I’m a gun control advocate. I firmly believe-based on the evidence-that the United States has a significant problem with gun violence (deaths by guns, injuries by guns, the threat of violence by gun toting fools, suicides). Loopholes need to be closed (people can buy guns through family members or online without a background check), military grade weaponry needs to be kept out of the hands of civilians (it’s hard enough to argue that anyone needs a handgun, let alone an AR-15), and psychological test need to be performed prior to gun ownership. There seem to be cases almost every day where some asshole got mad and drew his gun (and they’re so often MEN), to threaten others, or to shoot them. It’s happened again:
A Minnesota man who admitted shooting a 17-year-old girl multiple times because she asked him to stop trespassing on his riding lawnmower has been charged with attempted first-degree murder.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by The Associated Press, 40-year-old Chad Pickering shot the 17-year-old girl in the chest, right thigh and left ankle while she was standing on the deck of her Bemidji home on Monday night.
“The victim herself was able to describe what had happened and talk to us and tell us that she’d simply been shot when she stepped out of her house to check on her dogs,” Sheriff Phil Hodapp explained to WCCO.
The teen told investigators that she had asked Pickering not to ride his lawnmower through her yard. She also said that he often carried a pistol with him on the lawnmower.
The man was mowing his lawn. There is no need to carry a gun with you while mowing your lawn. The constant state of fear many people live in in this country is maddening. Yes, gun violence is a problem, but violent crime has been dropping in the US. People see danger over their shoulders to such a degree that they think the only way to protect themselves is with a gun (despite the fact that owning a gun may put you at greater risk of firearm related homicide in their home). What reason-what logical reason-did that man have for keeping a gun on him while riding his lawnmower? What reason did he have to shoot someone who posed NO danger to him? Why didn’t he check his frustration and anger before drawing his weapon? I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I do know that if that man hadn’t had that gun, that 17 year old would not have been shot. People often talk about “responsible gun owners”, but unfortunately, we don’t have any way of knowing who is responsible until they use their gun. Chad Pickering demonstrated that he is not a responsible gun owner. Perhaps a psychological screening could have determined that and kept him from owning a gun to begin with.
