As state Senator Lori Klein refuses to discuss why she pointed a loaded gun at a reporter during an interview last week, she might learn a thing or two from a Tempe man who found out the hard/deadly way what can happen when you ignore basic firearm-safety rules.
The senator might be interested to know that sometimes guns do things when they're pointed at people -- for example, they can go off.
Enter Jordan McGrath, 28, charged with manslaughter after blowing his friend's brains out, apparently accidentally.
According to court documents obtained by New Times, McGrath, his friend Luke Dewaard, and another man spent Friday night drinking in Scottsdale.
About 1:30 a.m. Saturday, the trio returned to McGrath's condo at 2401 East Rio Salado Parkway, where Dewaard sat down and put his head down on his hands as they were folded on a table.
Apparently joking around, McGrath grabbed a gun from a nearby gun box, pointed the gun at Dewaard's head and told him to "get up."
Then he pulled the trigger.
Long story short, the gun fired, and now Dewaard's dead.
McGrath later told police that he and Dewaard had been at the Scottsdale Gun Club earlier in the day. When they got home, McGrath cleaned the gun and put a loaded magazine in the gun's magazine. Well, he wasn't sure if he'd put a live round in the chamber, but apparently he did.
Klein, meanwhile, says in a statement that she's learned a valuable lesson by pointing a loaded gun at a reporter.
"I have learned several lessons from this experience that I will never forget. First, it doesn't matter if a reporter or anyone else asks, I won't be showing anyone my gun," Klein says. "It may help them take a better picture, but my gun isn't a fashion statement or accessory, it is a life-saving tool to keep me and my family safe."
