There are a handful of rules everyone who owns a gun should generally live by. There are times to look past those rules, but you need to know the rules well enough to know how to “break” them safely (by things like dry firing, etc). For one Texas man, though, that was clearly not the case.

See, people do stupid things. But, if you listen to the Four Rules, you’re less likely to do stupid things that hurt you or someone else.

For our intrepid Texan, though, stupid hurt.

A man is in critical condition after accidentally shooting himself.

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Police said he was in his bedroom “messing around” with a gun when he accidentally shot himself. His wife heard the gunshot and found him on the ground and called police for help.

Now, first, let me say that I hope the man makes a full recovery. Not just for his family’s sake, but also for his.

Part of that is because he can’t learn from his mistakes unless he recovers.

You and I can learn from it, though.

To start with, let’s look at the Four Rules for a moment:

1. Always treat every gun as if it were loaded.

2. Always point the muzzle in a safe direction.

3. Always keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.

4. Always be sure of your target and beyond.

Now, how many of those rules did this individual violate? Arguably, all of them.

Personally, I’d give him a pass on Rule Four, only because “your target” implies you intend to fire, though I could also argue a case where he violated this one as well. It’s really not worth arguing over, in my opinion.

However, even if you say he only violated three rules, that’s three out of four. That’s a horrid percentage for getting it right.

What we don’t know is just how well versed the individual in question is in gun safety. Some believe that everyone who wants to buy a gun should have to undergo a basic safety class prior to doing so. They want it mandated by law.

I happen to think that we could skip all of that if gun safety was a mandatory part of our educational system. If people go to school, they get gun safety classes. Then you don’t need to mandate someone take a class first because everyone would have taken the class. It’s not rocket science.

But it’s also possible that this individual knew better.

I’ve found that many of those who have negligent discharges are people who have handled guns so much that they no longer really respect them like they should. They get complacent and then things happen.

Undoubtedly, some will try to blast Texas and their gun laws after this, but that’s not really accurate. This likely would have happened no matter what. Further, I suspect if this guy carried his gun, he’d be a lot more careful than he was in the privacy of his own home.

Either way, I still hope he recovers and does so soon.