Pastor Trying to Learn Gun Safety Gets Shot by Instructor

A Modesto, California pastor is expected to recover after getting shot by his instructor during a gun safety class.

The national response to the rise in mass shootings has been, for better or worse, the purchase of more guns. In fact, some California churchgoers have been arming themselves in response to the Charleston church shootings, the WDBJ killings, the San Bernardino massacre, and other recent examples of gun violence erupting in otherwise peaceful settings.

But if gun ownership really is increasing, a rise in gun related accidents and injuries will logically follow. After all, some of the people now training to use firearms have never held one before in their life. But as this case from Modesto, California demonstrates, even experienced gun safety trainers can experience mishaps.

While enacting a scenario with his gun safety instructor, family pastor Tom Smith was accidentally shot. Local police say the instructor was using a realistic prop gun for the demonstration, but may have confused it with a real (and loaded) firearm that was nearby.

According to CBS News:

“Modesto Police say they were acting out a scenario when a loaded gun the instructor was holding accidentally went off. They say they gun fired at the end of class after the instructor put a mock gun down and picked up his real loaded gun. Police say so far it’s unclear if the instructor believed he was using the mock gun he had been using to teach the class.”

One of the most persistent dangers involved in firearm ownership is misidentifying loaded or non-loaded guns. In Arizona, for example, a man was accidentally shot at a gun show which ostensibly doesn’t allow firearms to be loaded.