Gun safety expert weighs in after parent's gun goes off at Como Elementary School
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A St. Paul parent is facing possible charges after his gun went off during family night at his child's school.
It happened just after 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Como Elementary. Police say the gun was not in a holster. The 30-year-old parent of a student was playing basketball in the gym when his gun accidentally went off.
Investigators say the man went to the hospital with a gunshot wound to his right leg. He is expected to survive.
"He was clearly doing something that was against the law," said Marty Wick, who has been teaching carry permit classes for two decades at Joe's Sporting Goods in Little Canada.
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Wick stresses the importance of maintaining control of your gun.
"We talk about gun safety, we have a live shooting exercise to demonstrate that you can safely handle a handgun," he said. "I think just as a gun safety matter, he needs to have a gun under control, and he apparently didn't."
Wick says it's not illegal to have a gun unholstered.
"The only thing that it says in the carry permit law is that you need to have a permit to carry a gun, and it describes things like 'on-your-person' in a motor vehicle in public places, things like that. It doesn't actually mention holsters or that the gun be concealed," he said.
"I suggest to people if they ever have a situation where they might be thinking of using that gun to protect themselves, they should probably ask themselves the question - what would I do and if I didn't have a gun? And if they come up with a good answer to that question they should do that," Wick added.
That parent has not been charged with a crime but he is facing a possible felony that carries a punishment of up to five years in prison.