If at first you don’t succeed, maybe illegal gun possession is not for you:

A 16-year-old boy was listed in serious condition at a hospital Monday after accidentally shooting himself in the leg for the second time in three months, according to police.

Officers went to a residence in the 7300 block of East Jasper Street around 3:25 a.m. and found the teen suffering from a single gunshot wound to his left leg.

The victim was conscious, police said, but he was incoherent, and there was a large amount of blood on the bed. Police feared an artery had been pierced, and an officer applied a tourniquet to the teen’s leg to stem the bleeding.

The youth  was taken to St. John Medical Center in serious condition.

In a news release, police said the “quick action” of the officer who applied the tourniquet prevented the boy from bleeding to death.

The incident was the second time the teen had accidentally shot himself with a handgun, police said. Officers went to his residence about three months ago and found him with a gunshot wound to the leg. That injury was not life-threatening.

Note that the officer was able to save this young offender’s life because he carried a tourniquet* with his equipment. Without it, this 16-year-old might have died.

According to state law, it is illegal in Oklahoma for any person under the age of 18 to have possession of a firearm, “except a rifle or shotgun given by a parent to a child for education, hunting, or sport.”

Quite clearly, this young criminal illegally possessed handguns both times he shot himself, and apparently he shot himself naked carrying a handgun in the appendix position (which we can infer from the fact the femoral artery runs up the inside of the thigh).

The gun he used to shoot himself three months ago, a Jennings .380, is still in police custody.

The second gun he acquired illegally and shot himself with was a Rossi .38 revolver.

A holster was not recovered in either shooting.

Neither alcohol nor drugs were located at the scene of the 3:25 AM shooting, according to Tulsa Police.

We can probably safely assume that the young offender has not attended handgun safety courses.

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* For those of you interested in building blowout kit with a tourniquet, or in keeping one in your range bag, here’s some good information to get you started.