GUN-CONTROL WATCH : Target Practice

You don’t have to be a master of the laws of physics to know that if you fire a gun in Los Angeles, there is a good chance that an innocent person could be on the receiving end of the bullet’s trajectory.

That lesson was painfully demonstrated Monday when a University of Southern California football player was struck by a bullet fired from a quarter-mile away as he waited to start practice.

The shot that hit freshman Jon McGee, 18, was one of seven fired at an automobile by a bicyclist at the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Vermont Avenue.

Trojan Head Coach Larry Smith said the incident was “a freak accident” that didn’t make him fear for his son, a teammate of McGee. But such “freak” incidents are appallingly common. Just ask the parents of Jermaine Johnson or Cristal Anguio.

Jermaine, 4, was fatally wounded in his bed when a bullet pierced an outside wall of his Long Beach home last June. Cristal, 11, survived being struck in the heart by a bullet earlier this year as she played in front of her South-Central Los Angeles home.

The reality is that with the proliferation of cheap, easily obtainable handguns, more and more people live in fear for their lives.

On average, nearly two dozen people are shot every day in Los Angeles County: Last year, gunfire killed more than 1,500 people and wounded about 7,000 others.

So what was unusual about the USC incident wasn’t the fact it took place--but that it captured so much public attention in a city where bullets hitting the innocent is far too commonplace.

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Shooting victim misidentified: Cristal Flores Aguiano is the correct spelling of the victim’s name.

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