Let me preface this by saying that most gun owners I know are responsible people with good heads on their shoulders.

Sadly, not everyone with access to a firearm was blessed with common sense.

 

The Freestone County Sheriff's Office reported Monday that two men were arrested Saturday and charged with deadly conduct after they almost shot a neighbor in the head while target practicing.

Deputies were called to a home on Highway 179 near Teague, where a resident reported that he'd been sitting on his couch when a bullet flew through his window and hit an inner wall of his house. The bullet missed the person's head by about 10 inches.

FCSO Sgt. Martin located two men who were shooting at targets on a right-of-way property half a mile away on County Road 650. Their targets were set up so that they were shooting directly toward the near victim's house.

"We reside in a very rural area here in Freestone County," Sheriff J. Shipley wrote in a news release. "We love our freedoms and we love our guns. But, we must remember that we are responsible for where the projectile goes once it leaves our firearm. This could have been much worse and an unfortunate loss of life. Please, be very cautious of where you are, where others are, and be safe as to how you handle your target practice."

Who doesn't love to get in some target practice once in a while? However, if you're going to be shooting outdoors, it should go without saying that you need some sort of backstop. It could be a simple earthen bern or a more elaborate setup like the guy's in the video below.

Whatever you do, just be safe about it. It's the irresponsible, boneheaded gun owners who give the rest of us a bad name.

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