Eeeediots

Update: So, I'm seein' the West Lafayette Po-leeece Chief and some wonk from the Uni on the ijit box, talkin' about how this "shows that college campii are no place for guns."

Except, you malodorous ghits, it didn't happen on the campus. Fools, deadly fools, but they played by Purdue's rules while ignoring Col. Cooper's.

(It is my opinion that the two morons in question [soon if not already to be described by their families as "wonderful boys" and probably in possession of entirely satisfactory IQ scores] were eventually going to try some dumb stunt likely to kill or injure a person or persons and we're probably lucky they only killed one guy; a fellow who will play such tricks with a real gun will do other idiotic pranks as well, some of which can have far wider effect. While I think it is a very bad trade, one man's life for two idiots in jail and likely barred for life from ever touching firearms again, it is not the worst we could have seen; and as for those who fret over the two perps having "lost so much," they have lost nothing they did not wilfully throw away. I say society has gained a lot by stopping them now. Irresponsible young adults with a college degree become irresponsible adults, let loose on a world that presumes them competent and trustworthy by dint of a diploma: ticking time bombs. The only loss here was their victim, whose greatest mistake was trusting them).

Rule One: it's for everybody. Even college students. Not that the two in question paid any attention -- no, they thought it would be amusing to scare their buddy by pointing handguns at him and pulling the triggers.

This stops being amusing when one of the weapons has a live round in the chamber. Which is -- class, when are guns loaded? All the time.

The dumbassery in question is, in fact, a violation of Rules 1 through 3, plus 4.b and a highly questionable application of 4.a. (Plus, possibly, the Rule that suggests not operating dangerous machinery after an afternoon spent with Demon Rum or any of its kin; give these over-21 boys motorcycles or chainsaws and I suspect the outcome would have been the same).

The one happy note: Students interviewed in the associated video correctly quote Rule One. Why we are not teaching the Four Rules in our schools -- or even in the Girl Scouts* -- I do not know; ignorance isn't the same thing as stupidity but curing the former is known to be of some help in alleviating problems caused by the latter.
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* Some are.