A Texas man accidentally shot a child while officiating a wedding in Lancaster County on Saturday, the sheriff’s office says.

Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said deputies were sent to a wedding at Hillside Events near Denton on a report of a gunshot wound.

Deputies learned that 62-year-old Michael Gardner, the wedding’s officiant, fired a gun to get everyone’s attention.

“He was going to fire in the air, and as he did that, it slipped and went off,” Houchin said.

The gun was loaded with a blank that Gardner made with gunpowder and glue.

      • Nudding@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The problem is that gun companies have convinced half the population of a country that owning a gun is a “God given right” which is a fucking weird concept to begin with lol.

    • DTFpanda@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Americans have an estimated 120 guns per 100 citizens, almost double that of the country with the second highest amount of firearms per capita.

      Tell me again how that isn’t a problem.

        • PRUSSIA_x86@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Exactly, we should treating guns like cars. They should require revocable licenses, registration, training, and significant financial investment.

          • tburkhol@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Not to mention liability insurance. Your gun harms/kills someone? You’ve got insurance to pay for it. Your gun stolen and used to harm someone? Prove it was securely stored or it goes on your insurance.

        • Kalash@feddit.ch
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          1 year ago

          Tell me again how cars aren’t the problem.

          You do realise cars actually require a license to operate? You literally already have “car control”.

          So what exactly is your agrument again?

        • N4CHEM@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          No, no, you’re right there. Cars are a problem too. But that’s a different topic, we’re talking guns now.

            • N4CHEM@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              Who talked about banning cars? Don’t put words in my mouth and don’t be so rude.

              Cars are a source of different problems: pollution, traffic congestion, lack of space in cities due to parking needs… and accidents too, yes. All of these issues can be solved with his public transport, and 95% car rides can be replaced by public transport (unless I’m transporting the furniture I just bought back to my house).

              There’s no need to go live in a padded cell (although if you wish to, be my guest), just stop whining online and look for solutions instead.

        • hperrin@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Ok, let’s treat guns like cars and require a training period and license to use one.

          Though I would probably treat it more like a forklift, because a gun is a lot more immediately dangerous if you make a mistake than a car, like a forklift. With a car, you usually have to be doing something wrong for a while before you’ll kill anyone. With a gun you just accidentally pull the trigger when it’s pointed at someone and you probably just ended a life.

        • DTFpanda@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Nice red herring. What does this have to do with the fact that there are TWICE as many guns per person in America than the next highest country? Doesn’t that tell you that maybe we have influenced too much gun culture in our society and made it too easy for people to obtain without proper vetting and safety regulations?

            • DTFpanda@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              I fully expect the folks here to be rabid anti gun without any rationale arguments for that stance

              Maybe don’t start off your argument with calling someone an asshat then 🤷‍♂️

              I’m not anti gun, btw. I own a shotgun and know how to use it. My state recently passed a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons that I voted in favor of. But go ahead and keep insulting those who disagree with you and assuming they’re ‘rabid anti gun.’

              Americans have all sorts of mental health issues that are completely undiagnosed and many of them are dealing with their unchecked emotions by waltzing into a Sportsman’s Warehouse and back out with a cart of weapons after signing some waivers and shooting up places with large gatherings of people.

              I don’t even understand how people argue against this shit. It’s been happening for far too long, getting much worse, and America is basically alone on top of this shit mountain we’ve built for ourselves.

            • breadsmasher@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              armed meth heads

              Huh … because of guns? You need guns because other people have guns?

              So if there were no guns … you wouldn’t need a gun?

              As someone from a country with sane gun control. Not once in my entire life have I wished to have a gun to defend myself with against other people.

              I don’t even live in a “good” area. But because guns aren’t exactly legal, there are very few guns around at all.

              This is an entirely workable solution as almost every other western country has demonstrated. America is just obsessed with owning (to use your words) “tools” to murder each other with.

              You know what happens when guns are actually restricted? They become difficult to get for everyone. Going by the logic “banning guns means only criminals have guns”, do you ever wonder why other countries don’t have a huge crimimal-gun-problem? Because its a myth perpetuated by gun nuts.

              The average person in modern society should have no reason to own a gun.

              America is just psychotic

      • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Most people that are pro gun aren’t against stricter gun control measures, the problem is we don’t live in society where we can tell who will do something dumb in the future. Blanket bans don’t help anyone.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          No, it would be useless to ban blankets, everyone would be cold 🤓

          But restrictions on carrying would make a lot more sense. They should not be carrying a weapon in a crowded area

          • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I agree, dumb fucks shouldn’t be allowed to walk around with guns and do whatever they want. Anytime I see a post of some idiot walking around town with an AR-15 on his back I want to punch them in the face.

      • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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        1 year ago

        I would rather cage stupid people than implement stricter gun control to be honest. I think that would go a hell of a lot farther in improving society.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          The problem is that caging stupidity doesn’t prevent harm. What about the toddler who got shot? It would be far better to try to prevent the situation from happening in the first place

          • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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            1 year ago

            Maybe I need to be more clear. These people would be caged preemptively upon being identified as a moron, not just after they do something stupid with a gun. This idiot would have been in the cage instead of out shooting toddlers.