Soccer Dad

Guns and politics

Jack Reid's gun went off in the capital

Del. John S. "Jack" Reid had gone through this morning routine dozens of times. He'd reach into his pocket, pull out his small semiautomatic .380 handgun, release the clip and store the weapon safely in the desk drawer of his office on the seventh floor of the Virginia General Assembly Building.

But something went wrong Thursday. Reid's pistol, which he said he carries for protection, fired as he popped the clip from the handle, sending a single bullet into the cushion of a bulletproof vest that was hanging from the back of his closed office door.

No one was injured, although Reid said he suffered a cut on his hand from the friction of the gun's slide snapping back.

VP Dick Cheney accidentally shot a fellow hunter

Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas, spraying the fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets.

Harry Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was "alert and doing fine" in a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday after he was shot by Cheney on a ranch in south Texas, said Katharine Armstrong, the property's owner.

He was in stable condition Sunday, said Yvonne Wheeler, spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi.

No doubt these two incidents will cause a lot criticism and bring further discussion of further regulating guns. However, that these incidents would inspire such a response shows how far our society has come in its view of guns.

A two time major party nominee inadevertantly shot and killed someone in his youth. To the best of my knowledge it never was much of an issue. (I believe the fact that he was divorced was considered more scandalous at the time.)

That nominee was a fine civil servant; and my bringing this up in no way means to demean him. Just to point out that gun violence 50 years ago was not viewed quite the same way as it is now.

In 1913 when he was handling a hunting rifle, future two time Democratic nominee Adlai E. Stevenson, accidentally shot and killed Ruth Merwin.

It is hard to imagine that anyone who had been similarly involved with gun violence being a viable candidate for public office these days - even in the case of an accidental shooting. Times have changed. Reid and Cheney will be mocked now for some time. Their respective misadventures will not soon be forgotten.

UPDATE: Welcome Instapundit readers thanks for stopping by! Please take a look and see if there's anything else you like like snow pictures! And thanks to Instapundit for my second Instalanche in just a few days.

Technorati tag: guns, politics.

Posted by SoccerDad at February 12, 2006 8:27 PM