but serves him right

300000000 to go.

PH because she is the perfect example of a stupid american.

It's a good start, but not good enough. We need something more sensational than the mere inability to count.

... is an unloaded gun.

"Real life Dirty Harry.

I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a pistol, and would blow a whole in your head, you've got to ask yourself a question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

To the outside world, (well from the UK,) the US gun laws seem crazy! At least one US citizen has proved that point!

An American with a gun.

I don't think we have a monopoly on stupid people. Whilst I enjoy the banter in El Reg comments, this is just a tad inappropriate, and frankly, idiotic.

I can enjoy the best any culture has to offer, regardless of who their leader is or what their policies are. And I can laugh at the idiots of any nation along with everybody else. However, I don't dislike any nationality just for the sake of it.

I rather like the maxim, "there is NO such thing as an unloaded gun"

-- Jon

"PH because she is the perfect example of a stupid american."

...you picked the wrong icon there, genius.

....America has over 300M people, and over 1Bn weapons of various types. Per capita, there's enough guns in the US for everyone to have three. Statistically speaking, our gun death rate is really quite low, considering the amount of armed citizens in the populace.

Furthermore, while stupid, this is basically just another death by misadventure. How many people have been killed by misusing other types of machines through the years? Lathes, presses, conveyors, robotic assembly plants, etc?

If anything, this dude is the exception to the rule. The vast majority of gun owners will go their entire lives without ever shooting a person, either accidentally or intentionally.

Finally, the gun laws in the US have nothing to do with this idiot. As long as he's never been convicted of a felony, nor been committed to a mental institution, nor had official restraining orders placed upon him, he shot himself perfectly legally.

Something that I feel my British friends fail to think about is that a comprehensive gun ban and confiscation is simply impossible in America, from both a cultural and logistical standpoint. There are simply too many firearms in the country to ever get them all, and the people who own them are highly unlikely to give them up without a fight. Put yourself into the shoes of a 19 year old national guardsman-- would you really want to be on the detail who goes door to door and asks grizzled redneck types to surrender their grandfather's shooting irons? As that guardsman, would you be willing to arrest, or possibly shoot and kill, your fellow countrymen, who have been charged with no crime, and have probably never committed one?

For good or evil, guns remain a huge part of American life, especially in the Southern and Western regions.

You can't buy a handgun in Texas unless you are at least 21, but thanks for lumping all Americans in with this miscreant; had to be provided by another, likely illegally. I for one am glad he is no longer able to contribute to the gene pool. No thought to where the other bullets went, no concern that there could be a live round in the firearm, or whether or not his miserable life was worth the next trigger pull.

"PH because she is the perfect example of a stupid american."

Robert, that's a "Get My Coat" icon, not Paris Hilton.

We Americans aren't the only stupid ones it seems.

Americans with guns have proven that Brits with guns aren't really all that dangerous, either as foes or as allies. America owes much to that oft-demonstrated fact. Now, a Brit with a beer or 10, that's a scary thought, as these pages have amply documented.

Some of the world's worst outcomes (US and UK both) have been immediately preceded by somebody saying, "Here, hold my beer and watch this." This is an exemplar.

Its surprising how many people do survive when they attempt suicide that way, which is why it's not a recommended method of self termination. Too many end up with brain damage and ironically an even worse life than the one they were trying to escape.

However even if the guy ended his life immediately my guess would be the general "having a laugh" nature of his demise would be clue enough to suggest he thought the gun was empty.

And I think while this will possibly get an honourable mention from the Darwin Awards, usually you have to do something significantly more stupid than merely fail to keep track of the number of shots you fired if you want to 'win'. Something both creative and yet at the same time spectacularly stupid is required.

I must say I was disappointed with last year's winner, I felt the attempted mole eradication was a far more worthy recipient. Succumbing to addiction in a creative manner is less stupidity, more desperation imo.

PH cause you missed it and put up the IGMC icon.

Advice: when bashing others, best make sure you click the right icons lest you make yourself look as bad.

/IGMC

" I don't think we have a monopoly on stupid people. Whilst I enjoy the banter in El Reg comments, this is just a tad inappropriate, and frankly, idiotic.

I can enjoy the best any culture has to offer, regardless of who their leader is or what their policies are. And I can laugh at the idiots of any nation along with everybody else. However, I don't dislike any nationality just for the sake of it."

It isn't that there are more idiots in the US per capita, its just that your country decides to arm them with guns which can be bought from supermarkets.

Now that is stupid, really stupid regardless of the president your gun laws are the laughing stock of the civilized world.

@Clive:

hole, not whole

@Jeff:

We (being the rest of the world) are very specific in which nation we think have a scarily high proportion of idiots.

Yes other countries probably have a similar proportion (discuss); but since USAians wield a disproportionate influence in global affairs, it's a whole lot scarier that so many USAians seem so idiotic.

Especially the Idiot-in-Chief.

You have totally missed the point! Any society that allows its citizens to carry & own weapons that can KILL other citizens, (that includes knives,) is wrong. A gun is not for self-defence, it's an assault weapon; it's designed to KILL its target!

"To the outside world, (well from the UK,) the US gun laws seem crazy!"

piss-off. You've got a big problem. Maybe if more of your populace

was well armed, they could scare off some of your criminals.

[Between 1997 and 2003] crimes with [banned firearms] have more than doubled.... In 2002, for the fourth consecutive year, gun crime in England and Wales rose — by 35 percent for all firearms, and by a whopping 46 percent for the banned handguns. Nearly 10,000 firearms offenses were committed....

Clearly since the ban criminals have not found it difficult to get guns and the balance has not shifted in the interest of public safety....

In the four years from 1997 to 2001 the rate of violent crime more than doubled. The UK murder rate for 2002 was the highest for a century....

A recent study of all the countries of western Europe has found that in 2001 Britain had the worst record for killings, violence and burglary, and its citizens had one of the highest risks in the industrialized world of becoming victims of crime....

And here’s the icing on the cake: “[A] United Nations study of eighteen industrialized countries, including the United States, published in 2002 ... found England and Wales at the top of the Western world’s crime league, with the worst record for ‘very serious’ offenses.” [Emphasis added]

This is exactly why every citizen of this country has the right to own a firearm. Think how much money, time and effort are saved from Social Security, inappropriate voting of thier governor to President, psychatrist payments and other nationalized services (welfare) because he did what needed to be done.

He clearly lost his head on that one. Blew his load to early. Bit the bullet. Played a solo round of Russian Roulette.... crap I am all out

....stuff like this only happens in America? well I suppose a nation that voted for Bush TWICE has it's fair share of loonies...

"The only thing more dangerous than a loaded gun...An American with a gun."

Too true, but didn't we prove that sometime around the 1700's. So where is the suprise?? At least we don't wear red and line up as target practice.

American accomplishments far outweigh the stupidity of a few yahoos. Yank-bashing is just a sport for those embarrassed about their own country's lack of accomplishment. We see it all the time here in Canada. Looking down on someone is so much easier than actually putting in the effort to contribute something worthwhile.

Monkey's With Gun's Kill People

"One stupid american down, 300000000 to go"

I can read your mind. In your mind, this man was a white adult male wearing a wifebeater T-shirt, drinking beer, with a baseball cap and a denim shirt. This is the kind of person you fear and despise, and want to die.

But judging by the name of the victim and the location of the story, Mr Robinson was not one of these people. He was one of the multi-millions of Americans who is not of that type, and you have just insulted them. Which is amusing, because you've now created a cognitive dissonance in your own mind between two incompatible stereotypes.

Never point one at anything you don't want to destroy, REGARDLESS of the perceived condition of the gun.

...I live in Britain and I for one would feel a lot happier walking around London (or any other city it seems at the moment) with a gun... I have had friends shot in London and it's always gangs and kids growing up with no sense of identity or belonging (there is no 'Great Britain' amymore, just a multicultural melting pot where the English are treated as second class citizens). Whilst I obviously don't condone gang warfare of illegal firearms (or knives) on our streets you can see with the state of education and the state of the nation why it is happening

"...An American with a gun."

Near as I can figure, around a quarter million Americans with guns died saving your butts from Adolf.

9k plus merchant sailors died just bringing you groceries.

Good luck on learning Farsi (or Russian).

"Robinson's counting skills proved inadequate"

Funniest of it all for me was this sentence, really...

Re: Darwin Awards worthiness, I think this one is a reasonable contender. Yes, it is not of the elaborate absurdity variety, but I can't think of things more stupid than point a gun (no matter how sure you are it's got no ammo) to your head and pull the trigger, particularly when you don't intend to get hurt...

Well, Bob --- looks like you got us Yanks to take the flame-bait, eh?