I have been thinking about the issues the song presents.

First, and foremost, the effective accurate range of smoothbore firearms in the era the song was written was relatively short.

As such, he would have had to be fairly close to be sure of hitting her.

Why was Molly out there? Did he take her out there and say something like "Wait for me here, dear, I'll be back soon with some game we can enjoy?"

What was their relationship like? Was she showing signs of future nastiness? Did he want out?

He may not be as innocent as he claims.