The following story (courtesy of thesheridanpress.com) interested me for several reasons:

1) Loaded rifle on rear seat with safety off.
2) Loaded rifle on rear seat with safety off.
3) Loaded rifle on rear seat with safety off.

The fact that the dog was able to discharge the rifle indicates it was not only loaded, but in "fire ready" condition. Also, a 300 Win Mag round discharged at close range? The genius who owned the dog and rifle should find religion and thank the heavens he may only lose his arm and not his entire abdominal cavity.

BTW ... My favorite quote:

"Kozisek said an examination of evidence and of witness statements support claims that the shooting was accidental."

Thank goodness the dog has been cleared of deliberately shooting his owner.

Dog shoots man: Accidental shooting injures man - The Sheridan Press

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I'm with the banned ...

That poor dog must be severly traumatized and probably deaf too. No sympathy for his idiot human.

local farmer was killed this way about 30 years ago,was out checking his cows and calves,had his shotgun on front seat locked and loaded,dog jumped in passenger side window landed on shotgun,and you can guess the rest,very sad day

"Accidental Shooting"... as opposed to the dog shooting the gun on purpose?

Allowing a dog to be jumping around on a gun is asking for trouble, safety engaged or not. I don't know about this particular gun, but a lot of the button and lever safeties on my guns could be disengaged by a dog paw. That a dog could disengage a safety and then engage the trigger isn't that much of a stretch if it's moving around a gun in a tight area of a back seat.

How terrible! My heart goes out to the man who was injured. Hopefully it will be possible to save his arm.

I've never shot or been shot by anyone. But, I have been sprayed with pellets while out dove hunting. Apparently someone went after a low flying bird. It could have been worse. I know a pastor who was out quail hunting with some church members. The pastor made a misstep and fell. His shotgun discharged killing one of the church members.

As long as there are people there will be accidents. That is just the way it is. Given that hindsight is always 20:15, it is just about always possible to look and see what could/should have been done, what we most certainly would have done to avoid whatever it is that went wrong. JMHO. Sincerely. brucev.

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I don't think hindsight is really necessary here. Any of us could have seen that was an accident waiting to happen from a mile away. Some people live to be adults, in spite of themselves.

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Been up since before breakfast

A coworker came in to work one morning with duct tape wrapped a round the toe of his right boot, along with a limp. When we asked what happened he said the GD dog shot him as he was carrying his 22 revolver. Somehow according to him the dog got its foot hung in the gun as he was walking to the house and the dog was jumping on him. I think it was more like he drank a little to much. He did say that he killed the dog with his .357 after he bandaged up his foot. Just another crazy hillbilly that I work with.

Bruce ... I agree with your contention that accidents are unavoidable, but I think many accidents become accidents due to reasons from negligence to stupidity. This particular news story interested me not just for its weirdness, but also for its potential to have been something else. What if the dog had been a young child, and the firearm went off as the child jumped in the back seat. I think news reports and public sentiment would be considerably harsher than with the actual circumstances, and would condemn the truck/gun owner as a fool for leaving a loaded firearm in the vicinity of a child. Heaven forbid if the child had been shot rather than the adult in such a scenario.

Accidents will happen. Thoughtfulness and common sense can go a long way in terms of mitigating the outcomes of such occurrences.

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I'm with the banned ...

An empty firearm is useless.

No, I'm not encouraging anyone to ride with a round chambered in your unsecured deer/bear rifle, but without ammunition any firearm is little more than a bat or stone. No you can't be too careful, but condemning someone for a loaded firearm doesn't float with me.

An unsecured firearm out of the owners control? Yes. Regardless of the safety's position, having it openly on the seat with a chambered round? Yes.

I don't trust any mechanical safety. Relying on a mechanical safety is a at best a false sense of security. Depending on type my rifles travel with the bolt lifted or completely open.

Responsible handling and safety lies completely in the human in charge of the firearm. Safety is no accident.

I'm OCD about firearm safety, and as careful as I am I know feces can and does happen.

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GOA
USA Shooting Supporter

I see your point, IF you are talking about a handgun being carried for protection, where it may be needed at a moments notice. But, your argument doesn't fly when we're talking about a .300 Magnum. If he's on his way to a hunting area, it only takes a minute to load before you're on your way. If he's driving around hoping to see something and quickly jump out (or shoot out the window?) and start shooting at it, that's illegal everywhere I've ever lived. I'm not saying we should all start hunting with "a bat or stone", but good grief. Get there first, THEN load up and head out.

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Been up since before breakfast

It's safe to carry a handgun loaded but not safe to carry a long gun loaded? Doesn't make sense! A long gun can also be carried for protection.It was posted in another thread a few days ago that when there is a gun accident people want to hang the gun owner but any other kind of accident is just an accident and bad things happen. When people have a gun accident the answer is to take their gun and never let them own another one. If that is the answer let's take peoples cars when they have an accident and never let them drive again. The roads will be less crowded and much safer. Drown in a boating accident? Cut yourself with a butcher knife? A skiing accident? Let's make the world completely safe. Larry

A loaded rifle would be much safer in a truck gun rack than lying on the back seat. The fact that a dog could get the rifle to discharge is all the evidence one needs that the loaded rifle was NOT secured properly, and thus the owner is at fault for being careless.

No one is suggesting the gun owner should have his firearms taken ... that's your own knee jerk reaction to this incident. The gentleman has enough worries about losing a limb due to his lack of common sense.

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I'm with the banned ...

I'm not sure how much hindsight is the issue.

I think most folks with IQs above room temperature know when something is less than a great idea. Unfortunately, some do it anyway.

Who here needs a degree from the College of Dog & Gun Safety to know that loose loaded guns laying around on the seats in a vehicle (bad idea #1) along with a dog jumping around with loose loaded guns in a vehicle (bad idea #2) doesn't rank high on the safety meter?

A gun is an inanimate object that will not do anything by itself. That accident shows that the dog should have been secured properly. What if the dog would jump on the driver and distract him and cause an accident? We always stored the dogs in the trunk or the back of the truck. Larry

edit: If I didn't have jerky knees and jump to conclusions I wouldn't get any exercise at all. Larry

He blamed his dog. Friggin' brilliant. I'd steer clear of that guy if I were you. He'll probably shoot you the next time his truck don't start.

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Even older, even crankier....

Blaming my mistakes on the dog... no way. I got a wife for that.

Sad story and these things happen. Years ago a man was killed here when his dog jumped on his shotgun in a duck boat while hunting. Probably the safety was off in this incident too.

I think that dog didn't like him! You can tell something's up - they're arguing over jurisdiction. Calls for a special prosecutor.

Just kidding. That is too bad. Too many common sense rules violated there.

With the Remington 700 recall this could be another example of how easily the safety is moved on this gun.

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Front sight and squeeze