Two stories, one from Florida, one from Maryland, concerning people who didn't want to admit a shooting was their fault and decided instead to cast the blame elsewhere. The result is a colossal waste of police resources and dollars, all at the expense of taxpayers.
A Florida mother concocted a story about a drive-by shooting in order to cover up the real cause of her daughter's gunshot wounds. The 2-year-old was shot in the hand and thigh by another child during a birthday party. The mother told police the child was a victim of a drive-by shooting. Police spent 130 hours searching for a white Dodge Charger.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office estimated the search cost $2,458.
A Maryland man admitted to making up a story about a home invasion in order to cover up the fact that he accidentally shot himself. The man told police that two men broke into his home and shot him. In an effort to find the home invaders, police brought in a Maryland State Police helicopter and canines. As a precaution, schools in the area were locked down.
Police did not give estimates as to the cost of the extensive search, but did say that "charges will probably be forthcoming" against the man for filing a false report.
Ohh shoot.
It's just human nature to blame someone else when possible, especially when to take responsibility would be embarrassing. It makes you wonder if these are rare and isolated incidents or if they could be common enough to actually skew the statistics.
So often we hear the pro-gun rationalization that accidents are too few to worry about, that the number of gun accidents compared to the total number of guns makes them insignificant. Well, perhaps in light of these two stories, we can presume that the number of accidents is under reported.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
"It's just human nature to blame someone else when possible, especially when to take responsibility would be embarrassing."
ReplyDeleteI disagree. That is not an instinctive reaction but one that is learned. Some folks just own up to their mistakes.
Of course, if MikeB ever gets his wish that one ND means your forfeit your rights, then I could see people wasting police resources to attempt to protect them.
MikeB: “Well, perhaps in light of these two stories, we can presume that the number of accidents is under reported.”
ReplyDeleteWhich would also mean the number of drive-bys is over reported. Innocent victims help further your cause better than victims of their own negligence.
-TS
Mikeb30200:
ReplyDeleteYou are familiar, no doubt, with the "No True Scotsman" argument used by the religious right, the GOP and, frequently, by the Type 2A's who report ALL criminal or stupid uses of guns as being done by outliers.