever do.

Why Private Party Sales Need to be Tightly Regulated

 10/28/22 Channel 6 Philadelphia:

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A deputy with the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office has been arrested and charged with trafficking and selling guns, according to the United States Attorney's office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Samir Ahmad, 29, of Philadelphia, was taken into custody on October 19 by federal agents.

Court documents say two of the firearms Ahmad sold on Oct. 13 were traced by law enforcement as being used in a deadly ambush shooting after a football scrimmage at Roxborough High School two weeks earlier.

The Sept. 27 shooting killed 14-year-old Nicolas Elizalde of Havertown, Pa. and left four other teenagers wounded.

/sarc.  Police not obeying the existing private party sale law makes the whole idea non-functional.