A Leon man has been charged in the accidental shooting of his 8-year-old brother in their West Road home on Dec. 12.
Eli W. Wengerd, 20, was charged Thursday with fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Cattaraugus County Sheriff Timothy S. Whitcomb said the boy, who is recovering from a stomach injury at home, was shot as Wengerd played with a handgun that he had not registered and for which he had no pistol permit.
"Fourth-degree criminal possession" is not nearly strong enough. This is the problem. Even in New York, which is one of the better states for gun control, so-called accidents are treated much too lightly. Felony criminal negligence should ALWAYS accompany the misuse of a gun, ESPECIALLY when someone is injured or killed.
But, unfortunately, even in New York this is usually not the case. This young idiot gun owner will probably end up with nothing more than a slap on the wrist with no loss of gun rights. That makes it a double tragedy.
But don't worry, next year or the year after he'll do something wrong again. Maybe then disqualified for good.
New York's repressive laws did nothing to stop this, so they need more laws of the same type? MIkeb, I really hope that you don't actually believe this con job you're selling.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the con job, Greg? You lawful gun owners are a menace. Even when you do something seriously wrong, you often skate. And then you continue to be considered "good citizens."
DeleteThe con job here is the claim that yet another gun law would stop this. The man here already violated the law by having the gun. New York has repressive gun laws. You keep saying that more gun laws would do the trick, but given the failures of gun laws in places like New York, you should consider other solutions.
DeleteAgain, the lying criminal coward will do nothing to help stop needless killings. His cry that nothing will stop it, is a criminal mind at work who likes to see people die.
DeleteNo, Anonymous, there is a lot that we should be doing. We should improve schools throughout this nation so people have more opportunities. We should provide better access to mental health services without violating the privacy of patients. We should end the War on Drugs, a major source of violence here. We should keep criminals who use guns in their crimes locked up much longer.
DeleteThose are real solutions. Gun control is either an effort to look busy or an attempt to control good citizens.
A one-strike-you're-out policy for any and all misuse of a gun would do wonders for disarming many of these idiots before they kill someone. You know that but refuse to admit it. I suppose you want the right to drop your guns every once in a while and to fire off a round unintentionally whenever it happens. It wouldn't be your fault, I realize, so why should you be held to such a high standard of behavior?
DeleteNo, Mikeb, I don't know what you claim, and your lies about me only show the weakness of your argument. You also avoided discussing real proposals for reducing violence.
DeleteHe only crippled the kid for life. Gun loons want to give him another shot, to make sure the kid is killed.
DeleteGreg, I never avoid discussing anything. What I say is that your suggestions for combating violence are already being done. You know this and offer them as pseudo-solutions INSTEAD OF gun control. What we need is all of it INCLUDING gun control.
DeleteDoes every child go to a good school? No.
DeleteDoes every person with mental illness have access to good care? No.
Have we ended the War on Drugs? No.
I offer doing those things as solutions. Gun control is a lazy person's answer.
Another lie, gun control has proven to work
DeleteAnd just where does gun control work? Europe? Europeans didn't have many guns to begin with, and their societies are less individually violent and more willing to be managed than ours.
DeleteKeep printing the lie that gun control has never worked. You only prove your lack of intelligence and prove me correct. Thank you.
DeleteGreg, your suggestion that we have EVERY kid in a good school before talking about gun control is an obvious dodge. We need more and better gun control, you know it and it makes you nervous because you might be inconvenienced - or worse. Maybe you'd be disarmed if we had proper gun control.
DeleteNo, I don't know that we need what you propose, especially since your proposals would be worthless.
DeleteHow does the site lying coward criminal know something won't work when it hasn't been tried?
DeleteAgain, no reply from the coward.
DeleteThe only con here is Greg. A lying con.
ReplyDelete