Pry my pen from my cold, dead fingers...

"Twelve hours before he was to wrap up a record deal with a national independent music company, Steven Zorn's life ended with the click of a pen.

Zorn, a 22-year-old rising rapper from this rural village of 2,000, about 50 miles northeast of Dayton, shot himself in the head late Nov. 18 — family, friends and law enforcement authorities believe accidentally — with a device whose appearance belied its deadliness — a pen gun."

Link story in local paper, hopefully non-subscription content:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/1204zorn.html

Condensed version of the story on a national news outlet here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/06/ap/national/mainD8EAEEOO8.shtml

Disclaimer: I am not a so-called "gun nut". I gave up hunting and got rid of my guns when I got married and moved away from Detroit.

The local media are using this incident as an example of why guns should be outlawed. I see the story's spread to national news outlets now. I suppose the same sentiments are going to be repeated on a national level. I am sorry for the kid and his family, but I don't think he's a good example of a tragic victim of gun violence - he's a nominee for a Darwin Award. No, I don't think "he got what he deserved", any more than a sleepy driver who gets in an accident, or a machine operator in a rush who gets his finger caught in a die punch. I do commend the family for donating his organs.

Personally, I wouldn't shed a tear if pen guns were banned. They're pretty much useless for personal defense, except *maybe* as a last ditch, holdout weapon. However, Ohio allows citizens to apply for a concealed carry permit so I don't really see the need.

I think Newton should be sued. He invented the laws of physics.

Hey, you point a gun to your head, pull the trigger after it misfires a few times and it goes off, you get what you deserve. I think of it as natural selection at work.

You, with the loaded gun to your head clicking it, out of the gene pool.

BTW, I really met a few folks in rehab for the blind where folks shot themselves in the face blinding the person looking down the barrel of a loaded gun.

I thought that pen guns were illegal*, other than the fancy one that converts into a pistol-shaped weapon.

*I believe they fall under gadget gun/AOW (any other weapon) Class III regs. Same as silencers, sawed-off shotguns, etc. Can own with a tax stamp but I doubt the rapper had that.

The media coverage that this story is getting is mostly BS. Guy is given something that's probably illegal. Guy knows it's a real gun. Guy gets plastered with friends. Guy tries shooting it at his head, it works in the usually fatal way. I feel awful for this fellow's family, but killing yourself is pretty unavoidable if you intentionlly fire a gun at your head. The quote from his mother really drives me up a wall. "I'm really angy. Something's got to be done." Lady, with all due respect, your kid was too stupid or drunk to know what he was doing. HE PURPOSLY PULLED THE TRIGGER OF A GUN HE AIMED AT HIMSELF. Could just have easily stuck his hand into a meat grinder or his head out of a car in a tunnel.

Snippet from your above link(s):

believed to be jammed, rendering the weapon inoperable, according to friends and family interviewed for this story. But it worked on the third click when a drunken Zorn


Ok, he aimed a "jammed" gun at his head and pulled the trigger 3 times.

How is this anything other than a comment on his stupidity?

There was no question it was a firearm.

It's sad whenever a young person suffers an untimely death, but at least that is one less rapper.

Playing with a firearm while drunk is stupid.
Putting a loaded firearm(even though you belive it's jammed) to your head and pull the trigger is beyond stupid...

Unfortunaly, there's no way you can outlaw stupidity, but a campaign that focus on gun safety might help.

Norway got a lot of guns(36 guns per 100 citizens in 2003) but we don't have a lot of deaths/injuries due to unsafe gunhandling. The ones we got happens during the hunting season, when the most inexperienced gunowners take their shotgun/hunting rifle out of the closet and their booze out of the cabinet...
You're obliged by law to take a safety course before buying any gun, be it shotgun and rifle for hunting or handguns and semiauto rifles for competition.
I don't think this is a bad idea, and while there's no one asking you about your qualifications when buying an illegal firearm, some knowledge among the citizens is better than no knowledge at all.

I own 12 guns(so I'm a bit of a gunaholic as well as a flashaholic ) and I don't believe in the banning of any gun, but I believe in regulating the ownership of guns to responsible citizens.



And lets try to keep this thread on topic, or it'll be closed before anyone can say "zippergun".

Even tho I have a great fondness for both adult beverages and firearms, I'm staunch believer in the idea that gunpowder and alcohol do not mix.

I've refused to hunt with several people who've insisted on drinking before/during a hunt. I don't use the best shooting club in my area because they allow alcohol on the grounds.

BIGIRON,
I think you live in south Texas and your comments made me think of this. Have you ever been to Uvalde and seen the liquor store/gun shop? I haven't been there in 5+ years but I assume it's still there. It always made me laugh.

If they sold cars you'd have the hat trick.

Sounds like a new Darwin Award entry.