A 5-year-old boy died Sunday after accidentally shooting himself in the chest.
Investigators said Zachariah Nesbit shot himself through his lower right lung Saturday around 8:40 p.m. at apartment along Gordon Smith Boulevard.
In a 911 call, a man told dispatchers that the boy had gotten the gun from inside a closet at the home.
The latest on this story is that the father is being charged.
David Nesbitt was charged Friday with negligent homicide, a first-degree misdemeanor, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
If convicted, the 35-year-old Nesbitt faces up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.
It's hard to imagine the mental suffering a father would go through in a situation like this. Then on top of everything to have to go to jail, it almost seems like overkill. Or is the charge of negligence right, perhaps a few months in jail for this is insufficient. What's your opinion?
Gun owners who have children must be faced with a difficult dilemma. Keeping a weapon at home which is unloaded and locked away, as it is supposed to be according to the law, severely detracts from the benefit of having it in the first place. I suppose many of these guys try to hide the guns in places where the kids cannot find them, others I've been told, believe teaching the kids from a young age to handle guns safely is the solution. What's your opinion?
To me, a responsible parent should not need this advice from the police. But obviously that's not the case.
Police urged gun owners to pick up a gun lock from their local police department and remove ammunition from their firearms.
"Take the bullets out," said Officer Rick Burkhardt, of Hamilton police. "You can put them in if you ever need to, so then it's two steps, another step for a kid if he finds a gun and bullets aren't there. There's nothing that could happen."
Please leave a comment.
"Gun owners who have children must be faced with a difficult dilemma. Keeping a weapon at home which is unloaded and locked away, as it is supposed to be according to the law,"
ReplyDeleteIncorrect.
If a gun is being kept for defense, it should be kept on you. That way you can have it when you need it and it will stay out of the hands of children, thieves, etc.
ReplyDeletekaveman, What's the incorrect part? Is that the law in only some states?
ReplyDeleteThat's not the law in ANY state. I've never seen a single "safe storage law" that required the weapon be unloaded.
ReplyDeleteMike W., That's interesting. I know I've read about this business of unloading the gun and keeping it separate from the bullets. Was that only a suggestion? I thought it was the law in certain parts, but maybe it's some anti-gun guy's idea of ideal behaviour. It always sounded impractical to me.
ReplyDelete