Is it my imagination or are these kid-shootings on the rise. Recently we read the yearly stats for child gunshot deaths, but they don't seem to match the stories we've picked up on lately in the main stream. I realize today's story in Oregon is just a non-lethal bullet to the stomach of a 2-year-old, which means it hardly counts for anything, but even the gun deaths like the little girl in North Carolina the other day seem to be disproportionately high of late.The 2-year-old boy named Payton survived the shooting, which happened in Dallas on Friday night. He was released from the hospital on Saturday afternoon.
Johnnie Flow said she bought the gun for protection in February after somebody threatened her family. She kept it in her purse.
Normally she said it’s not loaded, but when her kids found it there were bullets in the gun. The purse was sitting on the back of a couch in the family's front room.
Both she and her husband were home when the shooting happened. She immediately took Payton to the hospital and said she was afraid he was going to die.
But, what's the difference if it 37 or 3700, the pro-gun apologists will shrug it off as statistically insignificant. My contention is, you can say that if you're a hard-hearted, biased gun fanatic, but in this case it's not quantity that counts but quality.
The quality of these shootings is that they are preventable. Every one of them is the result of unforgiveable negligence, usually on the part of the gun-owning parents. We're talking about kids under 10 now. And in almost every case there are either no charges or minor ones brought against the real criminals.
Why would anyone oppose the forfeiture of gun rights for people who demonstrate the capacity to do something so dangerous? Is it a safe assumption that people learn from their mistakes? Is a sincere expression of contrition, like in this story, sufficient to convince?
I don't think so. I say the MikeB is King rule, formerly known as the one-strike-you're-out rule must apply. I believe most people who make serious mistakes don't learn from them, they repeat them.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
"Normally she said it’s not loaded, but when her kids found it there were bullets in the gun."
ReplyDeleteEither she's lying, she's stupid or the act of carrying a gun to deal with threats--but not having it ready to fire--is beyond illogical.
While you're on the numbers, Mikeb302000; do we have good stats for the numbers of people gunned down in home invasions or while ordering/drinking coffee at Starbucks? I mean talk about "statistically insignificant".
Preventable? So is death from heart disease and alcoholism. What makes these deaths less worthy than a death by firearm? This woman is a classic example of buying a gun and then not getting proper training, which should be mandatory.
ReplyDeleteWhere to start with this one??
ReplyDelete-- Sadly, this woman will get off the hook for her stupidity since she apparently committed no crime. There should be child access prevention laws to hold her accountable.
-- Children and guns don't mix. Period. If there are children around, there should be no guns.
-- If she took the purse and loaded gun into public, she broke the law, since she had no concealed handgun license, and should be held accountable.
-- No training, since none is required to own a gun.
The gunloons are saying this incident shouldn't reflect badly on their philosophies, saying that it shouldn't count, since the woman didn't have a concealed license or training. Hogwash. Training and a license wouldn't have changed a thing. They need to step up and admit the danger here.
Well, Baldr, ya gotta be able to look at both sides of the argument.
ReplyDeleteIs it really worth makin' all the badass, latteswillin', gunztotin' type2A's leave their hoglegs and glocks in the glovebox, or under the seat--just so's some punk kid who oughta know better won't grab up somebody else's gun and shoot another kid.
See, if that li'l ole gal had been able to carry her gat in her handbag without her gettin' no CC permit then this turrble TRAGEDY coulda been prevented.
Also, too, them CCW things are 'spensive in OR. It costs $65 to get oneathem. Why that's the cost of, like, two boxes of these:
0rds - 9mm Fiocchi Canned Heat 115gr Full Metal Jacket Ammo
[9CAP] $27.95 + shipping.
Can't be havin' no "licensin' fees" cuttin' into one's ammo budget!
Remember: Gunz don't kill people, sociopathic fucking greedheads like Wayne LaPierre kill people (even if they aren't the ones pulling the trigger).
Anonymous, We're not talking about heart disease, You need to go to their blog for that. But to answer your rather silly question, gun deaths are not more tragic than any others, and I even agree with you that many other deaths are preventable.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, a stupid young mom like this one should not have such easy access to guns. The reason she does is because of the NRA and the gun rights fanatics who fight to keep guns as available to EVERYONE as possible have been quite successful.
Maybe you even have a part in that. You say you favor training, but that's not enough, just favoring training. Strong gun control laws need to be implemented and enforced, including training requirements. Are you for licensing of gun owners and registration of guns? Are you for background checks on every single transfer of one of those registered guns?
If not, you're part of the problem. See how it works.