One of the most basic rules for firearm safety is that you should not just know your target but what’s behind it. That’s because bullets can travel a very long way after fired. I mean, sniper legend Carlos Hathcock recorded a kill at just under a mile and a half during the Vietnam War and Navy SEAL Chris Kyle scored one at under one and a quarter miles in Iraq. Neither of these was the longest sniper shots in history, either.

Yet if someone can hit a target at that distance, you’d better believe that it’s possible for a round to travel well beyond the range you’re going to be deer hunting.

Unfortunately, it seems not everyone accounts for what’s beyond their target, and now Connecticut police are looking for one hunter who failed to do just that.

Investigators looking for a hunter who on Monday, while shooting at a deer, and trailing it through the yards of private homes, had his fired bullet smash through a window and land inside a resident’s home.

…

Guilford Police Department Chief Warren “Butch” Hyatt confirmed for Patch that his officers are working with state environmental police in trying to identify and locate the hunter.

So this guy was close to private homes, apparently close enough that the resident with a new bullet hole in her home to see, and was traipsing through people’s yards and firing far too close to homes.

Folks, this is how you get laws on the books. It’s not the person who has to shoot out of some life or death situation that spurs lawmakers to ban people from doing things, it’s the idiots who pull things like this.

To be fair, though, I suspect that calling this person a hunter is far too generous. If they were going through people’s private property like this, I suspect they’re more of a poacher than a hunter. Maybe I’m wrong, but they’re definitely irresponsible and dangerous.

While no one was injured, that’s from luck more than anything. That’s why we have rules for proper gun handling, to prevent things like this from happening and to prevent them from being far more tragic than a few home repairs. Patching windows and holes in walls are easy. Patching holes in people is a bit messier.

My hope is that police find the individual responsible and prosecute him for his carelessness if nothing else.

Someone could have been injured or killed, and while I like venison as much as the next guy and more than a lot of folks, it’s not worth accidentally killing someone to get it. These kinds of actions need to be called out and denounced, which I’m more than happy to do. This is not how the hunting community acts and it’s not how gun owners should act.

With luck, the individual will be found, arrested, and prosecuted. Then he’ll have the opportunity to tell his side in a court of law.

I also suspect he’ll be forking over some money for repairs should they find him, too.