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.
If the kid had a gun, that wouldn’t have happened, right? AMiRiTe?
Depends on if he’s a good kid or a bad kid, because it’s good people with guns that stop bad people with guns apparently…
Removed by mod
And the simple fact that you wold have such a suspicion speaks volumes of people like you.
look at that guy, what a loser, he thinks kids shouldn’t get shot
The complete opposite. I accussed them of being pleased when these things happen as they get to campaign against guns with it, not because they want kids safe, but because they get a self-righteous hard-on when doing it.
Did you even read what they said?
The child should’ve also carried a gun to protect themselves from bad wedding officiants.
All children should go to war with adults.
Birth control?
More like birther control
Houchin said Gardner accidentally shot a child in the shoulder. They were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Also, it was a blank, so the kid doesn’t have a bullet hole. None of this excuses wielding a firearm irresponsibly in a crowd of people, and I’ll take “Trigger discipline” for $200, Alex. Just wanted to bring to the fore that the kid will be okay.
A home made blank from glue and gunpowder lmao
A homemade cartridge with a conventional bullet replaced with a glue projectile.
Hey you might get a kick out of this. If you look carefully in the show Farscape you will notice that the person in the show who was an ex-solider never has her finger on the trigger unless firing but the untrained people with her do.
I miss being able to watch Farscape the first time.
Kid will survive, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be traumatized. Still, I’m glad the guy at least had the foresight not to stick a real bullet in there… why he thought firing a gun was the best way to get attention, though, is beyond me. If someone fires a gun in my near vicinity I’m not suddenly going to go “ohhh, it’s time to pay attention to the pastor” Nah. Imma be running for the hills before I even know my legs are moving
The guy at least had the foresight not to stick a real bullet in there
The next one might not because America’s gun laws – especially in Texas – are based on voluntarily following good practises.
Whenever something like this happens, pro-gun people flock to the comments to pat themselves on the back by telling everyone that they would never do that with a gun because they have trigger discipline and they treat guns with respect.
But so what? They might never drive drunk but that doesn’t mean we can abolish DUI laws.
What laws did this guy break and what is his punishment? Was it illegal to make his own sketchy blanks? Was it illegal to injure an innocent person with a firearm? Was it illegal to have a firearm at a wedding or to brandish it? Is he going to be prevented from owning firearms in the future now that he has proven to be a dumb fuck?
And most importantly, what is the pro-gun community going to do to prevent things like this happening again?
But we know the answer. He probably broke zero laws and will still be able to own all the guns he wants and take them to all the weddings he wants. His punishment will be minor or non-existent. The pro-gun community will do absolutely nothing to address the shortcomings of their laws, they’ll just tut about it on the internet.
Republicans value $16 million a year and a voting bloc that will tolerate anything over people’s lives. The gun lobby values profits over people’s lives.
But the pro-gun community sells people out for convenience.
Tell me you’re from Texas without actually telling me you’re from Texas
That’s not fair to every other state that fought for slavery.
It is no accident if a person carries a gun with no real reason to do so.
Yes, but it was loaded with self made blanks. He probably messed up the blanks and it shot some shrapnel.
Even then this is not acceptable. And wasn’t there the rule that you never point a firearm at people you don’t intend to shoot, even when the weapon is not loaded?
Why do Americans blatantly ignore the reasons that repeatedly (daily!) show that not every yokel should have access to firearms in the first place?
Even a properly made blank can cause serious injury.
In his defense he was at a wedding. You never know what kind of threatening wild animal will show up.
Ok, wait, we know his reason. He wanted to use it as a cool looking noise maker.
I go to a wedding and I take with me…
A gun!
Only in America!
Aren’t there countries where multiple people fire AK47s in the air after a wedding?
Right, there are. None of those countries merit emulation. On the contrary, they’re blueprints for what not to do, so…
Yeah, and those folks aren’t firing blanks.
Yes and that makes it better somehow?
Not better, no. Makes your statement of “only in america” feel more emotional than factual.
It was a comparison among peers, other developed first world countries. While the comment was factually correct, it was not useful.
Deputies learned that 62-year-old Michael Gardner, the wedding’s officiant, fired a gun to get everyone’s attention.
When did he think it was a good idea? When?
Because second amendment.
Why hasn’t anyone argued that guns like this are not arms, but decorations and props which don’t deserve amendment protection?
Because the second amendment is the excuse not the reason.
If there is anyone here who has cause to think that I should not have a gun, speak now or forever…BANG…oh shit, sorry kid!
This country is overloaded with people that are just bat shit crazy. 
He just had to take out the Holy Handgun.
Had the child been armed, this tragedy would have never occurred. 'Murica!
There’s something very wrong with this story. Yes, a Texas pastor shot a child during a wedding, but why was it being held on a Saturday? Are we just going to accept weddings to be held on any day, wily nilly, instead of on a proper Sunday?
I propose that Texas mandate proper wedding laws, including mandatory background checks and waiting periods, so that these children shot at weddings will only be shot on Sunday, the way god intended.
Wtf goes to a wedding on a Sunday? How are you supposed to party late into the night if you have to work the next day?
That said, I agree that we should regulate how and when Texans are allowed to shoot their children.
Lincoln is a bullet magnet
“buh guns not the the problem!1!”
They truly aren’t, this is straight up lack of brain cells that’s the issue here
Picture if he didn’t have a gun how this situation would have went.
Someone who makes their own blank and whips it out at a wedding near a child simply to get folks attention is so fucking dumb he’d find a way to hurt himself with his dinner fork
The issue isn’t the tool, it’s the retard wielding it
Do you think he would have killed a child accidentally with a dinner fork?
The child didn’t die in this case, but yeah I think someone this dumb could easily have some similar damage with something more innocuous
That’s not really the point though…. Guy like this should never have passed certification process to get a gun if we had proper controls in place. Something that I always argue for but because I’m arguing for good testing and controls and limits rather than outright banning and forcible confiscation all the privileged folks that have never had to defend their families come out of the woodwork to shit in my face, every time
If you keep getting shit on, maybe stop acting like a toilet. Idk man every other country in the world figured it out, the US isn’t as special as you’re all taught it is. I’m all about sensible gun controls as well.
So we need to decide who gets guns then, right? Some kind of control?
You’d think the “don’t ban guns” people would be all for registration and background checks. After all, guns aren’t the problem, people are.
I’m all for background checks, even mandatory safety classes, it’s the random banning of features that gets me. Banning firearms because they have a pistol grip or more than 10 round magazines makes no sense. The problem is most people who think like this get lumped in with the crazies.
If they actually out-and-out banned anything, I’m sure it was for monetary reasons, not for health and safety. But idk, it seems like a small price to pay, you still get to feel like John Wayne whenever you want. Sorry you can’t really fuck up that paper target like you want, but don’t worry, it’s dead.
The second amendment wasn’t made for plinking, hunting, or home defense. It was made to allow the common citizen to defend their rights by force against the government. In which case you should have every feature you can afford available to you.
No. It wasn’t. I’ve seen you say this more than once in this thread. The right to bear arms was intended to defend the US against a foreign military, as the founding fathers did not want a standing army. Obviously that was retarded, but they were a bunch of rich slave owning assholes, so maybe you need a new set of guiding principles.
Yeah 100% if you want to own a class of gun (say a revolver) you should have to take a class on that specific type of gun and pass a written and practical test, and renew this regularly. Want a different type of gun? Better go take that class and pass that test.
Rabid anti gun folks are just as bad as the rabid pro gun folks, but the regular ass folks in the middle all seem to agree that strong controls on who can purchase the dangerous tool is the most reasonable solution
But this is lemmy, basically Reddit but more intense. I fully expect the folks here to be rabid anti gun without any rationale arguments for that stance
Your comment seems needlessly inflammatory, almost aggressive. I did not vote on it at all, but I would not be surprised if the downvotes you received were mostly because of that and not due to disagreement with your points.
Yeah my bad. I’m tired of every single time a fun in mentioned seeing “just get rid of all of them it’s so easy” then when I reply with reasonable solutions, get shit on. Just tired of it. Shouldn’t have bothered to comment on this thread in the first place
Copy pasted for like the 6th time now:
Yeah 100% if you want to own a class of gun (say a revolver) you should have to take a class on that specific type of gun and pass a written and practical test, and renew this regularly. Want a different type of gun? Better go take that class and pass that test.
Rabid anti gun folks are just as bad as the rabid pro gun folks, but the regular ass folks in the middle all seem to agree that strong controls on who can purchase the dangerous tool is the most reasonable solution
But this is lemmy, basically Reddit but more intense. I fully expect the folks here to be rabid anti gun without any rationale arguments for that stance
You are a walking strawman factory 🤣
Cool. I don’t care. I just want to keep my family safe. If that offends you I couldn’t give a fuck less
The problem is that an idiot with no brain cells was allowed to have a gun.
The problem is that gun companies have convinced half the population of a country that owning a gun is a “God given right” which is a fucking weird concept to begin with lol.
It must’ve been an American themed wedding.
Specifically, Texas. It’s basically America x 1,000 and dumber.
