January 3, 2015

Why is it ever a good idea to have a loaded service weapon in the same bed as one's spouse? That would seem to be taking paranoia to new heights, wouldn't you say?

This is audio of the Peachtree City interim police chief William McCollum's 911 call after he shot his wife. His description of how it happened is bizarre.

"Who shot her?" the 911 operator asked William McCollom, the police chief in Peachtree City, Georgia.

"Me," McCollom replied.

"How did you shoot her?"

"The gun was in the bed, I went to move it, put it to the side, and it went off," McCollom said.

"Is she awake?"

"No, everybody was sleeping," McCollom said.

"No, is she awake now?"

"Yes," he said.

Later in the call, the operator asked McCollom, "Were you asleep also when this happened?"

"Yes," he said.

Peachtree City is one of those places where the crime rate is really, really low. One murder in the last nine years, and a plummeting burglary and theft rate to boot. It's hard to imagine what would prompt McCollum to feel as though he needed to sleep with his 9mm Glock in the bed with the safety off, evidently.

Do not assume I am mocking him. I'm not, because it's tragic that his wife is fighting for her life as the result of being unfortunate enough to be sleeping in a bed with her husband and his Glock. But I do have to wonder whether lives would be saved if people simply decided to lock up the gun and get a good night's sleep instead.

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