Just the other day, we reported on a 70-year-old man who left his firearm behind in a bathroom stall. This negligence led to a 4-year-old finding it and luckily, nothing bad happened.
Crisis averted.
What really gets me, though, are some of the responses to the question I posed in the article: Should this man have his concealed carry permit revoked?
While the majority seem to say yes, there were some who shrugged off the entire incident with comments like “It’s bound to happen, give him a fine and move on” and “With so many people carrying, it’s going to happen once in a while.”
But… he left a loaded firearm behind in a public setting.
It’s incredibly irresponsible, completely inexcusable and 100% avoidable if you’re fit to carry.
And let’s face it, not everyone is fit to carry a firearm. For all I know, this man could have been carrying for 50 years. Can one slip-up be excused? Is it alright to say “that was bad, but you can keep carrying a gun”? Is it even considered something as innocently phrased as a slip-up?
Whatever happened that day, this man was not in the right frame of mind to be carrying his firearm. While that’s my opinion, I feel it’s a pretty solid one. If I ever left my firearm somewhere, I’d say to myself “Brandon, what’s wrong with you? How could you be so irresponsible?”
But in every person’s life, things need to be re-evaluated as we age. At some point, we’ll probably stop doing things like driving cars, simply because we aren’t fit to drive anymore. Does the same hold true for carrying a firearm?
And again, is one negligently-left-behind firearm enough… in your opinion… to make someone hang up their concealed carry experience? If you look at it as a right, you can’t do that unless a felony has been convicted. If you look at it as a privilege, then sure… the permit can be yanked… just like a drivers license.
Or should he be charged with something like endangering the welfare of a child and sent on his way?
Or, is it up to the discretion of the individual who was negligent in the first place?
I honestly don’t know the answer right now.
