South Dakota Toddler Shoots Mom - No Charges

Local news reports

Rapid City police say a toddler who found a handgun inside a home accidentally shot his mother in the leg as she tried to take it away from him.

Police spokeswoman Tarah Heupel tells The Associated Press that the revolver fired two shots, one of which hit the woman, during the incident just after 9 p.m. Thursday. The mother was taken to the hospital for treatment, but Heupel says the injury did not appear to be serious.

The mother tried to get the revolver away from the 23-month-old boy as soon as she noticed he was holding it.

Heupel says the shooting was deemed accidental and no charges are pending.

South Dakota Woman Shoots Herself at the Gun Range by Accident

Local news reports

The Minnehaha County Sheriff’s office says a 32-year-old woman shot herself in the ankle with a nine millimeter handgun yesterday afternoon at the Garretson Sportsman’s Club.

     Captain Paul Niedringhaus says the woman was performing a move she learned in a self-defense course.  Niedringhaus say the move involves falling and firing from your back.

     Niedringhaue says two witness confirm the victim was practicing the manuever when the shooting occured.  Authorities concluded that it was an accidental shooting.  Niedringhaus did not release the woman's name or her condition.  She was taken to a Sioux Falls hospital for treatment. 

I wonder if she had a concealed carry permit.  I guess it doesn't matter since she's highly unlikely to be charged with a crime.

The gun-rights fanatics think this is normal behavior.  I think it's fantasy-dwelling playacting in which they pretend to kill bad guys. It's driven by a combination of fear and insecurity that I call grandiose victimism.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

South Dakota Teen Dead after Shooting Incident

(Dalton Williams Photo Courtesy: KELO-TV)



Local news reports

The alleged shooter, 16-year-old Braiden McCahren, has been charged as an adult, with first degree murder. He shot his friend Dalton Williams, who was the same age, in the chest with a shotgun, said police.

The Capital Journal in Pierre reports that the teens somehow bought a .22 caliber rifle from a local gun shop. The boy had other guns at home.

Then they picked up Williams and went back to the shooter’s home to eat. The third friend told police that the he was arguing with the McCahren over a paintball incident and that they began wrestling in a joking manner.

Then McCahren retrieved the shotgun and aimed it at friend—known as “T.Y.”   “T.Y.” tried to slip out of the door. Williams stood in between the two boys and that’s when the gun fired. The gun fired at close range into his chest.

T.Y. ran out of the house and called 911. Williams died at the hospital.

It sounds like the intended victim escaped unharmed and the other friend took the shot. Should that matter?  Let's say you try to shoot someone and end up shooting someone else.  Can you claim that you didn't intend to shoot him?

What about the parents?  Do they have any responsibility in this? Are 16-year-olds allowed to own their own guns in South Dakota?

Please leave a comment.

Accidental Shooting into the Home of a Rapid City Couple - Minor Charges Possible

Local News reports

What sounded like thunder turned out to be something potentially far more dangerous for one Rapid City couple over the weekend. 

A couple living at 1309 Greenbriar street told police they were awakened by the sound of a bullet going through their bedroom window. Police responded to the report at approximately 2 am Saturday night. 

A neighbor living just across the street, at 1310 Greenbriar, admitted to accidentally firing his magnum .357 into his neighbors home. No one was injured. 

The incident is still under investigation. Although no one has been arrested yet, the neighbor could be charged with reckless discharge of a firearm.

What's your opinion? Does "could be charged" sound a little weak to you? Does "reckless discharge" sound a little weak to you.

It certainly does to me.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

South Dakota Governor Vetoes Gun Rights Bill

South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard


via Ralph writing for TTAG

South Dakota’s hope to joint Vermont, Alaska, Arizona and Wyoming as a Constitutional Carry state was squashed when its Governor, Republican Dennis Daugaard, vetoed legislation passed by large majorities in the state’s legislature. The measure was opposed by South Dakota’s Sheriffs Association. As reported by USA Today, Sheriff Mike Milstead claims that he was just trying to help out the poor folks who would be denied permits under the current system . . .

Sometimes Ralph's sense of humor and sarcasm are hard to follow. In this case when he says the governor did this "to help out the poor folks who would be denied permits under the current system," I believe he's referring to the number of folks each year who apply for concealed carry permits and are found to be disqualified. Under the new law, which the gov had the good sense to veto, those disqualified people would have been carrying concealed guns legally.

Of course Ralph and his friends on The Truth About Guns find this worthy of ridicule. And they wonder why I often find it difficult to delineate between lawful gun owners and criminal gun owners.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Another Lawful Gun Owner Goes Berserk - South Dakota

Fox News reports

An old grudge that spanned more than a half-century may have led a 73-year-old man to fatally shoot his long-ago classmate at his South Dakota home, according to a court affidavit filed Thursday.

Carl V. Ericsson, of Watertown, was denied bond Thursday during his first court appearance on a first-degree murder charge. The former high school sports star is accused of shooting retired Madison High School teacher and track coach Norman Johnson, 72, after Johnson answered the door at his house on Tuesday evening in Madison.

I guess this story could also argue for the PERMANENT loss of gun rights. Some unfit gun owners NEVER stop being a danger to themselves and others.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

South Dakota - Murder and Attempted Suicide

Even in the supposedly placid state of South Dakota, guns are bad news for women. In this case the shooter was of that most vile type, succeeding in the murder part but somehow failing in the suicide part.

A Yankton woman died after an apparent murder-suicide attempt early Saturday morning.

According to the Yankton Police Department, Brianna Marie Knoll, 25, died of a gunshot wound in connection with an incident in the 1000 block of Whiting Drive.

Meanwhile, a male suspect, Nicholas Stewart Hines, 28, was found at 1008 Willow Lane with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was transported to Avera Sacred Heart Hospital, where he was stabilized and transferred to a Sioux Falls hospital. There is no word on his condition.

Naturally, there's no mention of his gun-owning status except to say that there were "several weapons" in his home. He could have been anything from a concealed-carry permit holder to a convicted armed-robbery felon. One thing for sure is Brianna Marie would have stood a better chance of survival if Nicholas did not have any guns.

This speculation is more than Monday morning quarterbacking. What's needed is better mental health screening for gun owners. People get angry all the time, but it takes a special kind of person to get angry enough to do this. In many cases those people leave plenty of signs which should disqualify them from gun ownership long before they kill someone.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Gun Assault in South Dakota

It's the same all over. Even in South Dakota gun-owning bullies abuse their ex-girlfriends. Israel David Suarez of Sioux Falls was arrested after pulling a gun on his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend.

Police found Suarez at his residence and, after obtaining a search warrant, also discovered a .32-caliber handgun there. Police also found other rifles, a shotgun that had its barrel partially sawed off, marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

In addition to the two aggravated assault charges, Suarez faces one count of possession of a controlled weapon because of the sawed-off shotgun, as well as marijuana and paraphernalia charges, Clemens said.

Do you think this guy will lose his right to own guns? Do you think he should?

If this keeps up, the Dakotas will be right up there with the rest of the country. But, one thing for sure is you can't go by what stories make it into the main stream media. New Orleans for instance, is practically never in the news for gun incidents. Other than those Katrina shootings on the bridge by the cops, there's nothing. Yet, NOLA is one of the deadliest cities in the country.

Compare that to Chicago or Baltimore. Every single day you can read about their gun troubles. What do you think accounts for this disparity? It's odd, isn't it?

Please leave a comment.

Woman Kills Man with .22 Rifle

The Des Moines Register reports on the fairly rare occurrence of a female shooter and a male victim.

Rock Rapids, Ia. — A man who was shot in the head at his home in Rock Rapids has died, authorities said Wednesday.

Levi Hofer died Tuesday at a hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Hofer was shot with a .22-caliber rifle on Sunday, Lyon County Sheriff Blythe Bloemendall said. His girlfriend, Laura Lowe, was charged Monday with attempted murder.

Hofer and Lowe had been drinking, and started fighting, Bloemendall said.

What kind of drinking and fighting would it have to be to end like this? These people must have qualified for the 10% theory under several categories. What do you think?

Doesn't it seem like the proportion of female criminal shooters is far less than the proportion of female gun owners? Why is that?

Is a .22 to the head usually lethal? Does it depend on how it enters? Does it differ from a pistol to a rifle?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.