New Husband 'Accidentally' Shoots Freckled Fox

[ViolaSebastian]

Someone introduced me to the Freckled Fox, a blogger and mother of five, over on the 'M is for Momma' thread. 84 days after the death of her husband, she remarried a new fellow and started integrating him into her family. Yesterday, he was reportedly cleaning a handgun and it accidentally discharged, striking him the forearm and her in the knee. To thicken the plot, she reportedly pinned some articles on abusive marriages shortly before the incident. I'm not terribly knowledgeable about guns, so I'm curious as to other people's take on this. It's unfortunate that gun safety protocol was ignored in a house with five small children, but gun accidents are sadly common the U.S.

https://www.facebook.com/thefreckledfoxblog/

http://www.kmvt.com/content/news/Couple-hospitalized-after-gun-fires-mid-cleaning-415382583.html

 

[Scribber]

I have followed her for awhile, because she intrigues me. Her quick marriage was huge red flags. And she has seemed vastly different since the new marriage.

Her post about it? Seems so forced.

[dawbs]

Nothing about that is positive.
Over re-assuring.

[ViolaSebastian]

There are a lot of things that don't add up in what she's said. For example, the big one to me is that she maintains that the kids didn't notice that all of this went down. I mean, surely they heard the gunshot and possibly expressions of pain. I also don't buy that the kids didn't notice the ambulance arriving. I'm not necessarily saying that something nefarious went down, but at the same time, it is not a good look when you contradict yourself about what happened. 

[JillyO]

Oh, wow, thanks for sharing. Her incredibly fast remarriage has been a huge red flag for me. However, it never even occured to me until now that her new husband might be absuive. I "just" thought that there's no way she properly grieved for her dead husband before starting the new relationship (and then getting married right away), and certainly that this must be horribly confusing for the kids. I really hope that this was only a terrible accident, and that she and the kids are not being abused.

[Maggie Mae]

I don't think this was an abuse type shooting. I refuse to call it an accident, because people who are responsible with guns don't have "accidents." This was Richard being irresponsible. I don't think it was deliberate - why would he shoot himself if it was? I wish people wouldn't be so stupid with their guns. There are kids and pets in that house, he should know better. 

I'm not seeing the "red flags" about the quick remarriage, either. Martin and Emily had over a year to prepare for his death. They probably talked about it. She has 5 little kids.  Is she a Mormon? Isn't it fairly common in that faith to remarry quickly because marriage is like a tenant of the faith? (My degree in Mormon studies comes from Big Love which is probably not really accurate.) I do wonder about the guy who marries someone with 5 kids, but it sounds like they were high school friends and reconnected. 

[nastyhobbitses]

Am I a horrible person for wondering when she'll do the golden-hour photo shoot of her recuperation?

[ViolaSebastian]

5 minutes ago, nastyhobbitses said:

Am I a horrible person for wondering when she'll do the golden-hour photo shoot of her recuperation?

I'm truly curious how she'll spin this into a blog post. 

[Howl]

I surprised the police aren't involved.  A weapon was discharged in a house that is a home to five children, wounding two people.  

Where does Freckled Fox live?  Urban? Rural?

[JermajestyDuggar]

3 hours ago, Maggie Mae said:

I don't think this was an abuse type shooting. I refuse to call it an accident, because people who are responsible with guns don't have "accidents." This was Richard being irresponsible. I don't think it was deliberate - why would he shoot himself if it was? I wish people wouldn't be so stupid with their guns. There are kids and pets in that house, he should know better. 

I'm not seeing the "red flags" about the quick remarriage, either. Martin and Emily had over a year to prepare for his death. They probably talked about it. She has 5 little kids.  Is she a Mormon? Isn't it fairly common in that faith to remarry quickly because marriage is like a tenant of the faith? (My degree in Mormon studies comes from Big Love which is probably not really accurate.) I do wonder about the guy who marries someone with 5 kids, but it sounds like they were high school friends and reconnected. 

I am not a Mormon scholar or anything but even if it is normal to remarry in Mormon circles, that is so quick. I have a Mormon friend that divorced her first husband, was single for quite awhile, and then remarried (she had 3 kids going into the marriage). So I don't think all mormons smarty quickly. I personally think that less than 3 months after the death of your husband is much too quick for a new marriage no matter your religion. 

[ViolaSebastian]

3 hours ago, Howl said:

I surprised the police aren't involved.  A weapon was discharged in a house that is a home to five children, wounding two people.  

Where does Freckled Fox live?  Urban? Rural?

I believe she lives in Twin Falls, Idaho, which according to wikipedia is around 50,000 people. 

[DaniLouisiana]

(I know nothing about this blogger) Re: gun safety-a gun is ALWAYS loaded-even if you just checked it.

You don't clean a loaded pistol!

If its a revolver-check the cylinder.  

If its an automatic-remove the magazine and check it again! A gun is always to be treated with respect and bullets are sneaky. Gun is always treated as if loaded.

Learned in 34 yrs of marriage to a "gun nut".

[Scribber]

(I know nothing about this blogger) Re: gun safety-a gun is ALWAYS loaded-even if you just checked it.
You don't clean a loaded pistol!
If its a revolver-check the cylinder.  
If its an automatic-remove the magazine and check it again! A gun is always to be treated with respect and bullets are sneaky. Gun is always treated as if loaded.
Learned in 34 yrs of marriage to a "gun nut".

Yep... always always always check and treat as if loaded.

(My husband is a gun nut as well, and our daughter is a competitive shooter. Gun safety is HUGE at our house.)

[ViolaSebastian]

So apparently he had just cleaned it and put a bullet in to put it away. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it preferred to store guns unloaded for safety? Particularly in a house with young children?

[Queen Of Hearts]

I'd never heard of this blogger before, but after checking out her blog and Facebook all I can say is "Holy Narcissist, Batman!"  That woman sure likes to post pictures of herself.  Even pictures of her mourning at her husband's funeral (which I would not object to so much if they were just her and didn't show her minor children grieving their dad)! 

The 84 day turnaround from grieving widow to happily remarried seems off to me  My own suspicion is that she may have had some kind of communication going on with him while her husband was still alive - not saying inappropriate but at least on a friendship level.  Otherwise I find it hard to believe they reconnected, fell in love, and chose to disrupt the children's lives all in under 3 months - during which time also included planning a funeral and dealing with the emotions of losing a spouse and raising 5 young kids and dealing with their grief, and planning mountaintop wedding complete with dress.   

[uber frau]

Best case scenario? He's a complete idiot who shouldn't own guns.

Worst case scenario? I don't even want to think about it.

Which ever way, I feel incredibly sorry for those kids.  They seem to be props rather than actual people with real feelings.

[December]

I haven't really looked at her blog much since shortly after her first husband's passing. That's a quick remarriage... I think I may have caught one post about him but I didn't put it together that they were already married. I assume the reasons behind it are part cultural (she's Mormon, right?) and part individual. She knew for a while that she was going to be widowed young with 5 children, which makes it likely that she had time to think about where she would go from there and possibly discussed it with her first husband. It's definitely unusual either way. 

Taking her explanation of the gun incident at face value, at best, it sounds like an adult might have been irresponsible with gun safety in a home full of children? Hopefully, it was a one-time mistake that fortunately didn't affect any of the children. 

[polecat]

On 3/5/2017 at 10:29 AM, ViolaSebastian said:

Someone introduced me to the Freckled Fox, a blogger and mother of five, over on the 'M is for Momma' thread. 84 days after the death of her husband, she remarried a new fellow and started integrating him into her family. Yesterday, he was reportedly cleaning a handgun and it accidentally discharged, striking him the forearm and her in the knee. To thicken the plot, she reportedly pinned some articles on abusive marriages shortly before the incident. I'm not terribly knowledgeable about guns, so I'm curious as to other people's take on this. It's unfortunate that gun safety protocol was ignored in a house with five small children, but gun accidents are sadly common the U.S.

https://www.facebook.com/thefreckledfoxblog/

http://www.kmvt.com/content/news/Couple-hospitalized-after-gun-fires-mid-cleaning-415382583.html

 

 

Without reading any of the other comments on this, I'll add a few of my own thoughts (and my husband's comments). 

First, I am familiar with guns and Mr. Polecat is a licensed firearms instructor/rangemaster. When I started reading this story to him, I got as far as, "Cleaning the gun, and it accidentally discharged, striking him in the forearm and her in the knee ... " and he interrupted me and said, "Nope. Didn't happen like that." So, that was his opinion. 

Mine? This guy violated so many rules of gun safety that it's horrifying and even more so because it was in a household with small children. First, never clean a loaded gun. Double and triple check that it's not loaded. Second, handle every weapon as though it's loaded. Never aim it at anyone unless you're actually planning to shoot them.  Know what's in your range (kids and wife in his case). Third, keep your booger hook off the bang bang switch unless you're actually about to shoot someone/thing. 

Follow the rules 100 percent of the time, and you don't have "gun cleaning accidents." Ever.

This was bullshit and completely preventable. His ass would be toast and served with divorce papers if it were my husband. He could have killed a child and almost certainly traumatized them. 

On 3/6/2017 at 2:34 PM, ViolaSebastian said:

So apparently he had just cleaned it and put a bullet in to put it away. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it preferred to store guns unloaded for safety? Particularly in a house with young children?

 

Oh, I missed that he'd put a bullet in it before storing. 

But yeah, I'd not be storing a loaded gun, either. That's craziness especially in a household with children.

[Denim Jumper]

Oh my goodness, I had no idea she got married again!

[ladyamylynn]

I just discovered this story last night. What a fucking awful situation. Over on gomi (I know, I know) they are calling him gun bun.  Dude gives off majorly creepy vibes, apparently he's insisting that the kids call him Daddy and call their real dad Daddy Martin.

[nausicaa]

On 3/9/2017 at 6:24 PM, polecat said:

First, I am familiar with guns and Mr. Polecat is a licensed firearms instructor/rangemaster. When I started reading this story to him, I got as far as, "Cleaning the gun, and it accidentally discharged, striking him in the forearm and her in the knee ... " and he interrupted me and said, "Nope. Didn't happen like that." So, that was his opinion. 

Okay, genuine question from someone who doesn't own guns and is really not familiar with them: is there any situation in which this could actually happen?

I'm asking because I worked with a woman who was dating a cop. By all appearances it seemed a good relationship, and the boyfriend didn't show any signs of being controlling or violent (but I know appearances can be deceiving).

Anyway, one day at work she got a call and became hysterical. It turned out her bf had been cleaning his gun and it accidentally discharged and shot her dog. He rushed the dog to the vet hospital, the dog survived. and they began to refer to him as "Twenty-Five Cent." I do think the guy had to report the discharge of the gun though.

At the time I didn't think anything of his story. Now I'm wondering, was he lying through his teeth? 

[ladyamylynn]

From what I understand, between "accidental" discharge of a weapon and straight up shooting someone, lies "negligent" discharge, aka being irresponsible.

[onekidanddone]

On 3/5/2017 at 11:29 AM, ViolaSebastian said:

Someone introduced me to the Freckled Fox, a blogger and mother of five, over on the 'M is for Momma' thread. 84 days after the death of her husband, she remarried a new fellow and started integrating him into her family. Yesterday, he was reportedly cleaning a handgun and it accidentally discharged, striking him the forearm and her in the knee. To thicken the plot, she reportedly pinned some articles on abusive marriages shortly before the incident. I'm not terribly knowledgeable about guns, so I'm curious as to other people's take on this. It's unfortunate that gun safety protocol was ignored in a house with five small children, but gun accidents are sadly common the U.S.

https://www.facebook.com/thefreckledfoxblog/

http://www.kmvt.com/content/news/Couple-hospitalized-after-gun-fires-mid-cleaning-415382583.html

 

Gun safety protocols are wonderful and I am sure (hope) (have no idea if) most gun owners follow them.  But you can't fix stupid.  Stupid and guns.  Very bad mix.

[polecat]

18 hours ago, nausicaa said:

Okay, genuine question from someone who doesn't own guns and is really not familiar with them: is there any situation in which this could actually happen?

I'm asking because I worked with a woman who was dating a cop. By all appearances it seemed a good relationship, and the boyfriend didn't show any signs of being controlling or violent (but I know appearances can be deceiving).

Anyway, one day at work she got a call and became hysterical. It turned out her bf had been cleaning his gun and it accidentally discharged and shot her dog. He rushed the dog to the vet hospital, the dog survived. and they began to refer to him as "Twenty-Five Cent." I do think the guy had to report the discharge of the gun though.

At the time I didn't think anything of his story. Now I'm wondering, was he lying through his teeth? 

 

Well, if all gun safety rules are followed, this sort of thing just doesn't happen. But yeah, if he was being careless while cleaning a gun, he could definitely have accidentally have shot the dog. I'm glad the dog is doing okay. 

Mr. Polecat just didn't think the Freckled Fox situation sounded believable with the trajectory of the bullet. He's not a ballistics expert, though -- he just teaches LE- and security-type people to shoot and use their guns safely, which, sadly, lots of people still don't do.

[JMarie]

On ‎3‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 1:41 PM, ladyamylynn said:

I just discovered this story last night. What a fucking awful situation. Over on gomi (I know, I know) they are calling him gun bun.  Dude

I, too, read GOMI.  I'm kinda fascinated by the shiny-rosy-perfect lives some bloggers claim to have.  I think she's going to resent this second marriage.  Richard was living in Utah and moved to Idaho for the marriage.  He didn't get an Idaho nursing license (I looked it up) until January 31 of this year, so for five months, they were living off of her savings and whatever she earns from her blog.  Of course, he can't work with a bum arm.  I wonder if he found a job in February, or he watches the smaller kids while she does her hair and blogs about it.