Friday, March 2, 2012

The Need For Safe Storage laws


While new details emerge about the possible motives in Monday’s school shooting in Ohio, another question remains: Will there be legal consequences against the owner of the handgun used to kill three people and injure two others?

As Ohio state law stands today, the answer is likely no.

Officials say T.J. Lane, a 17-year-old high school sophomore, confessed to the killings at Chardon High School, located about 30 miles east of Cleveland. County prosecutors say they plan to try Mr. Lane as an adult, resulting in a possible maximum sentence of life in prison.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Lane stole the gun, a Ruger .22-caliber Mark III target pistol, from an uncle who legally purchased the weapon in August 2010 from a gun shop in Mentor, Ohio. Lane’s grandparents noticed the gun missing this week from a barn they owned.

It is not yet certain if the handgun was properly stored, had its ammunition removed, or was secured with locks preventing its use — all factors that that gun safety advocates say are critical in preventing gun access by children.
What's your opinion? Have you noticed there's often no attempt to involve the owner of a gun used by child shooters? Why is that?

Please leave a comment.

7 comments:

  1. I dont know about Ohio law, but here in Texas the day you turn 17 you are criminally liable for you own crimes. The parents are not held responsible for anything their 17 year kid may do concerning criminal law.

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  2. It is not yet certain if the handgun was properly stored, had its ammunition removed, or was secured with locks preventing its use — all factors that that gun control advocates say are critical in preventing gun access by children.
    There, fixed that part you.

    Sure, let's lock up the firearms, put trigger locks on them, and keep the ammo a hundred yards away. But how will I be able to use that firearm to protect myself if needed? No need to answer, we know you don't want people to protect themselves.

    I'm curious, why didn't the anti-rights crowd decry this 15 year-old for killing a man?

    Or, this 15 year-old deputy's son, who shot a man?

    Or this 14 year-old boy who killed a man?

    I'll tell you why. It was because these were self defense uses. Make sure you light a candle for the gang banger that the 14 year old ventilated.

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    1. this post makes me realize that mikeb NEVER posts a positive outcome on a gun story. Or i have yet to see one. There are PLENTY to where a gun saves lives, like in the one you posted. Also makes me giggle he didnt reply to you. Because he knows your right lol

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    2. Actually I do post the occasional positive gun story, even a legitimate DGU once in a while. In fact, the proportion between positive and negative stories on my blog is more or less like it is in the real world, about 1 to 100.

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    3. You've been shown many more defensive gun uses than you acknowledge, and you sneer at the few that you do post, so you'll have to excuse me for doubting your assessment of the ratio.

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    4. All right, all right, maybe it's been 1 in 200. I'll try to correct that a bit.

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  3. Growing up my parents, grandparents, great grandparents never had a locking gun safe. They stayed in a display cabinet. It was that way as far back as I can remember. But we were also taught about them and with those guns. My home was/is still that way. None of my kids were curious about them as I taught them about them with them. My kids now have there own kids and they do the same and so on. Thru the generations of our family this is the way and a no time was there ever a single incident of any kind involving anything about or around our guns, never.

    We were taught about cars and trucks, farm equipment, ranching, business and just life in general the same way.

    Seems to me that if you let video games do the teaching, then those kids see nothing wrong in what they do. The only video game I ever played was asteroids on some kind of now antique game console. Played for about 15 min. Now the games I play are on this computer is a couple forms of solitaire. I didnt buy these wierd games for my kids where you involve yourself in some really life like violence videos. They still dont have them, probably never will.
    Is this the kind of trash that you let kids minds absorb? Its no wonder they act the way they do.

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