Yes, you read that right. A Secret Service agent assigned to protect former First Lady Jill Biden shot himself in the leg.
Now, it’s terrible that the agent got shot. But it is pretty hard to keep from making jokes about how, maybe, the Biden’s are rubbing off on the agents near them.
Or maybe the agent was desperate to not have to go back to work more with the Bidens.
I know, I know, it’s terrible of me to make cracks like that about someone getting shot.
But you chuckled at that, too, didn’t you?
But enough snarkiness (for now) on my part. Christian Martinez gives us the details of the situation:
A U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to former First Lady Jill Biden accidentally shot himself in the leg early on Friday near Philadelphia International Airport, according to a source familiar with the incident.
In a statement that did not mention Biden, the Secret Service said the incident occurred just after 8:30 a.m. EST and the agent suffered a non-life-threatening injury.
“There was no impact to the protectee’s movement and they were not present at the time of the incident,” the statement said.
So, apparently, Jill Biden wasn’t present at the time that it happened, and it was declared that the shooting was a negligent discharge.
Which really does bring up a point that probably can’t be made enough: remember the four rules of firearm safety:
- Treat every firearm like it’s loaded.
- Keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction (or don’t point the firearm at anything that you aren’t willing to kill or destroy).
- Keep your finger off of the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
- Be aware of your target, what is around it, and what is beyond it.
If this agent had followed all four of those rules, this negligent discharge almost certainly wouldn’t have happened.
And I say that not to criticize the agent. We can all fall prey to forgetting those rules if we’re not careful. That’s why we need to consistently return to the basics including reviewing these rules regularly.
