Honestly, I find it extremely difficult to feel sorry for someone so careless with a firearm that he shoots himself.

Sheriff Steve Anderson said deputies responded to a negligent discharge call that a 17-year-old male received a gunshot wound to the chest.

The young man was apparently meeting friends to fish on the river when he pulled his .22 calibre pistol from his vehicle and – somehow – shot himself in his left chest area.

It’s Darwin’s Law via negligent discharge in Jefferson County, Idaho. This fool is lucky to be alive.

The moron was flown to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls and is expected to make a full recovery.

Where to even begin?  Well, I suppose my standard response is to learn and obey some really fundamental firearm safety rules. I’ve modified the list for this specific case and yes, I’m well are there are others.

Rule #1: Don’t drive around with a loaded pistol in your car.

I don’t care how cool you think you are. I don’t care how tough you think you are. Driving around with a loaded firearm is simply begging for trouble because you will a) be inclined toward bravado when common sense is required or b) you or someone you know may do something really stupid and the consequences of stupid with firearms are usually fatal.

Rule #2: Never point a firearm at yourself or anyone else – not even if you think it’s unloaded.

17-year-old Hayden Wik pulled this stupid stunt earlier this year, killing Autumn Higgs, his 16-year-old girlfriend. He is now on trial for manslaughter.

Rule #3: Keep your finger off the bang switch until you are ready to shoot.

If you’re pointing the gun at yourself or someone you love, you’re not ready to shoot.  So keep your paws off the trigger.

Firearms are great tools and deliver great joy to their owners and users when they are used properly and all firearm safety rules are followed by all participants.

It’s when fools who are too dumb to follow the simplest of rules that tragedies happen.

This idiot was lucky.

Autumn Higgs was not. May her senseless death be a lesson to us all.