Cats and guns... a potentially lethal combination

Down in Raleigh, visiting with the parents, and getting ready to watch the ACC Tournament on the telly.

Then I saw this story come burbling over the AP wire:

BATES TOWNSHIP, Mich. - A man cooking in his kitchen was shot after one of his cats knocked his 9mm handgun onto the floor, discharging the weapon, Michigan State Police said.

The wound was apparently not fatal; otherwise, I think we would've just been introduced to the latest candidate for the 2005 Darwin Award.

Please, gun-and-cat owners: if you are going to disregard the fundamental rules of firearms safety (hint: *never ever* leave your semiautomatic pistol lying around with one in the chamber!), please practice good Cat Awareness.

Cat Awareness 101: If your personal property is sitting in a location where your cat might like to lie down, it's toast. Mister Gato, in his unending quest for lebensraum, has knocked everything from the day's mail to expensive electronic equipment onto the floor.

(There is, of course, ample literary precedent for the pistol-packing kittycat. Come to think of it, Behemoth carried a nine, too.)