Most gun owners are responsible gun owners. Hell, most know the Four Rules, even if they don’t know the origin of them. More importantly, most know how to operate a little common sense when handling their firearms.

Unfortunately, there will always be a few who make you question whether their parents fed the paint chips as a kid and called them corn flakes.

Take this trio from Louisiana.

Police confiscated what they said are some of the most dangerous guns on the street in a bust this week after an eyewitness reported illegal target practice in a patch of woods at a park in Baker.

Police Chief Carl Dunn said Thursday, a person called police about gunfire and officers could hear the gunfire through the phone, the chief said.

Dunn said officers confiscated handguns and two concerning rifles – one “like an M-16,” he said. Magazine rounds were also taken.

“These are the ones that we try to avoid; These rounds travel for miles at a time,” Dunn told WBRZ.

“These are what we consider the most dangerous [guns] on the street.”

…

Three 19-year-olds were arrested: Katrell Rogers, Kalyn Jones and Trevaughn Parker.  They were charged with illegal use of a firearm, a charge because they had guns in a park, and also charges of illegal use of a weapon.

Now, let’s ignore the hysterics about the presence of what is probably just an AR-15 and look at reality as it stands.

The three were arrested not just with a gun “like an M-16,” but also several handguns; firearms they were too young to purchase lawfully. Further, these three mental giants decided to practice shooting in a copse of trees in a public park.

Honestly, this is weapons-grade stupidity.

Look, if you’re shooting into a full-on forest, there might be enough trees to serve as a backstop, especially if you’re shooting at a downward angle. A stand of “woods” contained within a park isn’t going to be enough. Dunn isn’t wrong when it talks about these rounds potentially traveling for miles–though that does take some certain conditions–and he’s not out of line to be upset.

As mentioned by Dunn in the above-linked article, there are gun ranges all over the place, especially in Louisiana. Why not go there?

My guess is that these weapons weren’t legally obtained, and they were worried they’d get caught if they were found with them at a public range.

Regardless, the three are now facing charges for their actions, but they should be eternally grateful that outright stupidity isn’t illegal, because this much dumb would rise to the level of a capital crime.

Luckily, their stupid will only hurt their lives. That’s the upside. It could easily have gone the other way, and we’re fortunate that we’re not talking about how some kid is dead because these three couldn’t be bothered to go to an actual range or, barring that, somewhere out in the middle of nowhere that there aren’t a lot of people around.