Warning Shot Prompts Talk Of Gun Liability
By Alayna Shulman, Redding Record Searchlight, Calif. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
"There's so many (other) options," said Pratt, who lives south of
A bullet from the 61-year-old's gun ricocheted and hit her tenant in the leg Sunday when Pratt said she fired a warning shot to scare the angry man off. Now she says she's in the middle of an embarrassing, costly criminal case. While Pratt says she'd only ever pulled her gun on a rattlesnake before Sunday, she suddenly found herself jailed on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
"This is the most humiliating, horrible thing that's ever happened to me, ever," Pratt said. "It's the most horrifying place I've ever seen, and I don't think I really belong (in jail). It's the most terrifying thing that's ever happened to me."
The
Indeed, experts say there are still plenty of people who don't realize the liability that comes with owning a gun in a state that -- contrary to the local culture -- is one of the strictest for firearms.
"Most of the time, people just aren't familiar with
That state-specific knowledge is crucial, Jones said, because in some areas -- like
In
And even if you didn't do anything illegal, if a gun accident happens at your home, you're going to need a special policy to potentially cover yourself, not just homeowner's insurance.
"Your typical homeowner's insurance would not cover that," said Redding insurance agent
Azevedo recommends his clients seek out specialty insurance policies for gun owners but still be educated on when it's OK to fire. If you do something illegal -- even unintentionally -- the strength of your policy doesn't really matter. "(It) wouldn't cover me if I was in error," Azevedo said.
To avoid those errors, Jones and others offer classes for new gun-owners.
"That's like, 80 percent of the class, is we pound that into people -- when they can shoot, when they can't," he said.
Those who get a concealed-carry permit are required to learn some gun basics, but people who just have a firearm at their home -- like Pratt -- aren't, and they're noticeably worse off for it, Jones said.
"(Permit-holders) have got that information, and they're typically not the group making a mistake," he said. "It's this other group that has a firearm, they've had no instruction, and yet they've attempted to defend themselves, and they may not have satisfied the law in
In Pratt's case, an ex-boyfriend convinced her to get a gun because she was living alone.
But because of her lack of education on guns and a confusing run-in with deputies the night before her arrest -- when she fired a first warning shot at the tenant as he fought with her boyfriend that deputies knew about but didn't arrest her over -- Pratt did it again.
"It's very weird, because the night before I was OK, and the next day, I'm the bad guy," she said. "It literally was night and day. The night before, they were very supportive. The next day, it's the opposite -- I'm the bad guy, so that's what's mortifying."
Pratt said a friend convinced her to let the tenant stay at her home for cheap rent in exchange for help doing chores as he got back on his feet. But she and her boyfriend have been trying to evict the man after he allegedly damaged her property and caused fights there.
"We locked ourselves in the master bedroom ... he kicked the door in," she said. "I just wanted to scare him away."
Pratt wishes she wouldn't have shot at him, but she said she wasn't thinking clearly as he pounded on her door trying to get in.
"There's so many things I wish I could change, but I can't," she said.
Pratt has been suspended from her job, is facing a criminal charge and rumors she's a pot-grower -- since deputies mentioned marijuana plants on the property in a news release, which she says all belonged to the tenant. And she owes thousands for her bail bond.
"So this is really not only psychologically, it's financially devastating as well," she said, adding that she now understands why the federal government combined firearms with alcohol and tobacco in the
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Shasta County ER trips for unintentional firearm injuries -- Create Infographics
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