Gun lovers have a habit of seizing on the rare instances where having a gun does actually protect you (as opposed to it being used against you or going off from mishandling) that I was going to compile my own list to balance things out, but since Gawker already did it, I might as well point you to their "Gun Appreciation Day" casualties:
Yesterday was deemed a day to appreciate your guns in America, and boy did we. Five people were shot at gun shows in North Carolina, Ohio and Indiana. These were not, however, the only instances of gun violence yesterday.
As happens everyday, numerous people were either injured or killed by guns on "Gun Appreciation Day," be it on purpose or accidentally. Spanning Alaska to Florida, here are those people:
- A 14-year-old suburban Atlanta boy shot and killed his 15-year-old brother while playing with their mother's handgun.
- A 26 year old was shot and killed while driving in San Francisco.
- A man was found dead from a gunshot wound in his home in Kansas City, Kansas.
- A woman in an El Paso County,
TexasCO shooting range was hit in the knee by a bullet that ricocheted off a trash can.- Two women were shot to death in a Dallas-area home.
- Two women were injured after someone opened fire at a crowded soccer field in Las Vegas.
- A 15-year-old girl was shot while sleeping in her bed when her Anchorage home was shot at.
- A 7-year-old boy in Tallahassee shot a 5 year old with a gun he found in a 22-year-old relative's room.
- A Huntsville woman shot her boyfriend after the two had an argument.
- A 23-year-old man died after being accidentally shot in a Greshman, Oregon home.
- A Cleveland father has been charged in connection with the death of his 6-year-old daughter from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
- One man was shot in Elyria, Ohio, just west of Cleveland, early Saturday morning.
- A man was found shot dead in a parking lot in Greenville County, South Carolina.
- Two people were shot and killed outside an inn in Hampton, Virginia.
- At least 10 people were shot in Chicago, at least two were fatal.
- A Colorado Springs man was driven to the hospital with a gunshot wound.
- A Jackson, Mississippi police officer was shot while responding to a disturbance call.
- One man was shot at a Martin Luther King Jr. parade in Jackson.
- Two men and one woman were shot at a home in Oakland.
- An 11-year-old boy was shot in an Oklahoma City apartment complex.
- Police in Richmond, Virginia are looking for three men who shot another man in his thirties.
- Police believe gang violence is to blame for the shooting death of one man in Santa Ana, California.
- An early morning shooting in Tuscaloosa injured two teenagers.
Oh, and here's another one: Father shoots wife and then himself at daughter's 16th birthday party.
So remember, kids: Guns don't always keep you safe. Sometimes they're the very things that hurt you!