Towanda daily review. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1879-1921, 1881-06-02
Accidents from Firearms.

careless nSe or nre-arfnS, a uSually neeu-
less and generally destructive appendage,
carried by g large class of our citizens,
especially by the junior branch. That
these deadly engines are carried by the
wholesale was shown not long since oy
the announcement in railroad car that
q crazy man was aboard and at large. A
panic Immediately ensued, followed oy
the presentation of arms, and the vast
number exhibited revealed the fact that
majority were supplied with shooting
irons. When not carried on the person
ready for combat but lain away in the
bedroom awaiting a nocternal campaign,
they frequently operate fatally as is
shown by the following, seen in print not
long ago: ga four-year-old huding a
revolver in drawer in bedroom took
it up and killed two-year-old sister"
Same day a lad of eleven summers found
a pistol lying about the house, gave 1t an
investigation in detailto learn the mys-
terry surrounding it and finally pointed 1t
at a cousin. It event OFF, of course and
killed him. Such cases and others in
which adults figure, are ofso frequent oc-
currcnce that we are led to speak Of the
barbarous situation as 1t exists in our
land of boasted civilization, calling the
attention of the public to the alarming
state of the nuisance, for it is nothing
short of it. If the law against carrying
concealed weapons were ct all enforced it
might in a measure break up the perni-
cious practice as none but the roughs and
hoodlums would take pride in having the
butt of pepper box ornament, belt or
an outside pocket. We think the State
ought to go step farther in the matter,
take charge of firearms, give license to
use them when special case demands it,
but in ordinary times, fine shonld be
the penalty for carrying the deadly in
struments. And parents should take
hand in this reform, exercise watchful-
ness over the boys who now a-days de-
light in the possession of seven shooter
and usually purchase one as early as their
stock of cash will permit.
AS rule we can see no good derived
from firearms, compared with the mis-
chief, expense and loss of limb and life,
occasioned by them. Where one burglar
or assassin is shot in an attempt to rob
or kill, a dozen innocent persons are
manned for life or sent "where the wood
bine twineth.'' Men Of ''salt and pepper"
temper usually go armed; on slight
provocation they WELD them, shooting
perhaps their best friend and plead tenn
porary insanity for the cold blooded deed.
Another person is afflicted with hypo-
chondria, at reverses of fortune, or sor-
row at death of friends, or shame and re-
morse for crime, he feels blue, discour-
aged and. reckless and thinks the grave
most congenial to his disordered state of
mind. 1t is not easy to get poison;
stomach pump would defeat that plan,
hanging above terra firma on tight rope
is repulsive, he has an aversion to cold
plunge into deep water, but the revolver
or shot gun is handy and trusty, he at
once resorts to 1t, in this melancholy
state of mind life is taken which iu the
absence of the ''infernal machine" might
have been saved.
The public needs a new set of tactics
in regard to the common use, custom and
usage of firearms. The current state of
affairs savors Of lawlessness and barbar-
ism rather than sign of our boasted
law, order and civilization. Let us have
more moral courage and unfinching man.
hood, learn to be cool, meet reverses in a