Yep, It Was Loaded

Sorry, honey:

The wife of a deputy sheriff in northwestern Minnesota's Roseau County was treated in Grand Forks for a gunshot wound suffered in a hunting-related accident.

Chief Deputy Terry Bandemer says 27-year-old Michelle Cossentine was struck in the thigh by a bullet from her husband's rifle as she sat in the passenger seat of a vehicle Sunday as the couple returned home from hunting.

Bandemer says Cossentine's 29-year-old husband, Deputy Nathan Cossentine, was checking to see if the gun was loaded when it accidentally fired.

Apparently she was not seriously injured. He, however, will and should probably hear about that for the rest of his life, as in:

"Do we have to go to Joe and Carol's tonight?"

"You shot me!"

I'm not normally one to support such behavior, but that was a pretty major momentary lapse of reason. And if I was that chief deputy, for the next month Deputy Cossentine would be spending an hour with a range instructor before he begins his shift.

Comments

[Rob]

Dumb.

[Dave E.]

Yep. A basic rule is that you clear your weapon either down range or while it is pointed up in the air. Certainly not while it is pointed at your wife, or anyone else, who is sitting in a car.

[Kate P]

Does that really count as a "hunting-related accident"? That was just plain idiotic.

Good prediction, Dave--I think she probably will milk it for all it's worth!

[Dave E.]

Kate-I guess it's right on the border of no, since they were actually done hunting, but technically it can still be called "hunting-related". And I'm not really one for holding things over somebody's head forever, but c'mon...if there's any exception at all, accidentally shooting your wife has got to be at the top of the list.