The disgracefully lax Indiana gun laws allow for something like this. More than the laws, it's the attitude towards guns. That cop should be publicly flogged with a bamboo cane and then forfeit his gun rights for life.Indiana prosecutors often recuse themselves from cases involving local police officers with whom they work on a regular basis, but Wilhelm told the state police the circumstances surrounding the incident did not meet the elements of a crime under Indiana code.
What kind of message does it send to all the other gun owners in Indiana, many of whom are even less trained and less safety conscious than police officers? I'll tell you what kind. It sends a message that guns and gun rights are sacred. Nothing should interfere with them, not even the safety and protection of 4-year-old children.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Most legal gun owners are more safety-conscious & more trained than LEOs.
ReplyDeleteHow did the law "allow for something like this"? Just because there's no GUN laws that address it, doesn't mean that child endangerment laws don't apply.
ReplyDeleteThe law didn't "allow" it, the parent did.
Although I'm sure the parents are suffering, should parents who lose a child be further punished by the courts? If so, it should be consistent between regular citizens and law enforcement - too often cops get away with barely a slap on the wrist where the rest of us get punished to the full extent of the law.
...Orygunner...
"What kind of message does it send to all the other gun owners in Indiana, many of whom are even less trained and less safety conscious that a police officer? "
ReplyDeleteHow can one get less safety conscious than leaving loaded firearms unsecured in a house with 4 year old kids?
"That cop should be publicly flogged with a bamboo cane and then forfeit his gun rights for life."
Ah, so now you want corporal punishment? If the kid had drowned would you want the man to lose his swimming rights for life?
"I'll tell you what kind. It sends a message that guns and gun rights are sacred. "
No, actually it sends the message that the traditional elements of a crime are required to be prosecuted for committing a crime.
You're a schmuck dancing around all indignant inthe kids blood.
ReplyDeleteThe officer right now wishes he was the one who was shot. His career and probably his marriage is over. He lost his son. Every morning for the rest of his life he will wake up and relieve the pain. Any parent knows he just suffered the worst penalty ever.
You disgust me.
Sorry, P. The guy is a menace. It doesn't matter if he's suffered a terrible penalty already, which by the way could have been worse, and it doesn't matter what he feels about it. What matters is the guy has proven to be a menace and he should be prevented from ever harming anyone else again due to his negligence. Jail time would not be required for that, especially considering the terrible price he's already paid. But, allowing a guy who's capable fo that kind of behaviour to continue to own guns is wrong.
ReplyDeleteWhy are you so afraid to admit that? Are you afraid that someday you'll need a break too? Do you want to leave yourself some wiggle room, just in case.
I say, if you want to be a responsible gun owner, then be one. If you can't, you lose your rights. Shouldn't that kind of individual responsibility and paying-your-debts mentality appeal to you?
@Mikeb, What if his child drowned in a swimming pool, would you feel exactly the same way? Would you say he's a menace to society and he should be prevented from owning a pool ever again for his negligence?
ReplyDelete...Orygunner...
MikeB: “The disgracefully lax Indiana gun laws allow for something like this. More than the laws, it's the attitude towards guns.”
ReplyDeleteYou can blame attitude (are you assuming the DA is a gun guy?), but it doesn’t have anything to do with laws. They could go after felony child endangerment, or negligent manslaughter to strip his gun rights forever- like you want.
Or do you really want a new law that automatically strips parents of their gun rights that you can also apply to 15 year old gangbangers who steal mom’s defense handgun, or the 17 year old who busts into dad’s shotgun cabinet to kill himself?
@TS: I want that law. Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws have been proven successful in reducing child deaths (as well as adult deaths). That is why 28 states have passed these laws. While it won't prevent all deaths, it will reduce them due to mandated safe storage of guns the reduce the ability of children to access them.
ReplyDeleteYes, Orygunner, it will also reduce your sense of "liberty" in that you would no longer be within your right to allow complete access of your guns to your children without supervision.
Please provide one iota of evidence that such laws work.
ReplyDeleteThe guy is not a menace. He made a mistake. He's going to live with it for life. We have no idea of the entire situation but leaping to conclusions gets no one anywhere.
Of course you're right, P, we don't know everything. But, I say with a one-strike-you're-out approach to these incidents we'd capture along with a few who are truly responsible and only made the one mistake, many who are so sloppy or stupid that they'll continue to endanger people if we let them.
ReplyDeleteDo you know the context of this Accident or others you say happen every day? No, and when the true accident rate is so low as to be inconsequential in real life,
ReplyDeleteUnless you know exactly what and how everything happens, leaping to conclusions does no one any good.
You post often about "lots of times" and "this happens often" but I see no data. Frankly I find your challenges beyond the grasp of common logic. I see rampant immaturity In your posts which puzzles the snot out of me seeing as you just posted about being a great uncle again.
@Baldr, It's not that I would no longer be within my rights, it's that I would no longer be allowed to legally exercise my right to choose how I store my firearms.
ReplyDelete@Mikeb, what about my swimming pool analogy? Would you feel the same way about a parent whose child drowned in a pool? Never be allowed to possess anything larger than a cupful of water for the rest of their life?
...Orygunner...
Orygunner, I'm afraid you'll have to go to the anti-swimming pool blogs for those answers. Here we talk mainly about guns and we don't like comparisons very much.
ReplyDelete