Posted on 12/16/2014 10:03:46 AM PST by grundle
A Missouri woman pleaded guilty this morning to fatally shooting her cousin at an Upper St. Clair home last month.
"I truly am sorry for everything that happened, and I wish it wouldn't have happened," Stephanie Munizza, 28, told Judge Jeffrey A. Manning of the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.
Ms. Munizza pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, a misdemeanor, and the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office withdrew a felony count of third-degree murder.
She was in Pittsburgh visiting family when, on Nov. 1, she and her cousin, Joshua Poremski, were drinking and talking about Ms. Munizza possibly getting a concealed carry permit, Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Schultz said.
Mr. Poremski offered his gun to her and previously said it was unloaded, Mr. Schultz said. She gripped the gun with two hands and pointed it at him. The gun went off. He was pronounced dead at 4:25 a.m.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
1) Always assume the gun is loaded.
2) Never put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
3) Never point the gun at anyone or anything you do not intend to shoot.
4) Know your target and what's beyond.
Not her!!
I never take a gun from someone until they demonstrate that it is in fact unloaded. Also, alcohol and guns never mix. Why would you dry fire a gun? What does that prove. You can’t judge the recoil? Plus if it a rim fire, you’ll damage the barrel.
i have never had a gun just “go off”. never accidentally. never all on its own. i will qualify that i’ve never had them in temperatures where ammo could either blow up from heat,or be shrunk and detonate by serious cold.
but even in these cases it would not be the gun doing it.
Too bad it wasn’t Glock. They have trigger safeties.
I know because I own several.
Semi local and the first I’ve heard about it.
Agree. The gun is what should be put on probation.
Stupidity has consequences!
The deceased made a large mistake in that stead for which he paid with his life. Clear it, check it, lock the action open and check it again.
The gun killed him....
*******************************************************************************************
A strong factor in mitigation was that Ms. Munizza wrestled the gun to the ground after it killed her cousin.
I would. If the person handing it to me believes that it is unloaded but has not been trained to prove it prior to the transfer, then I would be concerned that he might be so untrained as to pull the trigger as a means of demonstrating that his possibly false assumption is true.
I would accept the gun and check it myself and then train the person in proper procedure.
Also, dry-firing is widely accepted as good training for developing flinch-free trigger control. I don't do much myself and certainly recognize the risks of pulling the trigger when one believes that the gun will not fire. It's absolutely essential that the other safety rules be followed.
I never hand my loaded gun to someone for this very reason. In my life I have seen 3 gun novice’s who’s first action upon being handed a gun was to immediately point at something (though not someone) and pull the trigger. None of these times was the gun loaded but the instinct is still there.
Surprised it was reported at all.
Nothing bad ever happens in Upper St Clair, just ask my neighbors.
It IS pretty quiet. Pretty stable,law abidingp demographic.
I call BS.
Just drunks playing around with a loaded gun.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.