Another dead child thanks to unsecured firearms

[SteveM4A1]

Just another emotional response. Someone dies so someone has to be punished for it. Sorry. No can do. Accidents are just that. Every accident is rooted in some negligence because by definition all accidents can be prevented. But holding people legally responsible and seeking to punish them is unacceptable. What if the kid fell out of the tree house?

If an individual's death is due directly to another's negligence, the negligent individual should be punished. It isn't an emotional response, but a logical one.

If a kid falls out of a tree house, it depends upon whose negligence caused the accident.

 

[sadclownwp]

Title is false. It should read Another Dead Child Thanks to Parents.

We have got to get away from this crap about blaming the firearm, or the manner of which the firearm is stored. The gun didn't fire itself, and the firearm didn't place itself within a child's reach.

 

[88GT]

If an individual's death is due directly to another's negligence, the negligent individual should be punished. It isn't an emotional response, but a logical one.

If a kid falls out of a tree house, it depends upon whose negligence caused the accident.

It is emotional. There is no logical justification for punishing an accident. Negligence isn't always criminal. I've had this argument before. I'm not going to repeat it. Criminal negligence is a dangerous statute. So is the mindset that every bad outcome needs to result in someone being punished.

 

[KLB]

There is not much you could do to punish most parents that would be worse than the knowledge that they may have been able to prevent the death of their child.

 

[churchmouse]

It is emotional. There is no logical justification for punishing an accident. Negligence isn't always criminal. I've had this argument before. I'm not going to repeat it. Criminal negligence is a dangerous statute. So is the mindset that every bad outcome needs to result in someone being punished.

Emotions run deep and heated on this one.
No one can keep an investigative child in their sites all the time. No one is in total control of their surroundings when children are in the mix. No, we can not put up everything that can do harm. Knives/car keys/etc so on and so forth.
That said, adult supervision and responsibility have to play into this. Guns are dangerous only when being handled. Put them up out of reach at least. Temptation is a strong motivator. Use the brain for something beyond a door stop. This is all to common an occurrence these days.

 

[SteveM4A1]

It is emotional. There is no logical justification for punishing an accident. Negligence isn't always criminal. I've had this argument before. I'm not going to repeat it. Criminal negligence is a dangerous statute. So is the mindset that every bad outcome needs to result in someone being punished.

This is much different than what I stated. Every bad event shouldn't result in an individual being punished, but there are plenty of instances where someone should.

 

[Denny347]

Sadly, there are few second chances with guns. 1 mistake and someone had been forever removed from this earth. The stakes are high.

 

[darinb]

Death and tragedy are a constant and surety in life but I sure hate to see this.

 

[churchmouse]

Sadly, there are few second chances with guns. 1 mistake and someone had been forever removed from this earth. The stakes are high.

And.....lives are forever altered. There is no coming back from this.

 

[churchmouse]

Death and tragedy are a constant and surety in life but I sure hate to see this.

Yeah me to. My heart is heavy when a child is lost like this.

 

[Doug]

Two of the three links provided in the story involved criminal actions; the third was a father violating all four rules of gun safety.
Does anyone know if this firearm was legally owned?

 

[indytechnerd]

Two of the three links provided in the story involved criminal actions; the third was a father violating all four rules of gun safety.
Does anyone know if this firearm was legally owned?

Doesn't matter. The anti's see no difference in the legality of the firearm in question, only that a kid is dead because of said firearm. We need to get off that train of legally owned vs. illegally owned also. It takes us down the same path as the anti's train of "if there were no guns", which is farcical. Trying to deflect this tragedy because the sperm and egg donors (I won't call them parents) may or may not have been prohibited from owning the gun gets us no where.

 

[Arthur Dent]

Sadly, there are few second chances with guns. 1 mistake and someone had been forever removed from this earth. The stakes are high.

Death usually keeps there from being a second chance. Regardless of the means.

 

[churchmouse]

Two of the three links provided in the story involved criminal actions; the third was a father violating all four rules of gun safety.
Does anyone know if this firearm was legally owned?

I hear tonight on Fox that owner of the gun has Felony. More to follow.

 

[Mgderf]

Death usually keeps there from being a second chance. Regardless of the means.

This was my first thought.
I don't really believe this has as much to do with the gun involved as it does with just plain crappy parenting.
Take the gun out of the equation and my bet is this poor kid would have found an alternative way to mess himself or someone else up for life.

I think back to all the crap my parents kept me out of and I'm amazed they were able to, but they made it their mission to ensure I stayed on a good path.
I had access to firearms when I proved myself competent.

There were so many ways that this tragedy could have been avoided, and all of the solutions to this problem involve common sense and personal responsibility.

 

[bingley]

Do you guys know the name Vasili Arkhipov? You should: he saved the world. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, he was on a submarine that was ready to launch a nuclear missile. The submarine had lost contact, and the captain, along with the officers, believed a nuclear war had broken out. Arkhipov, second in command, persuaded them not to launch the nuclear missile. In fact, he got them to surface to reestablish contact with Moscow, potentially at great risk to themselves.

The nuclear missile is a big mother round, and USSR -- whatever you think of it -- entrusted it to the right man in this case.

Spiderman actually has some true wisdom, like "with great power comes great responsibility." Few people can handle the responsibility of a nuclear missile. More people can handle small arms, but not everyone.