This is a tragic story of the death of a 22 year old mother of two by their father due to negligent discharge. It happened in my state; in fact, I lived one town north of there in 2014. He should have known how to clear a weapon, and even more, that every gun is always loaded (at least you treat it as such) and you never point a gun at anything or anyone that you do not wish to destroy.
Jesus Christ...I wouldn't be able to live with myself. That's just absolutely crazy. ALWAYS remove the mag first, always always. I've gone to clear a handgun before and have the round not actually strip out of the chamber (would have been a FTE if I were shooting it) so I always rack the slide a few times then physically inspect the chamber to confirm clear. I've also slowly pulled the slide before and had the round get kicked off the extractor just to have it fall right back into the chamber. Doesn't matter if I just put the gun down 10 minutes ago. If I'm picking it up again it's getting safety checked. I've seen a lot of guys get **** on Youtube for excessive chamber checking while doing review videos. That type of attitude in the gun world shouldn't be tolerated. You can't bring someone back after a stupid, senseless accident. Safety should never be discouraged.
When I took my NRA Instructor classes the Counselor said "when it comes to safety you don't have the right to remain silent" That has always stayed with me to this day.
Last year, not far from me just over the Alabama line a guy was supposedly cleaning his pistol when it fired, injuring his wife and killing his kid. Last I heard there was talk of blaming the manufacturer because there had been a recall on a lot of their models. I hope they reconsidered. Obviously, if he had been following the most basic rules it wouldn't have happened. Stupid happens, you just hate to hear when it claims an innocent life.
