Then the man loaded the gun, put it to full cock, and laid it on the ground and went off.
As soon as he was out of sight, the monkey crept up to the gun and repeated what he had seen the man do.
Result—monkey’s head blown off.
This is the exact mentality of the “did not know it was loaded” fool.
The only difference is that, as soon as such people kill others on the “did not know it was loaded” principle, there are plenty of others to take their place.
As they are always acquitted when they say they “did not know it was loaded,” others imitate, knowing there is no danger of their being hung for this murder.
But if you shoot another man, even if you think he is going to murder you, unless you have let him first have a shot at you, you run the risk of being hung for it; if he turns to run away you must not shoot him in the back as he runs away or you get hung for it.
Parents encourage children in the criminal folly, aiming at people; they give them toy pistols and play themselves with the children pretending to be frightened when the child comes round the corner and fires the popgun or pistol with paper detonator at them.
When this child grows up, he always thinks that to point a firearm at any one and pull the trigger is “humour” and takes the first opportunity to pick up a firearm and point it at people. “Want of the sense of humour” is the unpardonable sin in the opinion of so-called “Humorous writers,” who consider any one not laughing at their obvious drivel is wanting in a sense of humour, and if he abuses mothers-in-law or throws bricks at a starving cat, he considers himself a humorist.
Surely any one pointing a firearm at others in play should be punished by two years’ hard labour. This would soon teach people that they must curb their “sense of humour.”