Thursday, October 28, 2010

Son Shoots Mom; Dad Kicks Self

Headline of the Week: Father 'Kicking Himself' After Son, 4, Shoots Mother. While police do not expect to arrest anyone, prosecutors could decide to file charges: "It would be something along the lines of negligence." Hey, give the guy a break and get the government off of his back.

According to the story, the father had given the lad a piece of live ammunition somewhere some time -- no one one seems to know when -- and "was unaware that the boy still had the cartridge." I know where he's coming from: As many times as I gave my boys a bullet with an unsecured gun lying around, I couldn't possibly have been expected to remember whether they had kept it or not.

Police explained that actually loading the gun had been a piece of cake so easy to eat that a 4-year old could do it: "He had probably seen his dad do it a hundred times." Police did not explain why the man felt it necessary to load his gun a hundred times in front of his toddler son.

Dave Workman of Gun World weighed in with a plea for gun safety:
It's cases like this that remind gun owners about...making sure their children never touch firearms without their parents' permission.
I don't know what's more alarming: The plural "cases," the fact anyone needs to be reminded, or that Dave doesn't seem to have a problem with leaving guns out where they can be touched...

6 comments:

Leslie Parsley said...

And because of dad's negligence, the little boy doesn't have a mother and will have to live with the reason why for the rest of his life. So unnecessary and so very sad.

K. said...

I should have included the initial story. Mercifully, she wasn't killed. I would never have take such a light tone had that been the case. Apologies.

Peter Tibbles said...

To me, "Gun safety" is not having any guns around at all.

T. said...

Agree with Peter!

paula said...

Yeah, we keep our shotguns in bed with us, too. You never know when you'll need them.

The only thing worse than the incident itself is the cavalier attitude of the police.

Whatever happened to laws regarding child neglect and endangerment? How is a home full of guns and ammo any safer than a home full of crack or meth? I don't understand why police didn't remove the boy from the home. That kid is doomed--first by his parents, then by the people who are supposed to protect him.

I guess the best you can say is the woman will live and may even take her kid and herself out of harm's way, and the kid shot someone in his own family, not someone else's. At least, this time.

Frank Partisan said...

Quite sad.