Family friend gone. Please allow me to preach to the faithful for a moment.

[Edster]

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/hays...-misfired-gun/

The victim is the only child of a family we were close with for several years. Our sons were good friends.

I know this audience will understand where I'm coming from. I admit I typically don't trust press accounts of firearm accidents. In this case, some facts seem clear:

• A gun was fired.
• The bullet struck a young man in an adjoining apartment.
• A life ended too soon and two good parents lost their only child.

Most people on this forum don't need me to remind them the criticality of safe gun handling. If you need to share this story with somebody who does, please do. People need it to be made real to "get it" sometimes.

There are activities that fall in the category of, "If you screw up, somebody might die." Driving to work might count. So would skydiving. We make the decision whether the benefit of the activity is worth the risk. Some activities we avoid. Others we do but hopefully take measures to minimize the risk.

Handling a firearm is one of those activities. We have decided the benefit is worth the risk. We know the risk can be dramatically reduced by following four rules.

The rules are simple.
They work.
Most importantly, they aren't that damn hard to follow.

When you make a decision to compromise the rules, you are trusting Luck.

Luck is a lying asshole. Luck says, "Nothing bad has happened so far so nothing bad will happen."

Then, something horrible happens. Luck says, "That's your fault. You shouldn't have trusted me."

Don't compromise. Don't get lazy. Don't trust Luck. You can't undo the consequences.

End of sermon.

[Cheap Shot]

Well said

Thanks for posting that, you've articulated it much much better than I ever could. I'll be using for myself and in explaining gun safety to others.

My condolences to your friends.