Local news reports
A high school student was killed Thursday night when a friend’s hunting rifle accidentally discharged at a home in Drain, Douglas County sheriff’s officials said.
Deputies learned that the victim was at a 15-year-old friend’s home when the boys decided to handle a hunting rifle that belonged to the younger teen, officials said.
The younger boy was handing the rifle to his friend when it accidentally discharged.
The 16-year-old died at the scene, officials said.
You see, it wasn't the younger boy's fault, it was the gun's fault. The "RILFE accidentally discharged." The writers of these articles use the English language for a living. They purposely phrase it in the passive voice to lessen the responsibility of the human person who negligently pulled the trigger.
Young teens are too young to handle guns without adult supervision. Gun-rights fanatics keep telling us about training and education, about demystifying the gun, yet we keep reading stories like this.
Whenever a kid is hurt with a gun, an adult should be held accountable.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Ah, yes! We must punish an adult because otherwise we would not be punishing the person . . . responsible for . . . pulling . . . the . . . trigger...
ReplyDeleteWhen the kid involved is 4, we punish the responsible adult only. When the kid involved is 14, we punish both. Why would you want to protect the irresponsible adult in a case like this?
DeleteI was actually just pointing out that you only talked about the adult, not the 14 year old who you called too young to handle the gun responsibly, and automatically moved on from.
DeleteI wasn't addressing the necessity of punishment of either party since that argument would be interminable and pointless. Merely pointing out that being hyper-critical of your post, just as you were hyper-critical of the use of passive voice, could show a similar shift in blame.
Well, why don't you address the necessity of punishment. What should it be? Be specific and brief, please.
DeleteInsufficient information on this case. I don't care to "flesh it out" like you like to do.
DeleteAs for your broken record comment, we've explained MANY times why, for liability reasons, reporters use passive voice, but go ahead and keep preaching your conspiracy theory of a distributed, grassroots cabal of pro gun reporters who manipulate the news in favor of guns.
ReplyDeleteBTW, how does this conspiracy of reporters, DA's, cops, and others square with the idea that pro-gun people are a tiny minority of society, losing all of their power, etc. Also, how does it square with all of the media promotion of gun control and promotion by various police organizations?
The fanatics like you are a tiny minority.
DeleteAbout the passive voice usage, in some cases, I suppose it's more about sloppiness in reporting but I object to it because it plays right into your hands by diminishing the personal responsibility.
Right, it plays into the hands of people like me and other pro-gun activists who bitch about the same thing in our own blogs and print magazines.
DeleteAlso, your first, short sentence does not answer the questions about squaring your conspiracy theory with your other statements.
On a lighter note, I have to ask, what's a RILFE? Is this a new acronym I haven't heard of? Does the E stand for Energetically? And I thought we were the ones who were supposed to have an unnatural longing for Rifles...
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately your an idiot. And accidents do happen. The poor child that accidently shot his best friend is gonna be traumitized for life and has to live with that memory everyday. Not only him but the parents. There is no need for criminal charges. If this was your child i guarantee you would have another stance.
ReplyDeleteHe should be traumatized for the rest of his life as a disqualified person. The responsible adult should also be disarmed. Since we cannot predict who will commit these gross acts of negligence in the future, we must disarm the ones who prove themselves to be unfit.
DeleteThere you go again, making up nonsense about reporters when we've explained to you over and over the reason. They don't want to be sued. Their bosses don't want the papers sued. Assigning blame puts both at risk for libel. Why can't you get that?
ReplyDeleteOh, it's because you are afraid that someday you'll be sued for the wild statements that you make.
Even if an adult is responsible for the actions of their underage children, the child should not escape any punishment from the law. I would also be interested to hear what the NRA dudes think the kids punishment should be.
ReplyDelete