Joe Biden, some years ago, made a really bizarre argument about shotguns when talking about why he supported an idiotic gun ban (all gun bans are idiotic). You may recall it. He said that he told his wife, Jill, to go outside and fire two warning shots from a shotgun in the air to scare away people trying to break into their house.

We said it, then, but that is still terrible advice. Just wrong. (If you don’t remember Joe Biden’s shotgun story, you can get a refresher at the bottom of this article.)

And today’s story out of Atlanta, Georgia shows one of the reasons why firing warning shots is a really bad idea (hat tip to here for the lead). Luke McCoy writes,

On February 28th, a man arrived at his ex-girlfriend’s residence on Beecher Road around 12:46 am, escalating an ongoing dispute. According to an Atlanta PD report, he confronted her family outside the home and, in a reckless and dangerous act, discharged a firearm into the air.

Thankfully, the ex-girlfriend’s mother, prepared to defend herself and her family, did not hesitate to take action. She fired her own firearm, striking the ex-boyfriend and stopping the threat. The man then fled the scene but later sought treatment at Grady Memorial Hospital, where he remains in custody with charges pending.

Now, if this guy hadn’t fired a warning shot into the air, this situation may not have escalated to the point where he was shot.

But he did, and it did.

It was just foolish.

Firing a warning shot is a terrible idea for several reasons, not least of which are that you may hit an innocent person, many areas have laws against firing warning shots, and it can cause situations like in today’s story (in other words, it may cause you to get shot).

Use restraint and use common sense for your firearm instead.

(Now, if you need a reminder of Joe Biden’s shotgun story, a clip from that video is below followed by a humorous song that someone made using that story from Biden. Makes me laugh every time.)