An East Palo Alto man apparently shot himself in the head while intoxicated on New Year’s Eve, a police sergeant said.
East Palo Alto police responded to a report of a shooting in the 900 block of Bay Road at 9:07 p.m., Sgt. Jeff Liu said.
Officers found the 26-year-old man with a severe gunshot wound to his head and rendered immediate aid, Liu said.
He was then transported for additional treatment, he said.
Investigators learned man had consumed alcohol while handling the loaded firearm, Liu said.
The shooting appears to have been accidental, police said.
An update on the man’s condition was not immediately available.
Anyone with any information on this incident is asked to call the East Palo Alto Police Department at 650-321-1112 or anonymously to 650-409-6792. Anonymous emails can be sent to epa@tipnow.org.
Can’t help awarding this guy a Darwin prize.
But on a more serious note, we have to see the flaws in gun ownership with stories like this. How many innocent people are going to be killed or injured because of supposed legally owned guns?
I really cannot think that there is a such a thing as responsible gun ownership. Guns are designed to maim and usually do and often to some innocent family member. Remember Oscar Pistorius!
Perhaps this was the idiot shooting up in the air.
“I really cannot think that there is a such a thing as responsible gun ownership.”
Are you serious? Really? So of the millions and millions of gun owners, you think that every one is an irresponsible gun owner?
But I guess even if I showed how stupid a statement that is you still would not be convinced.
So why bother.
There was a lot more than one idiot shooting up in the air
Responsible gun ownership:
1) It should be illegal to purchase a firearm until you have completed a gun safety class similar to the NRA hunter safety course. We have driving classes, and young drivers are required to take them, right? This would be a good filter on gun ownership, and it makes sense to me.
2) It should be illegal to purchase a firearm for someone who has not taken that safety class.
3) It should become illegal to own a gun if you have not taken that class.
The class sound cover simple things that some people just don’t seem to get, like keeping loaded and unprotected firearms away from children, not playing with them like toys, avoiding handling firearms while intoxicated, not shooting yourself in the head, stuff like that. I am fine with gun ownership by people who treat them with respect, and I feel a simple class on ownership would be at least a minimal filter. I agree it would not completely solve the problem, but it might save a few lives.
It does strike me that the people who suffer the most from irresponsible ownership are the irresponsible owners themselves.
JustMe, all three do NOT apply to criminals. They don’t care about gun rules. They don’t care about registration of guns, they don’t care about gun safety and training. All they’re interested in is having a gun to commit a crime. Why don’t we simply eliminate the criminals? This guy who shot himself, he lives in EAST P.A. Does that give you a clue?
Please excuse me, but I was not trying to address the issue of guns in the hands of criminals. That is a separate issue. I was talking about trying to keep guns out of the hands of people who don’t know any better than to shoot themselves or their loved ones while playing with their toys, or at least to educate them to try to prevent such tragedies.
I did not think this thread had anything to do with criminals possessing guns, was I wrong?
Why does every single gun-related story have to degenerate into one of these argumentative bicker matches?
This is what happens when fools get ahold of guns … so maybe we can all just be thankful that he shot himself and not some role model honor student who happened to be walking through the neighborhood minding their own business.
This is not really about criminals or responsible gun owners and there is nothing to say about either group based on this idiots sad unfortunate mistake.