Last week, Dowagiac police responded to perhaps one of the strangest calls they’ve received in a while.

Officers were dispatched to Benny’s Barbershop on Front Street last Tuesday, after a customer inside the store had accidently fired off a handgun he was showing to another occupant inside the establishment.

The bullet ended up going throw the wall into neighboring Saylor’s Pizza, bouncing off a garbage can and hitting a teenage employee in the ankle. Thankfully, the projectile had lost enough momentum while careening like a pinball around the two businesses that it had no effect on the 15-year-old victim.

In hindsight, the incident sounds like a parody of news story you would read in a comedy publication like the Onion.

If circumstances were a little different, though, someone could have gotten seriously hurt.

This incident, as described by Director of Public Safety Steve Grinnewald, serves as important reminder that, no matter the circumstance, firearms are always dangerous and should be given the utmost care when being handled. Police say that the gun owner in this incident was trying to unload his weapon when it was accidently discharged, which goes to show that a gun can go off even when you’re not intending to shoot.

We don’t doubt that the owner, like many residents in Cass County, is a responsible gun owner. But even someone with years of experience with a firearm must still always keep in mind the fundamentals of gun safety. According to the National Rifle Association, those three basic rules are:

• 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.

The consequences for failing to follow these and other precautions can be quite high.

Gun owners in Michigan can be charged with reckless discharge of a firearm in the event they accidently fire off a gun and cause injury or damage to property, a charge that carries with it an up to two year prison sentence. Even gun owners just pulling the trigger of a gun without following safety precautions can be charged with a misdemeanor charge of reckless, wanton use or negligent discharge of firearm.

More importantly, a misfired bullet can cause severe injury or even kill anyone caught in the line of fire.

We hope this incident serves as an example of why law-abiding gun owners should always follow every recommended safety precaution to the tee. We ask that people always recognize and respect the life altering power that firearms possess whenever they grasp one in their hands.

 

Opinions expressed are those of the editorial board consisting of Publisher Michael Caldwell and editors Ambrosia Neldon, Craig Haupert, Ted Yoakum and Scott Novak.