The owner of a ranch in Texas has created a system that allows people to shoot a .22 rifle via the Internet.

A controversial Web site, www.live-shot.com, already offers target practice with a .22 caliber rifle and could soon let hunters shoot at deer, antelope and wild pigs, site creator John Underwood said Tuesday.

The idea of a remote controlled gun does not leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling.  It appears that for now he’s got it set up in a controlled area with an attendant.  But it would seem to me that to be able to actually hunt with it you’d have to give the user more control over a larger area, which would seem to make it dangerous if the person on the other end was malicious or stupid and aimed indiscriminately.  At a minimum, I could see him taking a big liability hit if a trespasser got shot during hunting season by an Internet user.  He’d better have some serious warning signs at the edge of the property.