A Wanaka hunter who shot and killed his best friend after mistaking him for a deer on December 19 last year has been sentenced to seven months' home detention. "Do you think this is fair?"
That's a tough question, but honesty, I feel he should probably have a stronger punishment. I don't know the details, but if shot at what he thought was a deer, and it was a person, than he is an IDIOT! #1 rule of hunting is know your target.
Not even close to enough punishment. Take out the fact that it was his best friend because that means nothing. The fact was he is a hunter and he shot and killed someone. I have always been taught that you only always know what your aiming at and to never shoot at something you don't intend to kill. He clearly just saw movement and shot. What a piece of ****!!! Now what if that was a DNR officer instead of his best friend I guarantee that his punishment would have been way way worse. Think this is a total crock of crap and I don't understand why he is in jail for many years.
The 7 months of house arrest is just a fraction of the mental price he'll pay for the rest of his life if he has a soul.
Don't know enough details to levy judgement. I'm guessing they qualified it as an accident or something. Hey, **** Chaney didn't get home time... but then, he didn't kill the guy. I would think there would also be some loss of priveledges or something. Like I said, don't know the details enough to say lock him up for umpteen years. And obviously the courts felt the same way.
I did a quick google on this. It happened in New Zealand so our laws don't apply. They were shooting at deer at night (apparently legal over there) and he saw what he thought was the eyeshine of a deer he thought was wounded and fired on it. Unfortunately, it was his friend and he hit him in the back of the head. Negligence, yes.. Is he responsible for the death of a person? Yes. Would a stiffer penalty change the likelyhood of another idiot doing the same? Probably not.
OK, I too dug deeper. This happened following a Christmas party. So, they're probably drunk. They were hunting rabbits, but when a deer presented itself they decided to stalk it. Duhhh, he though his buddy was behind him. Saw the reflection of an eye and shot at it. Duhhhhhh.. Get this, they were using a 22. He lost his gun, license, 300 community service and .... oh hell, read it yourselves. Drunks and gun powder. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/105806/home-detention-for-wanaka-hunter-who-shot-friend
Shooting someone is not an accident. Gun safety and identifying your target is your responsibility. The punishment doesn't fit the crime for this one
Oh my, let all the perfect people in the world unite. LOL Yes it was stupid but to proclaim a blanket "shooting someone is not and accident" Is just a bit to much holyier than thou. This one was stupid, drunk probably and totally avoidable.... BUT... accidents do happen and can.
It is possible to 'accidently' shoot someone. (tho' rare) Shooting at something you don't properly identify really isn't an 'accident' it's negligence. Sure, you didn't mean to shoot a person but... accident? No. If you shoot at something and the bullet ricochets off and hits someone that was neither visible to you or in your line fire.. that's an accident. If a bear is mauling your friend and you shoot your friend while trying to hit the bear... it might be an accident. Shooting someone because you pulled the trigger on a gun you thought was unloaded (or thought the safety was on) is definitely not an accident.
But you see... your view is that from someone who has had Hunter Safety, lives in a more La La land as far as what the perfect person would do. These fools haven't had that, don't want to hear it and..."hey, there goes one ... Shoot.. Shoot". It's a different country, a different world completely. So what I'm saying is you can't inject our morality, laws, ethics and touchy touchy feel good ways into their judicial system. I think in New Zealand.... he got a big smack in the face. Think of it, they allow firing into the night to shoot anything you want. What kind of jail time would that get you here? At the least you'd lose your truck, gun, hunting license and a big embarrasment in the local paper. It's a different world folks. They are not governed by our laws, ethics posses or whatever. And before you get all "well we're right and civil" remember.... there are countries out there trying to inject their gun laws on us everyday. There are countries and forces out there that want more than anything to take away your guns, bows and hunting rights. They think you're just like the idiot after a party in New Zealand shooting into the night...and they have people in high places in our country on their side.
Curious... how did he shoot at a person whose eyes were shining and hit him in the back of the head? Both parties were evidently participating in something really stupid. If hunting at night is legal, there's a certain amount of responsibility that needs to be placed on the DNR.
He thought it was eyeshine, who knows what he really saw/or didn't see. I disagree that the gov. is responsible in any way. We need to get away from nanny state thinking. The shooter broke a very basic rule of shooting... Be sure of your target. That's not the state's fault.
