If you consider *a gun* to be a standard tool for satellite installation, you might be a redneck...

@BillyShears: You might have to shoot some varmints off the roof 'fore you install the dish.

Full text:
SEDALIA, Mo. (AP) -- Officials are trying to decide whether to file charges against a Missouri man who fatally shot his wife while trying to install a satellite TV system in their home.

Thirty-four-year-old Patsy Long of Deep Water was pronounced dead Saturday evening after being shot in the chest with a .22-caliber handgun. Her husband -- Ronald Long -- fired the shot from the inside of their home after several unsuccessful efforts to punch a hole through the exterior wall using other means.

Henry County Sheriff's Deputies say the woman was hit by the second of two shots fired by her husband.

Investigators say a person involved in such a case normally would be charged with manslaughter, but that was up to the prosecutor.

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH WOW!!!! JUST ....WOW!

I just saw this on my local kansas city news & they said he used a shotgun & not a 22 cal. handgun.

I'm sure he has uttered the phrase "git er dun" and says "yall" alot.

I smell a new cable ad campaign. "Satellite may promise better picture and more digital channels, but cable won't kill your spouse"

@forgottenpassword: That sounds more reasonable. It seems freakish she would die from a 22 pistol round already slowed by passing through a wall.

@legwork:

lol I just saw another newscast (different channel) saying that it was a 22 cal handgun used. The first newscaster (on the other channel) must've got it wrong.

Its really kind of sad. It was reported that the guy made sure that his wife was nowhere near the area. But what I think what happened was after the first attmept (shot), the wife went to see if it went thru (on the other side) & the guy shot again & killed her... not thinking she was there.

@forgottenpassword: Oddly, that sounds like something my dad and I would do, with me playing the role of the victim sticking my head out saying "I don't think it worked, let me get out of the way so you could..."

Why, oh, why do we not have laws prohibiting Criminal Stupidity?

I have no doubt that somewhere in the bowels of the corporate Comcast office, a group of executives is having a meeting trying to figure out how to best exploit this to their advantage.

@esthermofet: B/c there aren't enough jails on the planet.

@legwork: .22's are freaky rounds. They tend to bounce around inside the body, and cause a lot of damage w/o exiting. I've heard tales that shooting one into someone's head robs the bullet of the force necessary to exit the skull again, but it will pretty much shred the brain as it ricochets around.

Next thing you know, .22 ammunition and firearms will come with a red-lettered warning that "This is not to be used as a drill, auger or hole-punch."

An example of why those that have guns in the house increase their odds of dying from it by 30%.

If you're dumb enough to use a gun to drill a hole instead of an actual drill, you're too dumb to have a gun in the first place. Yeah, if it were me I'd charge with manslaughter.

@esthermofet: You can't stop stupid. It's way too strong of a force.

I'm a gun owner because I believe in the right to have a gun for self-defense, and even I think this dude is one of society's moron children who needs to be protected against. As far as I'm concerned he's a proven danger to himself and others and needs to have his gun rights removed.

Whether he also needs to be charged with manslaughter is a case for his local community to decide, since they're closer to the facts. A reasonable person might suppose that his wife's accidental death was enough punishment. If, however, he shows no signs of remorse or of learning from the experience, I would vote for locking him up as well... that is, assuming that if he was too dumb and sociopathic to be sorry about his screwup, he isn't TOO dumb or crazy to benefit from prison.

Apparently guns CAN use use for more than family protection, hunting dangerous or delicious animals, and keeping the King of England out of your face.

@speedwell: The problem is with letting every person who could have either criminal intentions, mentally unstable, and just plain dumb unlimited access to guns. There is no screening process for guns, as long as your not a criminal you can purchase a gun.

The point of gun control (or at least my idea) and not the full control where no one is allowed a gun. A good alternative is to have some type of screening process that's much more extensive then a background check could (hopefully) help prevent almost the most idiotic events such as this.

excerpt from the test: "Can a gun be an effective tool used in home maintenance?"