[Slava]

Originally Posted by Bownesian

For me (firearms owner, farmer relative), the correct minimum verdict would have been manslaughter. In regards to the manslaughter charge, it's immaterial for me whether there was a hang fire, whether there was a round in the chamber and Stanley pulled the trigger by accident, or whether he pulled it on purpose and lied.

Firearms are to be considered loaded and lethal until you personally verify that the chamber is open and empty (that's how I was taught by my Dad, and then reinforced in my FAC course). The muzzle of a loaded gun is never to be pointed at anything other than the ground, the air, or something you mean to shoot at.

As an aside, I have actually had a potential hang fire personally. I was deer hunting at the end of a long day in minus 20 temperatures. I found a deer, stalked him, lined up the shot, clicked off the safety, pulled the trigger and nothing happened. A half-second later, I lifted the barrel a bit to figure out what happened and the gun went off. Now, I don't know if it was a slow burn hang fire or something in the trigger was frozen or the bolt of my rifle wasn't totally down and I clipped the trigger when lifting the muzzle or whatever. It was my job to keep the gun pointed somewhere safe until the bolt was open and it was Stanley's job as well.

Because Mr. Stanley did not maintain control of his muzzle, he was negligent and was responsible.

I have all sorts of sympathy for people living on farms (knowing how far it is from my family farm to the RCMP detachment) and I know that there are all sorts of lies in this trial.

Stanley wasn't planning on target shooting later that day, he had a loaded gun in the house like a large number of farmers have. Similarly, the people in the SUV weren't looking for a phone to make a call to fix a flat. Stanley may have had a misfire (which the jury believed was a possibility) or he may have pointed the gun and lied about it - we'll never know. We do know that by his own admission, he pulled the trigger and because he didn't control his gun, someone died. That's manslaughter.

I hope there is ground for appeal and that Stanley loses on that count.

I'm not a "gun guy" so pardon my ignorance, but on the radio a few minutes ago, they were saying he wasn't sure how many bullets he had loaded. He fired two warning shots and then fired a third and the gun didn't go off. He took the clip out and after that he pointed it at Boushies head and it went off. I don't know if that's accurate, but that's the chronology given by Rob Breakenridge a few minutes ago. Does that change things, in your view? I have to say that it does in mine. If he pulled the trigger and nothing happened, and he took the clip out, he obviously didn't plan on killing this guy?