So here’s the story we got from a neighbor up by Milano Pizza / Slave to the Needle about Wednesday night’s “shooting”:
Some idiot was showing off his gun in Milano Pizza, took out the clip, then pulled the trigger without realizing that there was already a bullet chambered. Oops. Gun went off, bullet went through a wall, almost hit someone in the tattoo parlor.
The idiot fled, ditched his gun Lake Union, then later turned himself in to the cops, who gave him “a stern lecture”, according to the Seattle Crime blog.
Idiot.
How could this moron not be arrested for this? NY Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress received two years in prison for committing the exact same crime in New York City, which clearly has more sensible gun laws than does Seattle.
Oh, but according to Sea Crime, the police *totally* gave him a stern talking to when they found him. I bet they sent him to his room without dessert and everything!
Note that the idiot *works* at the pizza place. It would be good to know if that’s still the case.
Wow. Well now I know where to go for my pizza with pepperoni and 9mm bullets on it.
I wouldn’t have done this since I watched the second episode of ‘The Wire’ last night :).
Ha ha, brady, I thought of that, too!
Doug,
Although I agree this guy is a complete idiot, the Plaxico Burress case was quite different. In the Plaxico Burress case he actually shot somebody(himself). He was in a bar which our idiot wasn’t, and he also wasn’t licensed to carry a gun. If the idiot here had all those strikes against him like Plaxico did, I’m sure he’d be up on charges also. He still should get “at minimum” a healthy fine.
Sometimes, you just can’t fix stupid.
Steve
What is particularly idiotic is that we allow such prevalence of guns in our scoietybecause our noble members of Congress allow the NRA to have its way.
Buster–
You may or may not know that the Washington State Constitution arguably protects individual firearm ownership to a greater degree than the U.S. Constitution.
But the Milano guy is still a moron.
Knowing nothing else about this dumbass who showed off his weapon like that in public, I see one of two scenarios:
1) He’s a card-carrying NRA nut who likes to talk the talk and considers himself a “responsible gun owner.”
2) He’s a wanna be thug/gangbanger who just lost the respect of his crew for his idiocy.
Here’s a link to a site that confirms that pizza is a mind-altering substance. Beware!
http://www.brooklynparrots.com/2006/01/brooklyn-land-of-pizza-eating-parrots.html
Hayduke:
Not all of us card-carrying NRA members are nuts.
Doing away with gun ownership, and taking away civil rights because of stupid/careless people is just plain wrong. Alcohol and drugs kill a lot more people than people do with guns, so do we close all pharmacies and liquor stores? How about we start holding people accountable for their own stupid actions. If you drive drunk, you go to jail for a “minimum” of 30 days. Same thing for this dumb-ass at Milano’s. If you shoot someone, you get the death penalty(QUICKLY!!). If you murder somebody driving drunk or stoned, you get the death penalty(QUICKLY!!). Lets stand-up for what what’s right instead of doing what’s easiest and taking away our civil rights. We don’t take away weapons from our military because we have “some” stupid people enlisted. We don’t close down our government because of the dangerous and stupid things our politicians do, or doesn’t do.
The less accountability we require in our society, the more screwed up and dangerous our society gets. What part of this don’t we understand?
Steve
Oh Lord, how did we go from some idiot showing off in a pizza parlor to debating the death penalty? But…can’t…help…myself.
@Steve, I’m one of those odd bleeding heart liberals who would be strongly in favor of the death penalty in many cases. Our society lets good people die every day because we can’t afford to pay to keep them alive (health care), so it shouldn’t be astounding that we would choose not to pay to keep bad people alive (high cost of lifetime imprisonment).
BUT.
The main problem with the death penalty is that it’s administered by humans. And as a result, they bring all their biases and fallibilities to the table, including racism and just plain mistakes. This means that blacks are given the death penalty disproportionately to the crimes they commit and that innocent people are sent to the chamber. Until we can solve these problems (i.e., never), I can’t support the death penalty.
As a secondary issue, giving the death penalty for shooting and killing someone dodges the issue of intent. If someone in the tattoo parlor had been a slightly different position, they could have been killed. Would that have changed the punishment we should give to the idiot who shot the gun? His actions and intentions remain unchanged, only the outcome (which was outside of his control) was different.
this is the problem with law “enforcement” in Seattle and beyond and why there is so much idiocy – everyone gets off more or less with a gentle slap on the wrist!!!
A stern lecture? Are you kidding me? That guy should be in jail for 12-36 months. No doubt about it. Where do we live? Boseman, Montana? How does someone fire a handgun in the city and not spend any time in jail?
Huh. It’s a matter of statute – the discharge has to be willful: http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?d=CHAP&s1=12A.14.h2.&Sect6=HITOFF&l=20&p=1&u=/~public/chap1.htm&r=1&f=G
People should have to pass an IQ test before they are allowed to buy a gun.