No such thing as a "stray bullet"

Stray bullet?

Why do the media call the bullet from the gun of some thug that doesn’t hit the intended target a stray bullet? The implication is that if the intended target would have been hit, everything would have been fine and dandy. It also feeds the victim mentality that advocacy groups like to propagate. The thug was simply a victim of a bullet that somehow went astray. As if no one’s responsible for what happened. After all, it was the bullet’s fault for not finding the target.

Instead of headlines like, “Stray bullet strikes 13-year-old girl” or “Stray bullet kills 4-year-old girl,” how about something like, “Young girl gunned down while jumping rope” or “Police hunt for murderer of young girl.” Such headlines might bruise the sensibilities of those who think responsibility for one’s actions is passé, but they give a more accurate picture of what really happened. Plus, they’re honest journalism. They rightly imply that the perpetrator wasn’t some well-meaning person who simply couldn’t shoot straight.

Stray bullets are what happen on shooting ranges and during hunting accidents among professionals or trained individuals, when the intention is not to harm anyone and when a real honest-to-goodness accident can and sometimes does take place.