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Florida Man has become something of a meme in our culture. The idea of Florida as the epicenter of strange and ridiculous has certainly taken hold, and for pretty good reason. The news is usually filled with stories of ludicrous misadventures of men from Florida that can only cause you to shake your head.

Today, we have a case of Florida Man that also ties into How Not To Be A Gun Owner.

A man in Valrico is facing a manslaughter charge after deputies say he accidentally shot and killed a woman during an act of foreplay.

Andrew Shinault, 23, shot the woman in her upper body with his legally owned hand gun around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. Deputies say the two were engaging in an act of foreplay involving the gun.

Um.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m very sorry for the loss of life, and I offer the victim’s family my most heartfelt condolences.

That said…

First, who the hell thinks something like this is a good idea? “Hey baby, I’ve got an idea to really spice things up. How about I point a loaded gun at you while we make out?”

As much as we joke about Florida Man, pretty much everyone I know in the state of Florida that owns a gun knows damn good and well not to do stupid stuff like this.

The Four Rules exist for a reason.

Honestly, I’ve known about this story for most of the weekend, and I’ve been trying to grasp what the hell was going through their brains. I mean, my wife thinks me shooting is pretty sexy, sure. She likes it when I’m carrying for the same reason. But the last thing she would want is for me to somehow use a gun during our private time.

I shouldn’t have to say this, but clearly, someone didn’t get the memo: Guns are not props. They’re not toys for adult fun and games. They are deadly weapons that must be respected as such.

If you fail to respect a firearm, bad things can happen. While we don’t know the specifics of what happened here, we know enough to know that there was a lack of respect for the firearm and what can happen when one is misused. Now, a woman is dead, and a man is facing his life being destroyed because of that lack of respect.

I can feel pity for the loss of life, but not for anything beyond that. I’m sorry, but there’s been way too much said about how guns aren’t toys and shouldn’t be treated as such for me to imagine any scenario where this kind of thing isn’t the result of colossal stupidity. This isn’t someone hearing a bump in the night, investigating, only to shoot a loved one who thought scaring their spouse was funny or something. No, this is on a whole other level.

While I enjoy the antics of Florida Man as much as anyone else, I’d rather see Florida Man get a little better sense as far as firearms go. Want to French kiss an alligator? More power to you. Just don’t do stupid stuff with firearms, OK?