Another tragedy caused by negligent gun handling

Saw this news story a while back about a 19 year man in Arizona who accidentally shot and killed an acquaintance while (apparently) trying to wake him up.  

The first and most obvious observation that I have here is that Mr. Thomas was breaking all three of the NRA rules for safe gun handling.  The rules are:

1. Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
2. Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
3. Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.

These rules work together to ensure safety while handling and using guns.  It is my privilege to teach and enforce these rules with every class.  I want every gun owner to apply them every time they handle a gun.   

Some additional thoughts:

• Mr. Thomas thought the gun was unloaded.  Notice that each rule starts with "always."  Clearly, he should still not have pointed the gun at his friend, even if the gun was unloaded.  When he unloaded his gun, he should have checked the chamber to ensure it was in the condition he expected.  We teach our shooters to complete a chamber check whenever loading or unloading their gun.  
  
• The story says that Mr. Thomas is a competitive shooter.  It is hard to believe that a competitive shooter wouldn't learn and apply the basic rules of safe gun handling.
• Ultimately, this shooting was "negligent", not "accidental".  It is every gun owner's responsibility to learn and apply the rules.  Not applying the rules is negligence.