Accidental discharge brings reminders about gun safety
Oct. 1—Incidents like the one where a gun was accidentally discharged in the restroom of St. Joseph's Buffalo Wild Wings last weekend, spread negative connotations about those who carry firearms, officials and gun store owners say.
Nicholas Williams, general manager at Brother's Arms, said such situations, in particular, make community members think that gun owners are irresponsible.
"It's kind of one of those 'one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch' kind of things. Negligent discharges happen every single day," Williams said. "You as a responsible gun owner have to take that training and that first step in expanding your knowledge in order to carry responsibly. Obviously, this was an incident in which case this person was not carrying responsibly."
Tiger Parsons, an administrative captain with the Buchanan County Sheriff's Department, said negligent discharges happen when people aren't paying attention to the severity of owning a firearm.
"If you're handling a gun, you have to understand the liability that you carry with that weapon," Parsons said. "There's four basic rules that every firearms instructor teaches. And each one of those rules, if followed, will never result in a negligent discharge."
Officials say there are four rules when it comes to handling a firearm. Number one, keep your finger off the trigger unless you're ready to shoot. Two, treat every gun as if it was loaded. Number three, always keep your gun pointed in a safe direction. And four, always be aware of your target and what's around.
James Wymore, store manager at Bullseye Trading, wants community members to know they're doing everything they can to stress how important firearm safety is.
"People hear things like that and they think people that have guns are totally irresponsible. For the most part, they are very responsible people," Wymore said. "Most of the people that come out here are very safety conscious. They obey all the rules.
"We stress safety out here as well. It's our number one priority out here," he said. "The responsibilities of owning a firearm are really, really important, too, for the safety of your fellow man and everything else."
And as laws and situations keep changing, Williams encourages everyone to stay on top of their firearm training.
"Technology is ever-changing. Laws are ever-changing, and our situation is ever-changing," Williams said. "Every single day, every time we step outside of our front door, that situation is different and we need to be ready for that. At the same time, all of our laws are constantly changing. Missouri laws are constantly updating on firearms, and we need to be aware of that as responsible gun owners too."
Parsons said that if people follow the rules of gun safety and stay aware of situations, negligent discharges won't take place as often.
"You would think that everybody would be very, very cognizant of the potential liability of a discharge. So keeping that in mind and following your safety rules will keep you from having that issue," Parsons said.
The suspect in the Buffalo Wild Wings incident, Timothy Dutro, was charged last week with unlawful use of a weapon while intoxicated.
