There is punditry and then there are moments when a person should be absolutely ashamed about what they say during a debate over a controversial issue.
A case in point came this weekend, when Pasco County Republican Committeeman Bill Bunting and Tampa Bay Times columnist Daniel Ruth got into a terse exchange on WEDU's Florida This Week about fairgoers being allowed to bring guns to the Florida State Fair.
Attempting to make the point that bad things happen to even responsible gun owners, Ruth referenced the death of a Pinellas woman who was hit in the head by a bullet at her father’s church.
Investigators have said the woman's boyfriend was showing his pistol in a small closet to another church member interested in buying a firearm.
The man reportedly removed the magazine from the Ruger 9-mm weapon but did not know that a bullet remained in the chamber. The gun went off, firing a bullet through a wall.
"He should of went to a better instructor," Bunting, a well-known gun rights advocate, said to grimaces and guffaws from his fellow panelists, Ana Cruz, Mike Deeson, Ruth and moderator Rob Lorei.
He should of went to a better instructor? I'm sorry Bill, but are you freaking kidding?
Regardless of where one stands in the debate over gun rights and the Second Amendment, the response one gives to the death of a twenty-year old pastor's daughter is not a quip about someone needing to have received better instruction about how to unload a gun.
Shame on you, Bill.