Man fires gun indiscriminately from his front porch, hits eight year old boy. Who could have predicted that?

8 year old AJ Hanger. Photo courtesy of Raw Story.

Courtesy of NBC Philadelphia:  

An 8-year-old boy is home with his family two days after he was struck by a stray bullet. 

Police apprehended a suspect who they say randomly fired a gun from his front porch and struck the 8-year-old boy on Friday. 

Authorities arrested 55-year-old Wayne Snowden of the 300 block of South Hanover Street, North Coventry Township and charged him for aggravated assault for allegedly shooting the child, 8-year-old AJ Hanger, as he rode his bike with a friend around 5 p.m. Friday. 

Police say Snowden was standing on his porch speaking with individuals inside the residence when he raised a handgun and fired a single shot in the direction of Coyne Alley. 

The bullet struck Hanger in the leg as he passed the Pottstown Dance Theatre near the intersection of West Main Street and Coyne Alley, North Coventry Township. 

"The defendant was extraordinarily reckless," said Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan. "The right to own firearms includes the responsibility to handle firearms safely." 

Thankfully this little boy was only wounded, but of course it could have easily have been much worse. Much worse.

You might expect the NRA to leap to the shooter's defense.

Wayne Snowden, the alleged shooter.

However since the defendant is not of the Caucasian ethnicity, and the little boy was, perhaps they will be more hesitant to impulsively get involved.

But hey perhaps their new, hip African American spokesperson will come to his aid and explain how we cannot blame the shooter simply because some young boy carelessly got in the way of his bullet.

You know when guns become an everyday accessory, considered no more dangerous than a pocket knife or pair of fingernail clippers, there will be more of these incidents.

The NRA literally wants guns in the hands of EVERYBODY. That means millions of bullets in millions of guns, just waiting for a domestic argument, or drunken tirade, to give them freedom.

Freedom to wound. Freedom to kill.

Some day somebody should conduct a study to determine just how many bullets have been fired in self defense, and how many were fired out of anger, or jealousy, or by accident.