[kcbrown]

At this point it's unclear exactly what happened. Those who claim to know the injured shooter say that this was his first time at that particular range with the gun and that he did not use a hammer to close the bolt.

You know how we always say that you're "innocent until proven guilty" and insist that such a standard be used when others judge us? Well, it seems to me that we should use the same standards here.

Is it possible that the shooter did something dumb? Of course. Do we know that he did? No. Someone with experience with the specific kind of rifle the injured shooter was using may be able to provide some insight into what specific things can cause the gun to fire out of battery (which is apparently what occurred, but again, I do not know that's what happened -- the visual evidence supports it but that's all we can say for now). From what I've read, there are multiple ways such a thing could have occurred with that particular rifle.

So please go easy on the poor guy until, at the very least, you know what happened.

Here's hoping the guy recovers fast and completely...