A family in Sanford grieved Wednesday after children playing with a gun left a 2-year-old boy dead.Sanford police spent much of Wednesday trying to piece together what happened shortly before 11 a.m. in the back bedroom of a home at 522 Cannon Circle.
Capt. David Smith, head of the police department's investigations, said the three children of Melanie and Joey Tyson had been playing on a bed when a .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun was fired.
Please don't tell me how rare these accidents are, please. I usually don't go in for that old gun control argument which says "if it saves only one life," but sometimes it crosses my mind. I can't get over the senseless stupidity that would allow something like this to happen.
Imagine how many other incidents result in shots fired which accidentally don't hit anyone. Do you think the gun owners report those to the police? And imagine how many times across America kids handle daddy's gun without firing it, again by accident they just don't happen to pull the trigger.
Add all those up and it's not so rare. Besides the kids actually killed or wounded, there are thousands of other near-tragic incidents.
Of course it's against the law, so at least we have that.
Investigators also were trying to determine where the children got the gun. After their investigation is complete, police plan to talk with the Lee County district attorney about possible charges.
In North Carolina, it is a misdemeanor to leave a gun accessible to a minor, Smith said.
Gun owners everywhere ought to cringe with embarrassment at that one. In many places people go to jail, that's GO TO JAIL, for small amounts of marijuana. But in North Carolina, "it is a misdemeanor to leave a gun accessible to a minor."
Words fail me. What's your opinion?
Words fail me. What's your opinion?
ReplyDeleteMy opinion? I think it's more a case of logic failing you, rather than words.
That is, of course, just my opinion.
Oh--and laws requiring that guns be kept inaccessible to kids kill.
But those deaths are, I suppose, just the cost of doing anti-gun business, eh, Mikeb?
Here's another one that took place last month. A 2-year-old girl shot by her 8-year-old brother: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_13410549?nclick_check=1
ReplyDelete"Please don't tell me how rare these accidents are, please."
ReplyDeleteOK I won't
These types of incidents really make me sick. You've got a child to care for, and choosing to own a deadly weapon is something that must be considered as part of that responsibility.
ReplyDeleteI also don't see the need for special laws about leaving children where they can access firearms. It's endangerment to leave them alone in a car on a hot day, and it's endangerment to leave them where they can access firearms.
Once again, EDUCATION is key, and something neither pro- or anti-gunners seem to want to attack. Basic education in how to safely store a firearm so that you can access it and you children cannot just doesn't seem to be out there, and silly laws (such as California's requirement that all firearms be sold with a lock) are not a substitute for knowledge.
The NRA has their 'Eddie Eagle' program (Stop! Don't touch! Leave the area! Tell an adult!) is aging, often leaving kids laughing at it than getting the message...and most adults don't know what to do any more either (once again, lacking education) as demonstrated by other unfortunate cases such as the babysitter who tested the shotgun she found under the couch...by pulling the trigger.
I think we can all agree that there's a difference between having a gun accessible to a 2 year old verses a 17 year old.
ReplyDeleteBoth minors, huge difference.
kaveman, yes indeed, there's a big difference between a 2-year-old and a 17-year-old. Somewhere in between those two ages the kid can be taught how to handle or not handle a gun. I have no problem with that.
ReplyDeletebeowulf, I think you got right to the heart of the matter. Do guns save more lives than they take? Do they do more harm than good? These are the real questions. You know what I think.
Do guns save more lives than they take? Do they do more harm than good? These are the real questions. You know what I think.
ReplyDeleteQuite frankly those questions all lead to social utility arguments that are irrelevant to my right to keep & bear arms.
Says Mike W.:
ReplyDeleteQuite frankly those questions all lead to social utility arguments that are irrelevant to my right to keep & bear arms.
That sounds like something I would say, except you're more succinct and articulate than I am.
A commenter in another thread posted a great Jeff Snyder quote about that--it's long, so I'll just post a link to the comment.
Incidentally, interested in some more recent anecdotes of kids possibly saving their lives with guns?
5-year-old kills 800 lb. alligator and 13-year-old boy fends off burglars with shotgun.
I take it, Mikeb, that you're convinced that the number of cases like that is lower (perhaps far lower) than the number of kids killed or seriously injured as a result of access to guns. If the two above mentioned kids had not had access to guns, and had died because of it, would you be willing to tell their parents that their deaths are "acceptable," because the lack of accessibility saved many more lives? Would you be willing to accept the moral burden of playing God, and choosing which kids' lives were more valuable?
Not me. I'll leave it up to the parents to decide if and when their kids are responsible enough to be trusted with guns. Misjudgments will be made, and tragedies will result, but I will not have played a role in the tragedy.