Only cops should have guns — Chapter 2,350
Now imagine that this is you, and you go to work after a session at the range and accidentally shoot out one of the windows in your office. Jeeze.

The Charlotte Observer
Wed, Jun. 19, 2002
Assistant DA accidentally fires gun at work; won’t face charges
ERICA BESHEARS
Staff Writer
NEWTON – Jason Parker, an assistant district attorney running for district judge, will not face charges or lose his job after he accidentally fired a gun and broke a window in the Catawba County district attorney’s office last week.
No one was injured.
District Attorney David Flaherty Jr. said Parker would have to pay to replace the window.
“Jason does a good job,” he said. “I’ll have to put something in his (personnel) file.”
Parker was out of the office attending a district attorney’s conference Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.
Flaherty said the incident happened a little after 8 a.m. Friday. Parker had gone target shooting before work with two other people who work in the office. He brought the gun in with him, said Flaherty, who was not present.
Parker thought the gun was unloaded, but when he pulled the trigger, it shot a hole in the window of Flaherty’s office, Flaherty said.
“The most dangerous weapon is an empty gun,” Flaherty said. “It ain’t always empty.”
Guns are not allowed inside the courthouse. But Flaherty said he believes Parker fits the definition of a law enforcement officer, which means he would be exempt from the rule. Parker would not be allowed to carry a concealed weapon in the courthouse, Flaherty said. “I have no reason to believe that, in any way, it was concealed,” he said.
Parker, who has worked in the district attorney’s office since 1988, is running for district judge in the 25th Judicial District, which covers Burke, Caldwell and Catawba counties.
He faces incumbent Judge Greg Hayes and Mark Welch of Hudson