"You Shot Me!"

Recliner Saves Man From Angry Wife's Bullet

(AP) WALNUT CREEK, Calif. "Now comes another reason to stay put in the La-Z-Boy: A man sitting in his easy chair was shot in the head by his wife, but the sturdy recliner absorbed most of the bullet's force and left him virtually unscathed.

The couple had been arguing at home on Sunday evening, said Contra Costa County sheriff's Lt. Charles Skuce. Then Jan Kamp stood behind her seated husband and fired a gun at the back of his head, Skuce said.

Because she fired through the recliner, the bullet only slightly wounded Norman Kamp, 57, Skuce said.

Norman stood up from his chair, followed his wife into the kitchen and declared, "You shot me," according to authorities.

Jan Kamp fired a second shot at her husband, but missed, Skuce said. He retreated to a neighbor's house in the unincorporated Pacheco area of the county, where he called 911.

After talking to deputies, Norman Kamp was treated at a hospital and released.

Jan Kamp, 58, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and booked at County Jail in Martinez."

That's the first take...and then old Norm had a change of heart...

"Jan Kamp, 58, was arrested Sunday after she shot her husband, Norman Kamp, as he sat in a chair, according to Contra Costa Sheriff's Office.

Initially arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, prosecutors on Tuesday amended the compliant against Jan Kamp to assault with a deadly weapon.

Norman Kamp said Tuesday that he was watching football in a leather recliner when his wife began fiddling with a gun in their dining room, some 20 feet away from where he was sitting.

The bullet traveled through the chair and struck him in the back of the head, inflicting a superficial wound.

"The whole thing was an accident," Norman Kamp, 67, said. "She was in another room looking at the gun when it went off. She couldn't believe that she shot me."

Norman Kamp said his wife was on pain medication for severe arthritis and had been drinking alcohol.

He said after the bullet hit him, he approached his wife, who appeared to be in shock. He said that's when she accidentally fired the gun a second time, hitting the ceiling. He noted the gun, .357 Magnum, has no safety device.

"She was white as a sheet, she couldn't even speak," Norman Kamp said.

While he was at the hospital receiving stitches for his wound, his wife was being jailed.

"We are the tightest couple. Neither of us have a record of domestic violence. I just can't believe police are holding her for this," Norman Kamp said.

Sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said regardless of Norman Kamp's account, his wife is negligent for firing the gun.

"It happened. It was a crime, and we have to take action," Lee said.

The couple's daughter, Jennifer Hewitt, said her mother's arrest has caused a great deal of stress for the family."

Gee, Jen, ya think?

As you read this, I can guarantee there are lawyers clamoring to sue the revolver manufacturer for the lack of a safety, as well as attorney's for the National Organization for Women putting their heads together to determine if the chair maker can be taken to court for preventing a battered wife from defending herself.

While...Terminal Ballistics "experts" agonize over the decision to switch from Ballistic Gelatin to Popular Recliner.

While...Federal Ammunition jumps at the opportunity to declare that it's new HST in .357 Magnum will definitely penetrate one and a half La-Z-Boy's...BUT...has designated the round "Law Enforcement Only" to keep such Husband-Killer-Bullets out of the hands of irate wives.

While...The owner/operator of the blog Shooting The Messenger continues to ask the forever unanswered question as to how in all hell's a gun can "go-off" just by looking at it.