When a gun is involved, even minor accidents can kill people. And that's the thing about guns, right? It's doesn't have to be someone in a psychotic rage, or a criminal. Someone else's inadvertent slip of the hand, or just plain carelessness can result in the death of another human being. It doesn't seem like it should be so controversial to have more common-sense rules in place. Unfortunately, the NRA believes that any rules are an affront to reason and they've bought enough politicians to block them.

I don't know what it's like in rural areas, but most cities have laws against firing guns in the air for this very reason. If you don't understand that a bullet fired into the air can still kill people, maybe you shouldn't have a gun:

An Ohio sheriff says Rachel Yoder, 15, was shot in the head Thursday night while riding in her buggy after a Christmas party at a produce farm, the Associated Press reports.

She was heading to her home in Wayne County, between Columbus and Akron, when she was hit, according to Wayne County sheriff's Capt. Douglas Hunter.

Hunter says his department had traced a trail of blood along the road for about three-eighths of a mile into Holmes County in an area of farms and rolling hills.

Holmes County Sheriff Timothy Zimmerly says investigators figured out what happened after the gun-cleaner's family came forward and after his neighbors reported hearing a shot at about the time the girl was wounded.

The man had fired the gun in the air about 1.5 miles from where Yoder was shot, Zimmerly says. State investigators are checking the rifle for a ballistics match, he says.

"In all probability, it looks like an accidental shooting," Zimmerly says. No charges have been filed.

Zimmerly said he informed the Yoder family that the shooting appeared to be accidental, the AP reports.

If you accidentally killed someone with your car, you'd probably be charged with manslaughter. Careless with a gun? Oh well, accidents will happen.

This post is written as part of the Media Matters Gun Facts fellowship. The purpose of the fellowship is to further Media Matters’ mission to comprehensively monitor, analyze, and correct conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. Some of the worst misinformation occurs around the issue of guns, gun violence, and extremism, the fellowship program is designed to fight this misinformation with facts.