61-year-old Stanley Wilkinson was charged in January with one count of dangerous weapons – intentional discharge of firearm that endangers safety. He pled guilty today in Olmsted County District Court to the charge. The charge stems from an incident on December 10th.As we mentioned at the time of the incident, guns do more harm than good. The fear-driven and foolish decision to have a gun in the house turned into a tragedy for this man and his family.
At the time, Wilkinson told police that he heard a noise outside his home and grabbed his pistol. He fired two rounds after he saw someone trying to open the door. The person turned out to be his granddaughter who was struck in the neck. She was hospitalized after the shooting. Wilkinson will be sentenced on April 15 at 1:30.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
There are 100,000,000 gun owners and 300,000,000+ guns in this country. Of those numbers, around 600 die per annum due to gun accidents. The majority of gun deaths are from suicide, and we've established that gun ownership or lack thereof doesn't correlate to suicide rates. By contrast, the Department of Justice gives the number of defensive gun uses, in the most conservative of good studies, as 108,000 in a year.
ReplyDeleteOwning and carrying a gun is a rational choice that we have the right to make. You choose not to do that? Your decision. I won't force you to make my choice. That's the difference between us.
The idea that a person might keep a firearm for self-defense and yet not be driven by fear is unacceptable to many who would deny citizens that right. Again, I submit that projection, denial and reaction formation, all of which are normally occurring defense mechanisms, play a large role here. Further, to suggest it's something other than foolish, that there might be a legitimate reason for it and that it's not (or even may not be) the risky behavior some would claim is equally unacceptable. The reason (or one of them) for this, of course, is that conceding either of these points tends to undermine the position of many anti gun people.
ReplyDeleteThe pastor is a perfect illustration of the fact that gun in the home is more likely to do harm than good. That means, unless there's an overwhelming need for a gun, which I believe some people have, it's a stupid fear-driven decision.
DeleteSend this fucking gunsuck moron to jail for 20 years. Ladies, listen up: If you live with a gunsuck, it's only a matter of time before he shoots you. Leave now.
ReplyDeleteI submit nick's comment as a great example of the above mentioned defense mechanisms.
DeleteI second your submission, RM.
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