Sunday, June 27, 2010

Murder - Suicide in Georgia

The Times-Journal reports on the tragic story.

According to investigators with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, the 29-year-old mother allegedly shot her daughter with a high-powered rifle, and then turned the gun on herself.

“It was a tragic thing,” said Chuck Phillips, chief deputy with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.

Phillips said it’s believed there had been problems between the woman and the child’s father.

The apparent murder-suicide happened sometime before 9 p.m. Thursday in the back yard of one of the mother’s family members, at a home on Jackson County Road 705.

The only one I don't blame for this, besides the gun control advocates, of course, is the child's father. I blame the sick mother, I blame the owner of the gun, I blame the State of Georgia and I blame all the gun owners who support lax or non-existent gun laws.

Could she have drowned the kid and cut her own wrist? Yes of course. But what she did was to pick up the most efficient killing tool around. And, like often happens, we'll never know if she would have used another means if no gun had been available, or if she did resort to some other means if she would have been successful.

That's why gun availability is a major factor in cases like this.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

3 comments:

  1. Strange thing about female/mother murder-suicides. They almost always kill their children, and almost never use a gun, preferring to suffocate, drown, or stab their children.

    Did the availability of in those two gun-friendly states make any difference? Does the availability of lakes in Minnesota mean more mothers drown their children there?

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  2. Anonymous, Thanks for your very predictable answer, but I'm afraid you failed to see what I wrote.

    "And, like often happens, we'll never know if she would have used another means if no gun had been available, or if she did resort to some other means if she would have been successful."

    The fact that most women choose other means than a gun, says nothing about the fact that guns are more likely to be lethal.

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  3. "Could she have drowned the kid and cut her own wrist? Yes of course."

    But would you blame all the bathtub owners who support lax or non-existent bathtub laws?

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