<p>If they are licensed, they can be traced back. Isn’t there some sort of fine if someone uses your weapon & injures themselves or commits a crime with it?
Perhaps there should be.
<a href=“http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/08/16/2734728/wwu-student-dies-from-gunshot.html[/url]”>http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/08/16/2734728/wwu-student-dies-from-gunshot.html</a></p>
<p>Ok, 2 things: </p>
<p>1- Who plays with a gun?!</p>
<p>Seriously, it baffles me. I’m anti-gun, I’ve never handled a gun before (never intend to), and even <em>I</em> know that you ALWAYS assume a gun is loaded. </p>
<p>2- WHY were they going through the roommate’s stuff? It was in a LOCKED safe. While I don’t agree that it should’ve been left behind (and we don’t know the details- for example, I “moved out” of my apartment a month ago but technically left stuff there until my lease was up as it was easier), he seems to have been the most responsible one in the whole situation.</p>
<p>He locked it & left the key- essentially leaving it accessible.
Who leaves a loaded gun?
For that matter who takes a gun to school in Bellingham?
College students, drinking & guns don’t mix.</p>
<p>I agree with your last line.</p>
<p>Unless the gun is a bubble gun, but that mix is still is questionable.</p>
<p>Sloppy news reporting – the article describes the gun as both a “.22-caliber rifle” and a “handgun”. Given the circumstances, it was almost certainly some type of handgun, as opposed to a long gun.</p>
<p>Whatever happened to the #1 rule of assuming that the gun is loaded? Of course, since alcohol was involved, the result may be less surprising.</p>
<p>Young men, guns and alcohol. Always a bad mix. This chills me to the bone, as my S will be a college freshman next year. Some stuff you never worry about with daughters (of course there are a million other things to worry about with daughters!). </p>
<p>We toured Western earlier this summer. Gorgeous school, gorgeous little city. :(</p>
<p>And: lots of people would play with a gun. It’s how a lot of kids/teens and adults get hurt or die accidentally every year. I worked the pediatric ER/trauma center. Happens way too much.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about gun safes, but it sounds like this one contained both the 22 and the handgun.</p>
<p>Leaving the key behind was irresponsible, but opening the safe and playing with them was even more so. </p>
<p>Very sad.</p>
<p>This person who shot himself was just plain stupid. There’s no way around that fact. </p>
<p>The incident was the fault of the person who stupidly ‘played with’ the gun and shot himself in the head - not the person who left the gun behind (although I agree that it’s odd to leave a gun, or anything else of value, behind - I assume he must have somehow forgotten it).</p>
<p>I had a gun in college but somehow never shot myself with it (and didn’t ‘play with it’ or make assumptions about whether it was loaded or not either).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Very, very sad.</p>
<p>A local teenager died maybe about 10 (?) years or so ago in a similar fashion. The dad of the kid hosting the party wound up getting arrested because he was allowing teenagers to drink underage at the house, and was also responsible in some fashion for bringing out the gun. He was trying to be a “cool” dad and a high school kid wound up dead. </p>
<p>Alcohol doesn’t mix with a lot of things, especially guns.</p>
<p>
That’s very true - some people do stupid things when they’ve been drinking but some people do stupid things even when they haven’t been drinking.</p>
<p>This is beyond stupid though - ‘playing with a gun’ should never be done, assuming a gun you don’t own and don’t have complete control of is a potentially deadly assumption to make (and no one who owns a gun should ever ‘assume’ even the ones they own and control are not loaded either), pointing the gun at one’s head should never be done, and of course, pulling the trigger after pointing the gun at your head after assuming it’s unloaded even though you don’t know the gun, after taking it out of a locked container - is never advised.</p>
<p>It would have also been stupid and could have had even worse consequences if the guy had decided to take a roommate’s car keys, which may have been sitting on a desk, and going for a drive - or if he had decided to balance on a balcony railing, or go for a midnight swim in a pool under a pool cover (this actually happened at a college - the drunk student drowned), and any number of other unsafe behaviors.</p>
<p>If there was due diligence in trying to find the previous tenant it is now technically the guns belong to the current occupant. If I found a firearm in my house I would call the local police and ask them to take it.</p>
<p>I had never thought about holding a gun, much less firing a gun. Ms. Ellebud’s boyfriend invited us to the gun range. And, after giving us a serious talk of gun safety and and how to shoot Mr. Ellebud, the other Ms. Ellebud and I shot a rifle and a handgun. My faebook shows me shooting the rifle.</p>
<p>Would I shoot again? Maybe. I have never seen such a security and safety as there was here. Would I ever own a gun? No. I don’t forsee the need.</p>
<p>There’s no cure for stupid.</p>
<p>A couple years ago we had a tenant move out of a house and leave it a total mess. We hired a firm that cleans up such properties. When we went in to get an estimate there was a handgun lying on the kitchen floor. The guy told me that they would not take the gun or any drugs they found, but they would clean out the house. When they were done, on the kitchen floor was a pile with two handguns, a rifle, a couple of knifes, a bag of marijuana, and a baggie full of assorted pills! The cleaning company told me this happens all they time and their advice was to call the sheriff. We did and the sheriff came and took it all along with the name of the former tenant, but they didn’t act like it was a big deal.</p>
<p>Guns, alcohol, and young testosterone are not a good combination. So very sad for the family.</p>
<p>When I was in college, living in a house, one of my housemates boyfriend came to visit and brought a handgun. They (housemate, boyfriend, other guys living in house, other guests) were playing with it and drinking in the house. I was utterly furious and told her in no uncertain terms that I would call the police if he ever brought it there again :(.</p>
<p>Not a college incident, but it still applies. A friend’s daughter rented a house that had been foreclosed. The previous owner left some furniture. When the new people moved a couch, a hand gun fell to the floor. I don’t know if it was loaded or had a trigger lock on it. They were freaked out. What if their child had found it and fired it at a sibling or someone else? They looked up the previous owner and gave it back. I would have called law enforcement for advise on how to get rid of it.</p>
<p>I’m not anti gun, but there are a lot of people who are too careless to own them.</p>
<p>An even better question, is why even have a gun in your home?</p>
<p>
That questions opens a plethora of potential responses - most of which you already can guess.</p>
<p>I’ll give another reason, probably not the angle you had in mind - it’s the same reason I have a tennis racket, snorkeling gear, surf board, ski equipment, camping gear, cameras, and other items in the house - where else would you expect them to be stored when not in use?</p>
<p>My husband once owned some real estate with his cousin and when they went to an apartment where a tenant had moved out they did find a gun, can’t remember if it was loaded or not. Cousin’s wife was a homicide detective so she was easily able to remove it and turn it in…
Her entire career in law enforcement, the only time she ever fired a weapon was on the practice range.</p>