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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWife accidentally kills husband during gun lesson
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/28/17959498-wife-accidentally-kills-husband-during-gun-lesson-police?liteA fun night for a Pennsylvania couple turned deadly after police say the woman accidentally shot and killed her husband.
On Friday, around 9 p.m., police say Michael Wanko, 43, and Michele Wanko, 42, were casually drinking vodka and lemonade together inside their home on West Roland Road in Parkside, Penn. Around 3:30 a.m., police say the couple went into their basement so that Michael could show his wife how to use a semiautomatic pistol. The couple went into a work room where several weapons were kept inside a safe.
He took several of the weapons out, handguns and was demonstrating to her how the weapon worked as far as taking the magazine out, making sure it was safe, and how to pull the slide back, said Parkside Police Chief John Egan.
As Michael reached into a safe to grab a gun, police say Michele picked up another gun and pulled the slide back, just as her husband had instructed her. When she let go of the slide, the weapon went off, said Chief Egan.
snip
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)...
Response to alcibiades_mystery (Reply #1)
Donald Ian Rankin This message was self-deleted by its author.
warrior1
(12,325 posts)they started drinking at 9pm and then a 3am he decided to show his wife how to use a pistol.
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)though I'm sorry for the tragedy.
Sounds like an episode of Law and Order: How to kill your husband and get away with it.
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)what could go wrong?
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)This is just as much reason to ban alcohol as it is to ban handguns. In other words, no reason at all. Might as well try to ban stupidity.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)"Might as well try to ban stupidity."
Or irrelevancies.
EOTE
(13,409 posts)customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)all these "see what bad things happen with guns" stories get posted in the first place?
EOTE
(13,409 posts)These are posted to show how incredibly idiotic gun nuts are when they oppose every single piece of common sense gun legislation that's proposed. Let me clue you into something: Making it so that every idiot or maniac that wants one can't easily obtain pretty much any weapon he wants at a gun show without a background check is not "banning guns". Putting restrictions on unlimited capacity magazines is not "banning guns". Comprende?
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)to stop stupid, drunk people from playing with their guns at 3 AM?
EOTE
(13,409 posts)who would play with their guns at 3 AM, you know, COULDN'T GET GUNS IN THE FIRST PLACE? Or are you suggesting that there should be no laws with regard to mental fitness as it pertains to gun ownership?
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)Might be worth a try, but you'll never get it past any legislature. Besides, I'd be willing to bet that these two could have passed such a test while stone-cold sober.
I'm all for loading up databases with names of people with mental fitness problems, but that puts me at odds with the "privacy" folks on this forum.
EOTE
(13,409 posts)There are plenty of intelligent people who belong nowhere near a gun. Sensible gun legislation is all about making sure that the people who are most dangerous to the public with weapons are less likely to obtain them.
I hope the cops can smell it, too.
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)appleannie1
(5,044 posts)Swede Atlanta
(3,596 posts)This demonstrates how ignorance begets violence. They were drinking a lot of alcohol and then decided to pull out the firearms. They were stupid. As we all know, the presence of guns does not increase security, it diminishes it.
I am sorry for this loss but it demonstrates how people need to treat firearms with the same focus and respect as they would say a car (subject to DUI, etc.), a nuclear weapon, etc.
These people appear to have been hicks who drank too much and loved their guns. The outcome reflects the fallacy of their beliefs.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)Response to Swede Atlanta (Reply #4)
Donald Ian Rankin This message was self-deleted by its author.
Captain Stern
(2,197 posts)She was 42 years old, and was just now having her husband teach her how to operate one. (if that's to be believed)
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)BeyondGeography
(39,284 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)FarCenter
(19,429 posts)They started with the lemonade and vodka at 9:00 pm and the shooting occured at 3:30 am.
HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)They need some serious history lessons on that one.
kudzu22
(1,273 posts)There are plenty of good restaurants that are technically bars in the eyes of the law. I wouldn't drink and carry any more readily than I would drink and drive.
yellowcanine
(35,692 posts)ieoeja
(9,748 posts)Lots of people go to bars for reasons other than drinking. In fact, I hung out in bars for years before I started drinking. My dad would hang out in a bar all day long drinking coffee, playing cards, occasionally conducting business and just plain socializing. Bartendars at the place I stopped hanging out at recently hate working Sunday nights because they have open mic jazz that night and most of the performers don't drink.
It is not at all unusual to see non-drinkers in a bar.
And for the record, Playboy has an excellant reputation for their articles. Everyone likes to make fun of that fact, but that doesn't mean it is not true.
Progressive dog
(6,862 posts)Wow
enjoyingyourpeasyet
(23 posts)Oh well.
otohara
(24,135 posts)it just went off....
dummies
Common Sense Party
(14,139 posts)I don't.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)Basement walls should protect the public.
Actually, some percentage of hunting accidents and gun accidents are actually murders and suicides, e.g. the cop cleaning his service revolver which accidently discharged killing him, might actually be a suicide.
Crunchy Frog
(26,548 posts)wasn't endangered in this escapade. They at least had the decency to keep it in the family.
Crunchy Frog
(26,548 posts)At least we know that gun safety training is effective.
Jenoch
(7,720 posts)else knows? There is no mention of gun safety training in the story.
"...demonstrating to her how the weapon worked as far as taking the magazine out, making sure it was safe..."
Jenoch
(7,720 posts)most certainly NOT 'gun safety training'.
Common Sense Party
(14,139 posts)up and wasted after 6.5 hours of boozing.
Have you?
Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)baldguy
(36,649 posts)EOTE
(13,409 posts)When gun nuts act like reprehensible assholes, that doesn't encourage me to do the same.
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)Though I am what the gun enthusiasts like to call a "gun grabber" I find it very disturbing when one of their ranks is needlessly killed by guns.
This is sad and disturbing
reformist2
(9,841 posts)I think she dun him in...
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)The gun lesson wasn't the problem. The drinking and fatigue was. Can't rule out stupidity, either, for that matter.
Cha
(295,929 posts)and then you see all about the vodka that was consumed until 3amish.
A better headline.. "Alcohol soaked gun lesson leads to husband's demise."
It's terribly sad.
jollyreaper2112
(1,941 posts)Responsible gun owners don't scare me. People like this do. Dangerous tools! Show some fucking respect.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)jollyreaper2112
(1,941 posts)That's the real problem, isn't it? Everyone thinks its the other guy giving the rest of us a bad name.
I'm sitting here with a lacerated thumb because I am evidently too incompetent to pick up a glass promptly. Shattered in my hand, no collision or anything, just stuck to wood. Picked it up and it shattered.
If I can't even handle glassware without a trip to the ER, I have no business being around guns so I avoid them.
Chellee
(2,086 posts)Feel better soon.
jollyreaper2112
(1,941 posts)Thanks I am on the mend. The shape of my thumb was different after the cut. It is filling in nicely. I thought I was going to be permanently maimed. This is the stuff people do drunk and I was sober!
Beartracks
(12,761 posts)... gun restrictions will only interfere with the firearm purchases of law-abiding citizens -- but they just don't grasp that many, many unfortunate domestic violence and accidental shootings occur at the hands of gun-owners who WERE law-abiding citizens right up until they BECAME criminals (through either intent or negligence).
I guess it could be said that guns don't kill people, but they have a nasty habit of making people into criminals and statistics.
=================
Shadowflash
(1,536 posts)that you don't know who the responsible or irresponsible ones are until someone is dead.
Marr
(20,317 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)How drunk would somebody have to get to drink that?
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Last edited Mon Apr 29, 2013, 09:38 AM - Edit history (2)
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Sid
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)TheCowsCameHome
(40,163 posts)Smooooth, Michael.
Happyhippychick
(8,379 posts)Oh wait.
JI7
(89,182 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)PD Turk
(1,289 posts)First off, drinking and fooling around with guns is always a bad idea, when you unlock the liquor cabinet, lock up the damn gun cabinet and leave it locked.
Secondly, this statement stinks to high heaven , When she let go of the slide, the weapon went off,. The gun should be carefully examined by an expert gunsmith, and absent a finding of a malfunctioning weapon, she should be charged with the murder of her husband. Simply pulling the slide back and letting it go does NOT discharge a round from a normally functioning pistol.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)charge her with murder ? More evidence maybe?
So many accidental gun deaths. Goes on all the time.
PD Turk
(1,289 posts)marions ghost
(19,841 posts)so follow the case & see what happens, and let us know.
PD Turk
(1,289 posts)I find her description of how it happened much more than suspicious. The simple act of charging the weapon should never produce a discharge, even if she had her finger on the trigger when she pulled the slide, in a normally functioning modern pistol she wold have had to release the trigger and squeeze it again before the weapon would fire. This case bears very close scrutiny at the least
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)so she might have goofed. This is why I say guns are not for everybody. A lot of people just don't have what it takes to handle them.
If she's kinda distressed over killing her husband it might be an indicator? but I'm sure there will be scrutiny.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)the time they arrived on scene Michele Wanko begged the cops to let her husband stay."
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/delco/Cops-Woman-kills-husband-during-drunken-gun-lesson.html
PD Turk
(1,289 posts)seems there could be a whole lot more to this story than what we are being told. If there is nothing wrong with the gun, she's not helping herself by lying about how it discharged.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)PD Turk
(1,289 posts)with a normally operating semi auto pistol, simply charging the weapon will not set off a round
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)the gun wont discharge. But these were not normal circumstances, so what's your point? My father in law shot a hole in his furnace with an unloaded gun.
PD Turk
(1,289 posts)and I explained it in my post upthread, is if the gun doesn't have a mechanical defect causing it to malfunction, simply pulling and releasing the slide, charging the weapon will not set off a round.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)PD Turk
(1,289 posts)her story stinks to high heaven
Threedifferentones
(1,070 posts)As the other poster said, guns do not discharge by pulling back the slide. If no flaw in the gun can be found, if this accident cannot be replicated, that is really suspicious.
Even worse, she had this weapon pointed at her husbands upper body so that a single shot would prove rapidly fatal. Even if she did not intend to fire the weapon, why did she have it pointed at her husband?
Finally, while accidental shootings are obviously quite common, they are also frequently lies, especially when read in the news.
Think about it. Stats show that for the roughly 30k gun deaths annually in the USA, 20k are suicides. How many families will lie to the media and say a suicide was an accident?
If a person cannot lie about having shot someone, but they do not want to get charged with murder, they will probably say it was an accident. It makes sense and undoubtedly goes on all the time.
pipoman
(16,038 posts)some pistols incorporate a slide lock into the safety. To pull the slide back the safety has to be off. A novice or careless person may have their finger on the trigger when trying to pull the slide back. The slide pulls more firmly than a novice may expect, which may cause them to squeeze the hand holding the grip. The magazine has a round in it. The slide is released and when it slams shut, the hammer drops and fires the round..It is plausible..too early to tell if her intentions were nefarious..
sarisataka
(18,220 posts)is since they were checking clear, where did the bullet come from?
you think she squeezed the trigger while pulling the slide? What kind of pistol would fire like that? I don't have any late model stuff but my old straight grip 1911 won't, would have to release the trigger and squeeze it again to get it to fire.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)pipoman
(16,038 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)pipoman
(16,038 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)PD Turk
(1,289 posts)I went out back to my pistol trap earlier with my old straight grip 1911 and my old Hi-Power and tried every which way I could to make it slam fire and couldn't do it. The 1911 was made around 1920 and the Hi-Power was made around 1938 iirc. I've never had a problem with them doing it so I have a hard time picturing a modern piece going off like that
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)If so, against what?
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)IMO, repeatedly engaging in mindless name-calling undermines the alleged goal of seeking to solve certain gun-related deaths.
You guys are the "good guys?" That's your real goal? I don't believe it for a minute.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Fortunately, most folks -- even gun owners -- know this lethal weapons love has gotten out of hand.
kudzu22
(1,273 posts)Here endeth the lesson.
Response to kudzu22 (Reply #25)
Name removed Message auto-removed
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)Guns and alcohol are always stupid and if you don't think so, Obama should confiscate your guns himself.
sarisataka
(18,220 posts)Does no work for you?
A person who is using, carrying or otherwise around firearms should have as much alcohol as a surgeon in the OR.
Absolutely none is a very good upper limit.
Walk away
(9,494 posts)You are going to fit in like a crazy person in an asylum!
"guns and alcohol mix fine!!!!"
Jenoch
(7,720 posts)The people in the 'gungeon' are universally against mixing liquor and guns.
Response to Walk away (Reply #63)
Name removed Message auto-removed
kudzu22
(1,273 posts)Seriously.
Walk away
(9,494 posts)You really shine a light on why guns are so dangerous. I'm sure people like you make up a hefty chunk of gun owners.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)Gun owners: Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger. I must warn you, though, that the findings on gun ownership and risky alcohol behaviors published this week in the British Medical Journal do not paint an altogether flattering picture.
You're twice as likely as people who do not have a gun at home to down five or more drinks in a single sitting. You're almost two-and-a-half times more likely than people who do not have a gun at home to get behind the wheel of a car when you have, by your own admission, drunk "perhaps too much." And you were just a little less likely than that (2.39 times as likely to be exact) to consume 60 or more drinks per month.
Walk away
(9,494 posts)Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)as yourself.
I guess you either never went to a gun safety course, or if you did, slept through it.
You should not be allowed to ever handle a firearm, you are a deadly gunshot statistic waiting to be recorded.
There is no safe level of inebriation while handling a dangerous weapon, ZERO.
There is no 'moderation'. The only correct BA level when handling a deadly weapon is 0.00, period.
I bet you think you drive better with a slight 'buzz' on, too.
And this, folks, is just another reason why I am against 'law-abiding gun owners' to carry in public, lots of the same attitude among gun owners similar to this.
kudzu22
(1,273 posts)hence my original lesson.
sir pball
(4,726 posts)I'll confess to a Manhattan while I wait for the solvent to work.
But until the weapons are literally lying on the table in pieces, no such thing as "moderation". It's one of the few zero-tolerance policies I have.
liberal N proud
(60,302 posts)And we see the results!
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)jpak
(41,742 posts)yup
TheCowsCameHome
(40,163 posts)without knowing the make, model, caliber, serial number, color, age, origin, and mental history of the gun.
Send it over the the DU Gungeon for a complete analysis.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)mokawanis
(4,434 posts)and you provided it today. Perfect comment!
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)nevergiveup
(4,744 posts)Lots and lots and lots of pictures and everything will be clear.
Skittles
(152,967 posts)Paladin
(28,204 posts)laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)mwrguy
(3,245 posts)ileus
(15,396 posts)when racking the slide.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)They should not have been handling guns while drinking, and more. But fact is, many gun owners do not handle guns properly, even many so-called responsible, experts.
Common Sense Party
(14,139 posts)And it just aggravates you to no end, I'm sure.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Common Sense Party
(14,139 posts)Common Sense Party
(14,139 posts)Walk away
(9,494 posts)no one is stupid enough to advocate people drinking alcohol and driving (except that gun lover up thread). Why do you always have to use NRA "Gun Non-Logic". It must sound convincing to you but to people who can count the carnage, it just sounds like desperate nonsense.
Common Sense Party
(14,139 posts)Try again, and I'll see if you give me enough to work with.
Jenoch
(7,720 posts)alcohol do not mix. What I find appalling is what apoears to be a lack of compassion for this family from the majority of people who have so far posted on this thread.
Crunchy Frog
(26,548 posts)Given that we all have to die, I don't see anything particularly tragic about the means.
Jenoch
(7,720 posts)What a load of crap.
Crunchy Frog
(26,548 posts)and drinking. And he died doing it. Where's the load of crap?
Jenoch
(7,720 posts)that phrase implies. This guy had two young children. This is a tragedy and nit something to make light of. Sure this couple exercised poor judgement. That is no reason to take glee in this incident as have some of the people posting on this thread.
Locut0s
(6,154 posts)Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)Something else happened. And it almost certainly involved the alcohol.
kudzu22
(1,273 posts)it's called a slamfire, and closing the slide can fire a round if the firing pin is stuck (or if you have your finger on the trigger). This is why you follow rule #1 -- never point the gun at anything you don't want to make a hole in.
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)Much, much rarer than the odds of alcohol making this woman do something stupid. Like pulling the trigger.
ecstatic
(32,567 posts)Isn't it? The blame lies with the so called experienced gun owner. But at the end of the day, it probably was just his time to go.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)See about 1:40
BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)You can't blame her. If you want to blame somebody, blame Darwin.
baldguy
(36,649 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)"If you like to a drink old whisky, you might even a shoot yourself," Lynyrd Skynrd
bluestate10
(10,942 posts)Darwinism at it's finest.
treestar
(82,383 posts)Not drunk enough to be unable to unlock the cabinet with the guns in it, but apparently drunk enough to cause a shot! And she is a stay at home mom, so he already procreated!
alarimer
(16,245 posts)Drinking while handling firearms.
caraher
(6,276 posts)His annual "Gun Owner of the Year" column was the "Darwin Awards" of firearms, before there were Darwin awards.
Apophis
(1,407 posts)People need to be saved from their own stupidity.
Robb
(39,665 posts)jsr
(7,712 posts)Wanko's wife, Michele, 42, told police that she and her husband began drinking lemonade and vodka around 9 p.m. Friday and about six hours in to the drinking session Michele Wanko, a stay-at-home mom, told her husband she wanted to learn how to use a weapon in case someone tried to break in to their home while he was away, Egan said.
William Wanko took out several weapons he had in a locked safe in the couple's basement and was showing his wife how to properly use them, according to police. As he was getting another gun out of the safe, Michele Wanko allegedly picked up a semi-automatic pistol, pulled the slide back as her husband had showed her and the gun went off, striking William Wanko.
"He was able to say, according to her, 'I can't believe you shot me,'" Egan said.
William Wanko then tried to run up the basement steps but fell back down, police said. Michele Wanko called 911.
MADem
(135,425 posts)You can't make this shit up...
iwillalwayswonderwhy
(2,598 posts)Willy Wanko did me in.
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)fire water and black powder don't mix.
moondust
(19,917 posts)How big is the insurance policy?
rightsideout
(978 posts)dimbear
(6,271 posts)One of his best.
Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)Anyone who can read the responses here without being sickened, infuriated and ashamed to be a DUer is a truly wretched human being.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)If you were that disgusted you wouldn't hang around.
iwillalwayswonderwhy
(2,598 posts)Sorry, but I just can't seem to muster up much compassion for drunks playing with guns. At best, I just think to myself "what a stupid way to die."
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)Not much compassion for the stupid here - just relief they didn't bring someone innocent down with them.
Iggo
(47,489 posts)Yep.
No compassion here.
Sorry.
DFW
(54,057 posts)Or maybe the new "Divorce, American style."
Carolina
(6,960 posts)but this is just stupid: spend an evening drinking VODKA & lemonade, then decide to engage in some firearm lessons in the wee hours of the morning?! Sheesh, it's really hard for me to feel sympathy because of the sheer stupidity of this.
Lesson one: ETOH & GUNS don't mix!
Lesson two: never point the weapon at a person (unless you mean to do harm)
Response to warrior1 (Original post)
Post removed
EOTE
(13,409 posts)I am one of the staunchest proponents of gun control you'll find. The biggest reason I support increased regulation of guns is to hopefully prevent senseless tragedies like this one. Both of their behaviors might have been really dumb, alcohol doesn't mix will with just about anything, particularly guns. But that doesn't mean that this man's death is any less tragic. There are truly evil people in this world, revel in their deaths all you want.
Union Scribe
(7,099 posts)LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)I imagine they will allow your sentiment all the attention it indeed warrants...
Ganja Ninja
(15,953 posts)rurallib
(62,346 posts)most likely to shoot spouse or family.
Stats right again
yellowcanine
(35,692 posts)Yeah right. There are absolutely no holes in that story.
AndyA
(16,993 posts)This was certainly a tragedy, but if the guy hadn't had guns in the first place, he'd probably still be alive today.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)polly7
(20,582 posts)Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)Um...bullshit.
Barring an astronomically unlikely chain of bizarre mechanical failures, that pistol "went off" because the drunken idiot wife pulled the trigger. Inadvertently, I suspect, because of a combination of inebriation and poor trigger discipline (finger stays OUT of the trigger guard until you are prepared to shoot...without exception), but her doing, nonetheless.
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)LE have to take a look at the gun? They should be able to tell if the thing malfunctioned, I would think.
If there is nothing wrong with the gun, wouldn't drunk wifey be up for charges?
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)I'd expect a complete examination of the firearm to be carried out by a competent gunsmith (Parkside's apparently real small, so their PD might not have a dedicated armorer). If that examination rules out a mechanical failure, I would be surprised if she's not charged...with negligent homicide, anyway.
JHB
(37,132 posts)I recall some strong lessons about always always ALWAYS know where the barrel is pointed, and make sure it is not pointing at someone.
I'm sure 3am booziness in a basement didn't exactly help keep their attentions focused where they should have been.
sellitman
(11,596 posts)If my wife did drink and made it up past 3 am with me I suspect I wouldn't be playing with fake pistols. ~