Needless to say, the NRA holds a gun safety class at the annual Tanner Gun Show in Denver, Colorado. Which would have been an excellent way for Joshua Hertzler to spend his time at the show. Mr. Hertzler is the young man who shot his friend Grant Edmunds of Laramie, Wyoming in the shoulder whilst examining a gun at Tanner. The same gentlemen who gets to walk away from the near-tragedy without any criminal consequences (The Denver Post reports that the police are done with this one). Hang on guys; Colorado has a law against accidentally shooting someone in the shoulder at a gun show. Here’s the relevant excerpt from the Rocky Mountain State’s firearms law (18-12-107.5): “Illegal discharge of a firearm – penalty. (1) A person commits a class 2 misdemeanor if: (a) He knowingly and unlawfully aims a firearm at another person; or (b) Recklessly or with criminal negligence he discharges a firearm or shoots a bow and arrow.” We see this again and again: a careless gun owner accidentally shoots someone and walks away, without even temporarily losing his or her right to keep firearms. That’s not right. Meanwhile, what about the dealer who failed to ensure that the gun was empty? In the first version of its non-story, the Post said the DA declined to provide further details about this incident. For a real journalist that’s an invitation to dig deeper. TTAG is on the case.
