Mississippi Pellet Gun Death - No Charges - It Was Just an Accident

Local news reports

A 6-year old girl has been confirmed dead after what investigators are calling an apparent accidental shooting in her family's home in Brookhaven, Mississippi.

She was rushed to Southwest Regional Medical Center in Mccomb where she passed around 11 a.m. Wednesday morning, shortly after her 13-year old brother untimely discharged his pellet gun inside the home.

Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing spoke with WLBT TV regarding the incident, and confirmed that no charges have been filed up to this point.

Mississippi Woman Struck by Bullet Shell after Concealed Carry Permit Holder Ignored ‘no guns’ Sign at Church

Raw Story

A Mississippi man with an “enhanced” concealed carry permit was arrested over the weekend for discharging a firearm inside city limits after he accidentally hit a woman with a shell in church when his gun discharged.

Churchgoers at Pinelake Church in Rankin County were preparing for service on Sunday morning when the 9mm handgun in Joseph Edgar Ray’s pocket discharged while he was sitting down.

Flowood Police Department Lt. Ricky McMillian told the paper that the bullet lodged in the concrete floor and a woman was hit by the shell. WAPT also reported that “[f]ragments from the bullet shell grazed a woman nearby.” WJTV’s report said that the shell “barely broke skin.”

“It did hit a lady in the leg but it didn’t break her skin so the lady wasn’t hurt,” McMillian noted. “Even though it was an accident, we recognize the seriousness of the situation… Worst case scenario, is it goes off and someone dies.”

Pinelake Church Executive Pastor of Operations Rod Cadenhead pointed out in a statement that guns were not allowed on the property. In fact, a sign in front of the church says, “Carrying of a pistol or revolver is prohibited.”

Mississippi 6-Year-old Dead - 16-Year-old Shooter Arrested

Local news reports

A 6-year-old girl died today after suffering a gunshot wound to the head Tuesday, Warren County Coroner Doug L. Huskey said. Jamerica Ragsdale was shot in her grandmother's home in Warren County west of Vicksburg. 

A 16-year-old male living with the family, was handling a .22 caliber pistol when it discharged. The bullet went through the wall into the room where Jamerica was standing. 

"Yeah it was an accident," said Nikia Ragsdale, Jamerica's uncle. "But he shouldn't been playing with guns." 

The teenage shooter was not identified. It is not known if he is related to the family. "At this time the 16-year-old is being detained in youth detention for possession of a handgun by a minor," said Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace. 

"As this investigation continues all that information will be presented to the Warren County Youth Court to see if any charges are applicable to the injury of the child." 

Police are also investigating where the teen got the gun. Jamerica was pronounced dead today at 1:36 a.m. at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Mississippi - Worst in Life Expectancy and Health

Dead 9-Year-old in Mississippi - No Charges for the Gun Owning Parents

Local news reports

Authorities say a 9-year-old Raymond boy died after being shot at a home in Copiah County.
Coroner Ellis Stewart identified the victim as Isaac Tervino.

Tervino was with two other children in a bedroom of the home on Highway 18 in the northwest part of the county. [Undersheriff Derrick] Cubit said the two other boys were brothers and Tervino was their cousin. The adults were reportedly in another room of the house eating.

Cubit says 1 of the other children found a gun, picked it up and fired, striking Tervino above the right eyebrow.

He says the victim was airlifted to University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson where he died.

Cubit says the shooting appears to be accidental, and no charges have been filed.

In Mississippi it doesn't even take an investigation to determine that it was an accident and no charges are required. No worries about violating anyone's right to due process there - except the dead kid and his traumatized cousins, of course.

Mississippi No Longer the Worst State for Kids

  
The Kids Count report ranks the well-being of kids in the U.S. (AP)

Yahoo News

There’s good news for the children of Mississippi; their state is no longer the worst place to be a kid. That’s because a new set of annual rankings on children’s welfare says New Mexico has dethroned Mississippi's perennial hold on the bottom ranking of the Kids Count list.

For the past 24 years, the Annie E. Casey Foundation has used a series of 16 indicators to rank the well-being of children in all 50 U.S. states. This year’s edition is the first to not place Mississippi at 50 out of 50 on the list, citing gains in health and education. However, Mississippi is still No. 49 on the list.

The foundation also noted that a third of Mississippi’s children continue to live in poverty. By comparison, 13 percent of New Hampshire’s children are listed as living at or below the poverty level.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts finished at the top of the children’s well-being list.

“While we are not where we need to be, the fact that our child and teen death rate, along with some decrease in the percentage of children without health insurance has been helpful,” Mississippi Kids Count Director Linda Southward told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

There also appears to be an overall improving trend in the South. Louisiana, which was 46th on the list, is the only other Southern state to finish in the bottom five. However, the Southwest has fared less well—three of the bottom-five states are New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada.

Mississippi Man Kills Girlfriend Calls it an Accident

Local news reports

MSNewsNow.com - Jackson, MS

Anyone who posts pictures of himself with guns on the internet should be considered a gun nut. Let's make that the first rule.

Second rule: when someone who is a product of the Mississippi school system says the girfriend shot herself in the back of the head, he has to stick with that story.

The thing you have to wonder is how many lawful gun owners are just like this guy.

Too many is my guess.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

New Mississippi Gun Law Creates Confusion

Local news reports

In one month a law will take effect in Mississippi that has many law enforcement officers, business owners and regular people confused.

House Bill 2, a bill meant to clarify Mississippi’s concealed carry gun laws, defines the word concealed and in doing so says it shall not include weapons being carried upon a person in a sheath, belt holster or shoulder holster that is wholly or partially visible.

Gun rights advocates have taken to campaigning for and embracing a new open carry movement. One group in Corinth is hosting an open carry, empty chamber day at Corinth City Park on July 6 once the law goes into affect.

Many law enforcement officials have expressed concern that this will bring more weapons into play in their everyday duties, increasing their call volume and confusion at crime scenes.

Verona Police Chief Anthony Anderson said he is anticipating much discussion on how to enforce this law at the upcoming Mississippi Association of Chiefs of Police Conference on June 16.

He said he is a supporter of Second Amendment rights but doesn’t look forward to walking into a gas station where four people have guns on their hips and trying to figure out who is trained to use the firearm and what their intentions are.

When the new law goes into effect, convicted felons will still be prohibited from carrying a firearm, people will still be prohibited from carrying a firearm into an area with posted signs banning firearms unless they have a state-issued enhanced conceal carry permit and anyone using a firearm in the commission of a crime or for intimidation can be held legally responsible.

To carry a firearm in public in Mississippi, a person must be at least 18 years of age.

The Worst State in the Country

Business Insider

1. Mississippi. 

Lowest average life expectancy, poorest, fattest, second highest teen pregnancy rate and highest teen birth rate, one of the lowest high school graduation rates and still a lot of opposition to interracial marriage being legal.

The only people who staunchly opposed exiling the Magnolia State were residents of Alabama, who realized that the only reason they were not considered the worst state was because of the presence of Mississippi. Louisianans, however, were quite taken with the idea.

And to think, I always thought it was between Florida and Arizona.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Mississippi 5-Year-old Dead - No Charges

Local news reports

Tishomingo County authorities say a five-year-old died after being accidentally shot by a family member Thursday night.

Sheriff's officials say they were called to the Cotton Gin Trailer Park in Burnsville along with Burnsville Police around 10 p.m.

When officers arrived, they found the child.

What can I say, except the idea that fewer restrictions on the supposedly god-given, natural-human right to own a gun, which ensures that we'll have more of these incidents than we otherwise would, is wrong.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Mississippi Student with Concealed Carry Permit Shoots Himself Accidentally on Campus

Local news reports

A University of Southern Mississippi student from Brandon remains in critical yet stable condition Friday after accidentally shooting himself in the thigh while sitting in his vehicle on campus.
Blake Ballard, 22, was found on the pavement outside his jeep Thursday afternoon on the service road adjacent to the Ogletree Alumni House. 

The junior was rushed to Forrest General Hospital for treatment.

Because of his condition, police have not been able to interview the victim to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting. But from all indications, police say it appears to have been accidental.

University officials say Ballard apparently was not in violation of state law by having a gun in the vehicle on campus because he was over 21 and had obtained an enhancement to a concealed firearms permit, but he may face university discipline for having a gun on campus at a later date. 

This one's almost too funny to write about.  What do you think? 

Jon Stewart on the Mississippi Ratification of the 13th Amendment

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

I guess all the staunch defenders of 2nd Amendment rights down there just never noticed. What do you think?  Isn't it hard not to make fun of the South?

Mississippi Abolishes Slavery Finally

Notions Capital

On February 7, 2013, the state of Mississippi officially ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery. Of course the Constitutional amendment was adopted 168 years ago, on December 6, 1865, after ratification by 27 other states, but the Mississippi legislature, miffed that Magnolia State slave owners weren't compensated for their loss of human property, voted against it.

And some people wonder why we generalize in mocking the deep south.

Women's Rights in Mississippi - A Joke

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Down Mississippi Way the Debate Rages

Local news reports

 

It's just too bad the Democrat who offered half-hearted support of the President's ideas doesn't know what "semi-automatic" means.

Mississippi Couple Arrested after Accidental Shooting

Local news reports

Harrison County Sheriff Melvin Brisolara says that after a woman apparently shot her 47-year-old father and 2-year-old son by accident, a deputy investigating the shooting was injured by fumes from a meth lab in her home.

20-year-old Jessica Amanda Saucier and her 18-year-old boyfriend, Walter Edward Franklin III, were charged with felony child neglect and their bonds set at $100,000. It was not clear whether they had lawyers.

Maj. Ron Pullen says Saucier told deputies her shotgun went off while she was loading or unloading it during target practice. The blast hit the vehicle in which her child and father were sitting, critically injuring the child and hitting her father's face.

In Mississippi that's just the way things go. If you're gonna shoot your kid by accident you better not have a meth lab in the house if you expect to get away with the shooting.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

Accidental Shooting at Mississippi Gun Show - 4-Year-old Injured - No Charges

Local news reports

A 4-year-old child was injured when hit by bullet fragments Saturday morning after a gun accidentally discharges at a Tupelo gun show.

The child was hit by fragments from a bullet that went through a wall. Also, a man was grazed in the leg in the same accident.

Tupelo Police say both were treated at North Mississippi Medical Center. Neither suffered life threatening injuries.

A preliminary investigation indicated it was an accident and no charges are expected.

It was only an accident, why would any charges be brought?

What's your opinion?  Please leave  a comment.

No Guns on Mississippi State University Campus - Still

The Reflector reports

Mississippi State University has not changed the policy prohibiting students from carrying firearms on MSU property, according to Thomas Bourgeois, Dean of Students.

Interest was sparked among Mississippians when House Bill 506 went into effect July 1, 2011. This amendment states Mississippians who have obtained an Individual Firearms Permit are allowed to carry a concealed weapon in previously-banned places such as churches, bars and schools.

Bourgeois made it clear MSU’s campus laws have not been affected by House Bill 506.

“Guns are still illegal for students to carry on campus,” he said.  He said this policy applies to MSU faculty and staff as well.

Why is it that if guns are so obviously beneficial and that being able to carry them is a god-given right, the gun advocates cannot even succeed in places like Mississippi and Texas with guns on campus?

Why is that?

Please leave a comment.

Mississippi and Tennessee Represent the Bottom of the Barrel

The Nashville Business Journal reports

Tennessee students' ACT test scores are in, and the results aren't pretty.

For the second-straight year, Tennessee's scores in the college aptitude tests were the second worst in the country, beating only the scores for Mississippi, The Tennessean reports.

According to ACT officials, 16 percent of Tennessee's graduating seniors in 2012 were ready for college.

This is the sad future of these states. Not much hope there.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Accidental Shooting Death of 4-Year-old Mississippi Girl by her 7-Year-old Brother - No Charges

Local news reports 

The Perry County Sheriff's Department is investigating the shooting death of a 4-year-old girl who was allegedly shot by her 7-year-old half brother on Tuesday around 11 a.m., according to Perry County Sheriff Jimmy Smith. 

Smith said the brother was playing with a shot gun, when he reportedly shot his half sister in the face at their home on Wing Gate Cove Road in the town of New Augusta. 

The victim was declared dead on the scene. "Right now, it appears to be an accidental shooting," Smith said. Smith said one of the parents was home at the time of the incident.

What's your opinion? Mine is that Mississippi is one backwards, jerk-water place where the folks leave shotguns around for kids to play with. And Mississippi isn't the only place where they do that.

I'll bet the 7-year-old had been told not to touch the gun.  What do you think?

Please leave a comment.