Accidental shootings happen. How often is the cry following the shooting, "I didn't know the gun was loaded!"
At least in the following case, the shooter - who was drunk as well as careless - didn't hurt anyone but himself.
From the Arizona Daily Star, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 1934:
INJURED FOOT, BUT GUN WAS "UNLOADED"
Doreto Osuna of Arivaca was a victim of an "unloaded gun" early Sunday morning and suffered a bullet wound in the left foot. Following a report of a shooting at Arivaca, relayed from Nogales Sunday, Undersheriff C. S. Farrar went to the camp town. He found that Osuna while drunk about 2 o'clock Sunday morning, had been entertaining himself by shooting his pistol.
Thinking the pistol unloaded, Osuna took a snap shot at the ground. A loaded cartridge remained in the gun, and went into Osuna's foot. He was taken to the Ruby, Ariz., hospital for emergency treatment and then brought to Southern Methodist hospital in Tucson.
It is clear that guns and alcohol don't mix.
