What Would Happen to You or Me?

Also, what would the reaction in the media and by politicians be?

I’m talking about this little gem:

By Aaron C. Davis and Matt Zapotosky
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 28, 2009
A statewide SWAT team exercise at a firing range on the secured grounds of a nuclear power plant in Southern Maryland was halted this month after stray bullets shattered glass and struck a command center near the plant’s reactors, officials said yesterday.

Uh huh. Yeah. I think we’d be looking at something just a bit different from the media and the ruling class. I’d be willing to bet my Steyr M95 that Sarah Brady and the Violence Policy Center would be foaming at the mouth right about now. Dianne Feinstein, Henry Waxman, and Carolyn McCarthy would pontificate for the cameras.

But not this time. It was government officials this time.

I know the reactor wasn’t in any danger. You’d need a lot more firepower than what these guys had to dent a reactor. I also happen to think that this is a pretty decent place to put a police shooting range – away from civilians and secured. My problem is that people were in danger and aside from an “oops” and an investigation into which officers fired those rounds, it’s going to go away. This investigation needs to look just a bit higher up the chain of command in my ever so humble opinion and it needs to look into how this could have happened in the first place.

Target ranges are places of strict rules for a reason. All muzzles are either pointed up or downrange. Even when you open the gun case – if the gun is pointing the wrong way in the case you close the case, turn it around, and open it again. Actions are open and magazines out when anyone is downrange. And you make darn sure that if a round goes over the impact berm it won’t hit anything valuable. Like a nuclear power plant.

Police and military operators (and yes, some civilian organizations) have “shoot houses” where you go inside and shoot in any direction. The walls are bullet proof. The Navy has some of these that are open on top, but they’re far enough away from anything that a stray round over the wall (while still being punishable) won’t cause harm to anything. Like a nuclear power plant.

I’ll be keeping an eye on this one, but think about this again – what would happen if it were your or me who fired those shots?

Found at Gun Rights 4 US

Thanks to David Codrea for posting this and the link