Involuntary manslaughter carries a term of up to five years in prison.I suppose he'd lose his right to bear arms too. How about for those lucky enough to not kill anyone when their gun accidentally goes off, we skip the prison time and just remove the gun rights.
I'll bet that would cut down on the repeat offenders. And in the meantime the non-offenders would be a lot more careful.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Good idea! Let's get all the police off the streets who have accidental discharges. Oh, and while we're at it, any time someone's in an automobile accident, let's prevent them from ever getting a driver's license anywhere again, because they're obviously too incompetent to drive. And people who accidentally get pregnant should be sterilized. And bloggers who misspell a word should be banned from computers. And politicians who lie to get elected should be forever banned from politics.
ReplyDeleteHow about for those lucky enough to not kill anyone when their gun accidentally goes off, we skip the prison time and just remove the gun rights.
ReplyDeleteAccording to WISQARS, in 2007 (the most recent year for which data is available), there were 613 deaths by unintentional gunshot. That's out of 31,224 total deaths by gunshot, or under 2%.
Furthermore, is it not logical to conclude that the person who has unintentionally fired a gun (without harming anyone) has had the most powerful gun safety lesson possible (short of hurting or killing someone)?
On what basis can you conclude that one unintentional shooting is an accurate predictor of future unintentional shootings?
If I were the suspicious type, I might conclude that you're just looking for any excuse you can find to strip people of their gun rights. Hmm . . . actually, I am the suspicious type.
Zorro asked, "On what basis can you conclude that one unintentional shooting is an accurate predictor of future unintentional shootings?"
ReplyDeleteGood question which Mr. Anonymous touched upon with his silly comparison to car accidents. A better (and less exaggerated - more honest) comparison for him to make would have been to drunk driving.
One strike you're out could be applied to both unintentional discharges of your weapon and your first DUI.
The world would be a better place, for although the first experience with both might be that magical lesson which encourages people never to do it again, all the others who would tend to repeat it would be swept up.
Jadefool's Biggest (Only?) Cheerleader:
ReplyDeleteGood question which Mr. Anonymous touched upon with his silly comparison to car accidents. A better (and less exaggerated - more honest) comparison for him to make would have been to drunk driving.
One strike you're out could be applied to both unintentional discharges of your weapon and your first DUI.
The enormous difference, obviously, is that no one "accidentally" drives while intoxicated. The guy who gets behind the wheel when he has no business being there has made a conscious (if not necessarily very coherent) decision to do so. The fact that he made that decision once could reasonably be seen as an indicator that he would do so again.
The guy who messes up and shoots through his floor/ceiling/wall and ends ups killing someone has certainly done a terrible thing, but without having made a conscious decision to do so. Gun safety education would seem to be what he needs--but I guess you don't approve of gun safety education, because it "promotes" that icky gun culture.
Besides, since there isn't a "one-strike-and-you're-out" law with regard to DUI, then if you think DUI and unintentional discharges should be treated similarly, don't you approve of the consistency in that there is no such law with regard to unintentional shootings, either?
Zorro, I'm not comparing anything, Anonymous is. I pointed out how his comparison was terribly shabby.
ReplyDeleteMy idea that both unintentional discharges and DUIs could be treated equally severely, is not so much to compare one to the other as to say both should be treated much more seriously.
Jadefool's Biggest (Only?) Cheerleader:
ReplyDeleteZorro, I'm not comparing anything, Anonymous is. I pointed out how his comparison was terribly shabby.
Yeah! How dare Anon. compare accidents to . . . accidents?