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.
The child should’ve also carried a gun to protect themselves from bad wedding officiants.
The only thing that stops a bad pastor with a gun is a good toddler with a gun.
Child molesters hate you right now
catholic church wants to know your location
God knows where you live.
thoughts and prayers
Tots and pears? I think it fits better
i prefer thots and spares
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
What are you some kind of city boy that buys his blanks at the store?
I pull my own blanks hot. Can’t get them like that in no store.
We still talking about boolits?
A homemade cartridge with a conventional bullet replaced with a glue projectile.
Blanks can kill, ask Brandon Lee.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Lee#Death
In a film shoot prior to the fatal scene, the gun that was used as a prop (a real revolver) was loaded with improperly made dummy rounds, improvised from live cartridges that had the powder charges removed by the special effects crew, so in close-ups the revolver would show normal-looking ammunition. However, the crew neglected to remove the primers from the cartridges, and at some point before the fatal event, one of the rounds had been fired. Although there were no powder charges, the energy from the ignited primer was enough to separate the bullet from the casing and push it part-way into the gun barrel, where it got stuck—a dangerous condition known as a squib load.
During the fatal scene, which called for the revolver to be fired at Lee from a distance of 3.6–4.5 meters (12–15 ft), the dummy cartridges were replaced with blank rounds, which contained a powder charge and the primer, but no solid bullet, allowing the gun to be fired with sound and flash effects without the risk of an actual projectile. However, the gun was not properly checked and cleared before the blank was fired, and the dummy bullet previously lodged in the barrel was then propelled forward by the blank’s propellant and shot out the muzzle with almost the same force as if the round were live, striking Lee in the abdomen.[101][102]
So two blanks, one with no powder and the other with no bullet, effectively formed one round of live ammunition. What a truly wild story.
He wasn’t really killed with a blank.
Right, he was killed by two, like they just quoted.
And also “not pointing a gun toward a crowd” discipline.
It says they meant to point it upward and it slipped but “not drawing a gun in a crowd” would have been better.
“Not having a gun in a crowd” would have been better.
It “slipped”?! How about not firing guns if your hands are not dexterous enough to point it correctly. Pretty much any time you fire a gun there is going to be a direction it could “slip” to that will kill someone.
Back to the lack of trigger discipline
Gun safety rules.
- ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction;
- ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot
- ALWAYS keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.
Every gun is considered loaded until proven otherwise. Every pull of the trigger will cost $10,000, as lawyers become involved, per NRA literature. Hearing damage by firing close to people is another risk.
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.
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.
Which is why the rest of the world thinks it’s fucking insane how lax gun laws are in the US.
And the rest of the world is right.
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…
Banjo music starts playing
Banjo player is shot accidentally
Or was he?
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.
I live in Texas which is now permitless carry.
I still have a license to carry because I fucking should have one.
Permitless carry… That is just beyond batshit…
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
Blanks are not 100% safe either. A blank is what killed Brandon Lee on the set of the Crow back in the 90s.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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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?
who the fuck has guns at their wedding?
Texas.
but this wasn’t in texas
A Texas man accidentally shot a child while officiating a wedding in Lancaster County on Saturday, the sheriff’s office says.
No, the commentor above you is correct. This was a Texas man officiating a wedding in Nebraska (happens to be local news to me).
Therefore, Texas. I didn’t say it was IN Texas, I insinuated that it was because Texas.
Who the fuck uses a gun to get someone’s attention?
Track and field race officials.
But they use special starter pistols.
I heard it was Karl Marx’s sister, Anya, who invented the starter pistol.
I’d wager he saw it in a movie and prepared a special blank, waiting for exactly the right moment to get their attention.
I would say Texans, but idiots is more apt.
The pregnant bride’s dad?
You ever heard of a shotgun wedding?
lol
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?
Fucking backward degenerates.
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.
fired a gun to get everyone’s attention.
He f-ing what? Even if he didn’t shot the child, this man belongs behind bar for sheer stupidity.
Reason No. 4020 for “American people in general should not have access to firearms”.
Willing to bet there is at least one actual law that provides whipping out a gun and firing it, even in Texas.
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Yeah, but…. Texas.
Makes me think of that scene from the Office when Dwight randomly fires a gun in the air at the start of the rabies awareness race. First time I saw that, I thought, “they sure do know how to exaggerate American culture” but alas, here we are.
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. 
Wow, what an idiot, that man should not be allowed to have guns. Properly made blanks aren’t even expensive and guns don’t “just go off” unless there is something seriously wrong with them, in which case, they should be taken out of use immediately and serviced or destroyed.
in this case, the ‘something seriously wrong’ was with the person wielding it; but your remedy still works regardless.
Could be both, but yeah, you’re not wrong.
That makes him the faulty mechanism which should be serviced for sure.
