Thread: Man who shot teen dead in hunting accident 22 years ago loses firearms licence bid

Originally Posted by Solo

I think a problem a lot of us are having here is that we can't really imagine ourselves accidentally shooting someone. We look at the level of negligence required, and we are certain that we couldn't make that number of consecutive mistakes. I know this is how I feel, and I hope I never have to re-examine that mindset. I fully accept that I am fallible, and I've certainly made mistakes due to negligence in other areas of my life. But I treat firearms safety with such reverence that it just doesn't seem possible.

In light of all that, I absolutely believe in rehabilitation, and that we shouldn't repeatedly punish someone for the same offence, but I'm sure the people who have these incidents didn't see themselves as irresponsible at the time, so I'd be wary to trust their own judgement of their safety again.

@Solo

In deed, safety begins when we admit we are unsafe and fallible. Problem within that problem is that we treat hunters who do such things as criminals, and since WE are not criminals ourselves it leads to a very unhelpful disconnect. Some like Wayne Edgerton have been so certain of their immunity to error that they were prepared to throw fellow hunters under a bus. And we know what he ended up doing himself. Labeling those who make mistakes as bad eggs contributes nothing to safety, rather the opposite.

It would have been great to see Mr Edgerton in court supporting Mr Diack's reapplication. Now that would have been real gun safety promotion.