Tuesday, July 19, 2011

It Was NOT a Terrible Accident - It Was Criminal Negligence



 

12 comments:

  1. Kids fall down stairs, run into traffic, put their fingers in light sockets, shoot themselves (or, possibly, a sibling) in the head; which of these "accidents" is almost completely avoidable?

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  2. I am going to go with stairs (at least equal in “avoid-ability” as gun accidents). If you have a single story ranch home with no basement there are no stairs to fall down. Likewise if you have no gun, there is no chance at having a gun accident- but gun control isn’t about taking away people’s guns so where does that leave us?

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  3. Sure TS. Maybe we should require that people lock up their stairs when they're not in use. That should fix the "falling down the stairs problem."

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  4. I think I just told TS (yesterday, IIRC) that he's not in the same league of obtuse as commenters like Supersized Pale Man but I may have to revise that.

    Did I suggest, anywhere in my comment that there should be no gunz in a person's house? Did I suggest anywhere in my comment that gunz already held by law abiding individuals should be confiscated? Um, nope.

    Let's see, for starters; gunz locks, gunz safes, gunz and ammo stored in two different places (even if the two places are in close proximity), and I don't even own gunz so I'm sure there are other safeguards that I'm missing.

    Every night before I go to bed I check all doors and windows that have been opened that day--on the first floor--and make sure they're secured. I turn off the power strips to everything except the computer. Could my house still burn down or be burgled? sure. Is it likely that it will be--considering all of the other houses that have unlocked doors, accessible unlocked windows and bad wiring--? No.

    Precautions do not equal confiscation.

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  5. Again, gunloons fear things that either don't exist or are so remote as to be laughable.

    Even more pathetically, gunloons deal with these irrational fears by actually raising their own risk. Frankly, their chance of being attacked by some unknown assailant is about nil.

    Of course, it isn't all about risk or the lack thereof. To most gunloons, a gun constitutes respect and self-worth.

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  6. MikeB: “Maybe we should require that people lock up their stairs when they're not in use.”

    Wouldn’t you advocate for a law exactly like that? If you have a child under a certain age in a home, staircases must be secured with an acceptable stair gate. Seems right up your ally.

    Democommie: “Did I suggest, anywhere in my comment that there should be no gunz in a person's house?”

    No, and I didn’t say you did. Many on the gun control movement, however, do say exactly that; AAP, Baldr Odison, etc… You should help me preach to them that guns can easily be secured from children via preventative means and education. There is always a high level of avoidable irresponsibility that accompanies these accidents.

    Democommie: “Precautions do not equal confiscation.”

    Again, I never said anything about confiscation, but there are many who preach the only way to avoid a gun accident is to not have a gun. Hence my example about the only way to avoid falling down stairs is to not have stairs.

    Jade: “Frankly, their chance of being attacked by some unknown assailant is about nil.”

    So is my chance of accidently shooting myself. I have been attacked by unknown assailant(s) so for me it turned out greater than nil.

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  7. Jade: “Frankly, their chance of being attacked by some unknown assailant is about nil.”

    There were 800,000 incidents of aggravates assault in 2009 making it about 8 times more likely than all gun injuries. If that is negligible, then so is gun violence.

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  8. TS: Better reading skillz, please.

    Yes, the vast majority of assaults occurred between people who knew each other. Hardly be "unknown assailant."

    If we do a bit of back of the cocktail napkin estimating, we ccan see that 100% of all gun accidents can be prevented and about 75% of the assaults, as well.

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  9. I did read that, but I don’t consider it any better to be assaulted by someone who knows you and wants to kill or seriously hurt you.

    Jade: “we ccan see that 100% of all gun accidents can be prevented…”

    Yep, no issues there.

    Jade: “…and about 75% of the assaults, as well.”

    Yes, guns are a great way to prevent assaults.

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  10. TS, C'mon, man, I was trying to be a smart ass about locking up the stairs. Lighten up will ya?

    About this story, was it a "terrible accident" in your opinion, like the video said, or was it "criminal negligence," like I said?

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  11. It was a terrible accident that is by definition *easily* preventable. If by using the word “criminal” you are asking for the father to go to jail, then no I don’t agree with that. It would only serve to further break apart a family already broken, and most likely let a violent repeating criminal go free so that this guy can take his place.

    What exactly do you mean about being a smart ass about the stairs? Do you see it as different as guns? Would you hold the parents criminally responsible because they let an unsupervised toddler fall down an un-gaited stairwell and broke his neck?

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  12. TS, I've said many times that when they lose a kid they get a pass on the jail time. The gun rights have got to go though.

    I refuse to humor your stairs comparison. As you know I don't even like the car and swimming pool comparisons, but guns to stairs is too far out there.

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