Additional details of the Plaxico Burress incident came to light at the New York Giants wide receiver’s arraignment yesterday afternoon. For earlier GP coverage, see this and this.

In the New York Times:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the Police Department criticized the Giants, who they said neglected to notify the authorities of the shooting, and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where Burress was treated, for failing to call the police about his gun-related injury, as state law requires.

The NFL says that it did, in fact, contact the police. Burress is out on $100,000 bail.

Here’s the story of what went down:

Burress arrived at the Latin Quarter nightclub in Manhattan at 1:20 a.m. Saturday morning, with four others, including two teammates.

The criminal complaint, released by prosecutors Monday, said that an onlooker then saw Burress near the V.I.P. area of the club holding a drink in his left hand and fidgeting his right hand in the area of the waistline of his pants. The witness then heard a single “pop” sound before hearing Burress say, “Take me to the hospital.”

Burress was on the ground, with his legs shaking, when a bloody gun — a .40-caliber Glock pistol — fell out of his pant leg and onto the floor, the onlooker said. Investigators believe that Pierce was standing next to Burress when the gun went off. The bullet, which broke through the skin of Burress’s right thigh and pierced muscle tissue, traveled through the leg before lodging itself somewhere in the club.

The handgun was later found, minus magazine and with an empty chamber, in teammate Antonio Pierce’s vehicle.

I think it’s safe to say that no one was following any safety rules. Or common sense. Or the law, for that matter.

Expect the Brady Bunch to jump on this and claim that Burress represents one of the “law abiding gun owners” and, as one, is an example of why gun ownership should be outlawed. Never mind that Burress was in possession of an illegal gun without a permit to carry any concealed weapon in a state that didn’t honor the permit he previously had in an establishment that serves alcohol and was drinking.

Plaxico Burress & Antonio Pierce partying after their Super Bowl win in February

He surrendered to New York City police this morning, and more details about this incident are emerging:

[His lawyer, Benjamin] Brafman said Burress held a gun permit in Florida. Online records show that the permit expired May 21. Even if it were renewed, it would not matter. According to New York law, one must hold a New York gun permit to carry a concealed weapon in the state. Burress does not.

Burress also did not have a permit to carry a firearm in New Jersey, his state of residence, according to Chief Robert Coyle of the Totowa Police Department. He added that a Florida permit was not recognized in New Jersey. “He wouldn’t be able to carry here at all,” he said.

Linebacker Antonio Pierce is directly involved as he appears to have carried Burress’ gun into New Jersey.

The story includes some comments by Giants co-owner and president John Mara:

To prevent situations like Burress’s, the league and its teams meet with players every year to try to educate them about gun possession and the complications of it, Mara said.

“Players, for whatever reason, feel the need to carry guns,” Mara said before the game. “It’s not something that we’re particularly pleased about, but that is the choice that they make. You’d like to think that most of them are licensed to do that, but I’m not sure that is always the case.”

Just a week ago I pointed out a post at Rustmeister’s Alehouse discussing security issues surrounding NFL players.

Uncle points out that Mike Ditka says the NFL should prohibit players from owning guns.

What’s a bigger problem in the NFL? Gun incidents or motor vehicle incidents? I’d be there are a thousand speeding/DUI/accident stories involving NFL players for every gun-related story.

I missed the part where Ditka said the NFL should prohibit players from owning cars.

And, yes, I’m aware that there’s a difference between owning guns and owning cars.

The difference is that one of them is a God-given right that is guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

UPDATE: Link to the NYT story corrected to point to the same story it pointed to when I wrote this. More details about exactly what happened: Burress Arraigned; More Details

WR Plaxico Burress

Giants WR Burress suffers accidental gunshot wound

New York Giants star wide receiver Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the leg Friday, according to multiple media reports.

Burress was hospitalized with gunshot injuries Friday night that were not believed to be life-threatening, FOX Sports.com reported Saturday.

A spokesman for the Giants on Saturday told PA SportsTicker that the team had no comment, although they acknowledged they are aware there was an incident.

Details are few. Gun cleaning accident? Hunting accident? Something more serious, possibly not an accident?

The sketchy information makes one wonder, but I’ll buy the accident story unless something more convincing surfaces.

UPDATE: Apparently happened in a nightclub. So was Burress carrying a concealed weapon? With a permit? In an establishment that serves alcohol? Was he drinking?

UPDATE 2: More info here.

Dad accused of killing daughter while cleaning gun

MARYSVILLE, Wash. – A father arrested after his 6-year-old daughter was fatally shot in their Washington state home allegedly told authorities he had been drinking double shots of vodka while cleaning his guns.

Court papers say Richard Peters told detectives he had asked his daughter, Stormy, to bring him the .45-caliber handgun Sunday. He said he must have pulled the trigger, and the girl fell to the floor. She was pronounced dead Monday. [emphasis Murdoc's]

Rummell says it Sounds Fishy. He’s right, but I generally won’t attribute to evil intent what can be easily explained by pure stupidity.

UPDATEL Texas Fred has more here, including

There is not a responsible gun owner in America that isn’t fully aware of this one cold, hard fact: Guns and Booze DO NOT MIX!

Say Uncle relates his experience this weekend with an accident involving a Walther P22.

He was following safety rules, so no one was hurt. However, de-cocking the P22 requires a trigger pull, so the “don’t put your finger on the trigger until ready to shoot” rule was essentially violated. This isn’t uncommon with handguns, and the P22 requires a magazine to also be loaded in the weapon. He was being careful, but things can still happen.

So, even if you’re familiar with handling a gun and have performed a task thousands of times, it still happens. But if you are mindful of the four rules of firearms safety and it happens, nothing and no one will get damaged. Except your ego. That was an eye-opener for me. No longer batting 1,000 in gun safety. And the fact that I felt like a complete moron.

My wife is still pissed.

That last bit will probably take a while to clear up. A long while.

Eugene Volokh: As I read it, the court thinks that requirements that a handgun be stored locked or inoperable are unconstitutional

Regardless, this doesn’t mean “don’t keep your guns safe.” Every gun owner has a responsibility to be safe, and that includes when storing the weapon. What this could mean is that the government might not be able to mandate that you store your gun in a way that makes is completely unusable at short notice. (via Instapundit)

UPDATE: Don’t think it’s all roses in NY, though: Bad Day for New York Gun Owners

I meant to post on this incident yesterday but didn’t get to it. An 8-year-old boy at a machine gun shoot event shot himself and died of his wounds. Obviously tragic, it isn’t clear to me how both the father (who was right there) and the range safety officer could have let this happen.

I’ve not been to one of these public-type machine gun events, but I guess I wouldn’t think they’d let little kids shoot them. And a little light weapon like an Uzi, with less mass to absorb the kick and a shorter barrel to more quickly point in a bad direction seems like it would probably be even more dangerous for a little shooter than a larger weapon.

Regardless, the father blew it big. I’m sure he knows it, too. I can’t imagine that.

Meanwhile: DA: criminal charges possible in boy’s Uzi death

Hampden County District Attorney William Bennett said Tuesday he hasn’t been able to find any law that would authorize a child to possess or fire a machine gun.

I thought laws were limits, as in: Shouldn’t he be looking for laws precluding a child to possess or fire a machine gun?

Of course, there’s this:

In response to this tragedy, Freedom States Alliance (FSA), a national coalition of gun violence prevention groups along with the New England Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence (NECPGV), are calling for legislation to be passed immediately that would require that no child under the age of 18-years-old be allowed to use or operate any fully automatic machine gun, or semi-automatic assault weapon under any circumstances including at a “machine gun shoot,” shooting competition or firearm demonstration.

Maybe I missed something. Was there any gun violence involved? If not, what are they doing getting in the mix?

More info and discussion at Alphecca.

Civil War Soldier from Foote, Iowa

Civil War re-enactor’s injury shakes die-hards

This is odd:

A battle re-enactment last month pushed realism to the limits: a retired New York City police officer portraying a Union soldier for a documentary film was shot in the shoulder, possibly by a Confederate re-enactor.

The shooting sent the 73-year-old to the hospital and left the Isle of Wight Sheriff’s Office in rural southeastern Virginia with a Civil War-style CSI case. Investigators used film to piece together what happened and have narrowed a suspect to one re-enactor.

The story goes on to say

Re-enactors said [Thomas R.] Lord’s shooting may have happened in part because walk-ons were used. These are re-enactors who typically are not affiliated with a unit and unfamiliar with the chain of command or safety rules, akin to a football player showing up on game day to play for a team the athlete has never met.

I’m confused. Are they saying that some of the walk-on may not have realized that this particular re-enactment didn’t use real bullets?

“Oops! My bad, guys! In my regular group, we shoot each other for real. I didn’t realize this one didn’t.”

I’m wondering what the victim was shot with. Not the type of gun, but what actually hit him. A minie ball? Or something used as wadding or something? Maybe a pebble or some other debris in the powder? It doesn’t seem that paper debris would cause an injury severe enough to be called “getting shot,” but they don’t say what hit him.

Thankfully, he’s going to be okay. (Image from Farmers Lodge # 168)

Teen shot while playing with gun

Murdoc’s neck of the woods:

WYOMING, Mich. (WOOD) — A Wyoming teenager is in the hospital after police say he was accidentally shot Friday afternoon.

The shooting happened around 3 p.m. on Friday in the 1000 block of Bryant Street.

Police say the teen was shot in the chest by another teenager while the two were playing with a handgun.

The teenager was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

I think they really meant “police say he was negligently shot Friday afternoon.”

Accidents happen. And I’m not saying that since this wasn’t accidental, it was intentional.

But is a teenager run over while intentionally running out into the middle of a busy highway the victim of some freak “accident”?

If you are playing with guns, no shooting is truly accidental.

Unfortunately, this sort of incident is played up as a reason to more tightly control guns.

And how come we (almost) never hear about the “accidental” injuries and deaths from kids purposefully drinking poison?

Parents: Secure your guns. Teach your kids about gun safety. Above all, raise responsible offspring.

Looks like something from a Bugs Bunny cartoon

More info and picks at Rifle Peeled Like A Banana