Samantha Emge, a 25-year-old SF State graduate, was taking a shower in her Sunset District home when a bullet came through the wall and killed her. Her boyfriend, Nation Wood, told police he was "dry-firing" his gun — pulling the trigger on what he believed was an unloaded weapon — on the other side of that wall.

He's been charged with involuntary manslaughter. He's already out on bail.

Let that sink in for a moment.

We're not here to relitigate the Second Amendment. We believe in the right to bear arms. But rights come with responsibilities, and the most fundamental rule of firearm safety — treat every gun as if it's loaded — exists precisely to prevent tragedies like this one. You don't point a firearm at anything you're not willing to destroy. You certainly don't pull the trigger while aiming at a wall with a human being on the other side of it.

This wasn't a freak accident. This was negligence so severe that a young woman with her whole life ahead of her is gone. "I didn't know it was loaded" is not a defense. It's a confession of reckless irresponsibility.

And then there's the bail question. San Francisco has spent years debating how its justice system handles violent offenders, with progressives pushing for fewer people behind bars. A man who shot and killed his girlfriend — whatever his intent — walking free on bail should trouble everyone across the political spectrum. If the roles were reversed, would the outcome be the same?

Samantha Emge deserved better. She deserved a partner who understood the lethal tool in his hands. She deserved a justice system that treats her death with the gravity it warrants.

Gun rights demand gun responsibility. Full stop. When someone fails that basic obligation and a life is lost, "it was an accident" shouldn't be a fast pass back to freedom.