A Texas man accidentally shot a child while officiating a wedding in Lancaster County on Saturday, the sheriff’s office says.

Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said deputies were sent to a wedding at Hillside Events near Denton on a report of a gunshot wound.

Deputies learned that 62-year-old Michael Gardner, the wedding’s officiant, fired a gun to get everyone’s attention.

“He was going to fire in the air, and as he did that, it slipped and went off,” Houchin said.

The gun was loaded with a blank that Gardner made with gunpowder and glue.

  • CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The only reason his grandkid is still alive is because he wasn’t QUITE stupid enough to put live rounds in his ‘attention getter’. What a moron.

    I’ve seen a guy shoot his daughter in the leg at a public outdoor range because he cleared a misfire in his handgun incorrectly. She lived, but goddamn. It only takes a second of inattention to kill someone and it happens all the time. These people do not treat firearms with respect. It’s not a fucking noisemaker or a penis replacement. It kills, instantly.

    • OhShitSon@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Which is why the rest of the world thinks it’s fucking insane how lax gun laws are in the US.

    • TragicNotCute@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I just imagine the internal conversation that morning.

      well I could bring a bell, or maybe even an air horn. I want to make sure I can control the group. I guess I could also raise my voice too.

      OR…

    • agent_flounder@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      This is why, while I support recognizing the right to self defense, I do not support Constitutional carry. Something this dangerous should require regular safety training. I felt the same about driving.

      • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I live in Texas which is now permitless carry.

        I still have a license to carry because I fucking should have one.

          • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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            1 year ago

            State’s rights to make me never go near that shithole that fought for slavery twice and is proud about both times-

            someone that likes guns and thinks we’ll need them sooner or later

      • CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Sort of. He was actually killed by a bullet that had lodged in the barrel from a previous issue with the weapon. The blank just fired the bullet that was lodged in the barrel.

        People have killed themselves with blanks though, usually screwing around pretending to commit suicide and then accidentally doing it. I remember reading about an actor that put pistol loaded with blanks up to his head and pulled the trigger. There’s enough gas force coming out the end to put a hole in you at that range.

        • TopRamenBinLaden@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          Yea, the only way a properly made blank can be dangerous is if the gun barrel is close enough for the ignited gasses to do damage from what I understand. So if you put the barrel right up against something, the gasses will push through and take a chunk with it.

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      See this kinda stuff is why I don’t own a real firearm. I grew up with guns in the house, went shooting with friends and my dad. I don’t need a way to accidentally kill someone around.