(Insert obvious joke about shooting at the Bill of Rights here.)
Onward. According to the LAT, one of the crew members accidentally “grabbed a box of buckshot ammunition after the Amazing Grace ran out of blanks”.
Two people were injured, apparently not critically.
So off the top of my head:
- Just because it is a “blank” doesn’t mean it is safe. (Obligatory.)
- “‘The plan is never to shoot live ammunition,’ said Bentley Cavazzi, chief operations officer for the Ocean Institute, which has hosted the festival in Dana Point Harbor for 28 years.” Then why were they even carrying live ammo? Why was live ammo even allowed on board the ship? Does the Amazing Grace often go out on cruises where they shoot buckshot out of the ship’s guns? At what?
- “The boxes apparently look similar, authorities said.” Somebody made a bad decision there.
- I’m not sure this counts as a Rule Four violation, since it sounds like the crew of the Amazing Grace knew what they were shooting at and what was behind it. Maybe a Rule One and Rule Two violation, but again, it sounds like all of this was intentional and wouldn’t have been a problem if the gun had been properly loaded.
This appears to be the Amazing Grace’s website. I was trying to figure out what kind of guns it had, and how they worked; it kind of sounds like they may use commercial shotgun cartridges, instead of muzzle loaders like you’d see in the movies. The site isn’t helpful, but the “Ship’s Log” is good for a chuckle.
It sounds like this was part of the Toshiba Tall Ships Festival. “Back by popular demand again this year, children can take part in Cap’n Jack’s School for Scallywags. Watch as your young buccaneers learn to walk, talk, and sing like a pirate!” That sounds like it would get annoying. Fast.
[…] may, or may not, remember this, but the “Bill of Rights” is the tall ship that was accidentally shelled by the “Amazing Grace” back in September. This incident, by the way, goes unmentioned in the LAT […]