Any loss of life is a sad occurrence. While death is a natural and inevitable part of life, modern medicine has done wonders to keep people alive much longer today, allowing us to spend more time with loved ones who came before us. Eventually, however, death is the natural end to our time on this earth.

However, there are many times when the loss of a life is so foolish and could have been avoided. These are the times that leave most of us shaking our heads because we know a person should still be alive.

Recently, a young man in LaGrange lost his life at the hands of a West Point woman. The police have ruled this death the result of an accidental shooting. The young woman was holding a gun in a gas station in LaGrange, and the man was filming her. The gun was loaded and accidentally went off, striking the man in the face.

The man spent time in intensive care before ultimately succumbing to his injuries. The woman has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and will be in police custody when she is released from medical care.

This was a senseless incident that didn’t need to happen.

“We are seeing more and more on social media where younger adults and kids are playing with these guns and making videos to go on social media,” Lt. Dale Strickland with the LaGrange Police Department said. “Pointing the guns at one another, pointing the guns at themselves, which is all a bad idea. You always treat a gun like it’s loaded and never point it at something you didn’t intend to destroy.”

We’d tend to agree with the assertion that pointing a loaded gun at something as a joke is never a good idea. In fact, it’s a terrible idea. Guns are not toys. Period.

Our deepest sympathies go out the family of the young man who lost his life. A life that should not have been lost.