Gun safety is contingent upon BOTH parties when a weapon is exchanged. If someone tried to hand me an automatic after ejejcting the clip but not demonstrating that there was not a round chambered, I would not take it from them.
Sheesh, maybe FR folks would rather Barr was an ANTI-GUNNER!
Just because Barr is pro-2nd A, it doesn't mean he is therefore exempt from criticism from doing something stupid with a firearm. In a way, it is worse in this case that he is pro-gun - because Josh Sugarman is probably, as we speak, in a near-orgasmic state as he writes up his latest anti-gun screed, detailing how even Bob Barr can't handle a handgun properly, so its shows both that the gun-rights people are hypocrites and that people should not be allowed to own handguns...
Nope. I'd rather hear an honest "we screwed up" than the comically lame:
"Nobody was in any danger. We were handling it safely, except that it was loaded."
He is on our side, but a Negligent Discharge -- especially prior to an election, and especially at a political fund raiser -- hurts our cause in a horrible fashion.