A Montana superintendent of schools said his replica black powder muzzleloader accidentally fired off a round while he was showing the weapon to a class.

The superintendent was giving a demonstration with a replica of a Civil War era gun. how on earth do you forget you loaded that sort of thing?

Then there’s this from the story:

The administrator said he dismissed the class after the students calmed down and immediately called the school board and the parents of the students to explain and apologize for the incident.

“None of them were upset with me,” he said of the parents. He said one father laughed until he cried during their phone conversation.

If you call me to tell me that you negligently discharged a firearm in my kid’s class, I’m not going to laugh.

Now Uncle notes this: San Carlos Park woman shot when dog knocks gun to floor

Just what are the dogs up to?

Yes, both incidents could have easily been prevented by proper firearms handling. But maybe that’s the new MO for the rebel dogs: wait until the humans leave them an opening.

But if the dogs are rising, then what about this: Pet Dog Fights Cougar to Save Boy

Are there two opposing dog factions? One loyal to humanity and one trying to overthrow it?

A 4-year-old boy was killed by a falling bullet from celebratory gunfire while attending a New Year’s Eve church service in Decatur…DeKalb police spokesman Jason Gagnon said it appears the bullet came through the church’s roof and struck the child in the head.

Seems incredible but this is obviously tragic. I can’t even begin to imagine.

Police are looking into the incident.

Don’t shoot into the air.

Pictures are a bit, um, rough.

If you have a gun and you aren’t being safe, you’re being dangerous. So cut it out.

I think I found this via Say Uncle. I flagged it a while back to post and am just getting to it now.

The veteran officer was using a Glock 21 .45 caliber pistol with out of country ammunition at a shooting range outside of Moundsville, [Chief Deputy Kevin] Cecil said.

It’s believed the ammunition was bad, causing the receiver to blow apart in the sergeant’s hand.

Ouch. Link sent by a reader.

The parents of a boy killed in baseball game win $850,000 because the bat didn’t have a label warning that it could hit baseballs hard.

For what it’s worth, I personally think that it’s as important as ever to remain vigilant about firearms safety. A lot of new shooters are entering the club, and not all of them have had the upbringing that lifetime shooters from families of lifetime shooters have. And even among the lifetime shooters, complacency can bring trouble.

It is really as simple as this, if you fumble your gun, let it go. All modern firearms have passive safeties to prevent ‘drop firing’. If your pistol is too pretty or too fragile to be dropped you shouldn’t have it our on the range.

UPDATE: I see that Uncle is blogging a bit on this, too.

Should the NFL, the players’ union, or individual teams get involved in educating players about firearms laws and help them get opportunities to make sure they’re complying?

Obviously, I’m not in favor of banning gun ownership by NFL players like some idiots have suggested.