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samzhere
Posts: 10,923 Senior Member
Little kid shoots himself with gramps' gun -- excellent writeup on this sad event
samzhere
Posts: 10,923 Senior Member
A 3yr old Houston boy shot himself in the face with his grandfather's handgun. Unknown at this time the kid's condition.
This sort of terrible tragedy occurs far too often and people need to learn responsibility about guns where there are children present. Of course we know this very well -- unfortunately it's the "semi-gun" people who don't take firearms seriously, as we do. We know their power and inherent danger to very young kids and understand what is needed to both protect and educate kids on this. Sadly, lots of idiots have guns lying around here and there and don't think that kids will find them or try to play with them. Very young kids really do think the gun is like on TV cartoons and have no idea about the reality. I blame the grandfather for this event.
The story here is well written, not anti-gun at all, and has good quotes from firearm experts that stress keeping guns away from little kids and also teaching them about guns.
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/3-year-old-shoots-self-with-grandfather-s-gun-in-6367523.php
This sort of terrible tragedy occurs far too often and people need to learn responsibility about guns where there are children present. Of course we know this very well -- unfortunately it's the "semi-gun" people who don't take firearms seriously, as we do. We know their power and inherent danger to very young kids and understand what is needed to both protect and educate kids on this. Sadly, lots of idiots have guns lying around here and there and don't think that kids will find them or try to play with them. Very young kids really do think the gun is like on TV cartoons and have no idea about the reality. I blame the grandfather for this event.
The story here is well written, not anti-gun at all, and has good quotes from firearm experts that stress keeping guns away from little kids and also teaching them about guns.
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/3-year-old-shoots-self-with-grandfather-s-gun-in-6367523.php
Replies
Jerry
So very sad but it's the adults who are responsible. Latest is that the boy died. Now they're likely to seek charges against the grandfather. I know that this wouldn't do any good for the case at hand but it may serve as a publicized example to others.
The news tonight was very evenly treated. The sheriff said that people need to lock their guns away from kids, but others said that it's not possible to type in a code or remember a combination under a home invasion, so the news said that the issue is a difficult balance. Which is true.
-Mikhail Kalashnikov
Thanks for posting Sam, this hit me right between the eyes. I've got two small grand kids here in the house for an, AS YET, undetermined period of time, and after I read this and what you and Teach and all said, I'm locking them up for now. I don't have any of those pesky gun locks, but I may get me one that I can get off fast, but the boys won't be able. I don't know how I'm going to do that, but I'll come up with something. But while those kids are in the house, I'm going to get them put up out of sight.
This is a great opportunity. Anybody have any good suggestions?
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
Jerry
Even adults can do something improper, my dad had access to my safe, he took my S&W 645, loaded it, chambered a round, fired a round, a LE only 230 gn HP +P+ , the bullet went through a closet door, old style hardwood, all my dad's suits,, another lathe and plaster wall, missed all my suits, lodged halfway through another lathe and plaster wall.
Lucky for me, nobody either heard the shot, reported the shot, or it was never looked into..... I could have had much trouble, dad was an old hand with firearms too......lots of training.
Yet he did something unfathomable for him !!
After that, my safe was always locked, New combination........
Leaving a gun lying around is of course stupid if there are small kids. On the belt isn't however the answer all the time. You can't carry all your guns on your person or you'll look like a mall ninja, ha ha. And in the shower or whatever?
Unless someone lives in an area subject to constant thug breaking in and riot, that sort of ghetto thing, I'm guessing that it's pretty okay to just put the gun into a lockbox for while the kiddos are around. If the kids live there however, then other measures are at hand, such a a very high reach storage area.
As was said in the writeup, it's a delicate problem, needing a gun at hand and having kids too. When my kids were young I simply kept the guns locked up but loaded. We didn't need to fend off more than 20 or 30 home invasions a year, so it was acceptable.
Seriously, that grandfather might not be criminally charged but he needs to be given the riot act major, and lectured and shamed for hours. Stupid and the poor little kid paid for it.
When I was a little older, like 7 or so, Dad took me shooting and all that sort of stuff, and he taught me very well about firearm safety. I was old enough to realize that real guns weren't cap guns and so on, and I was maybe 9 when I was given my own Mossberg .22 carbine (which I still have).
In the bedside table on his side, Dad had his 1911, cocked and locked. On Mom's side, she had a .38 S&W snubbie. I knew this and also knew hands off. But I also knew not to ever go into my parents' bedroom anyway, unless I was asked to "Run upstairs and get five dollars from my purse" Mom might say.
And I'd no more think of "playing" with those real guns than I would to take money from my Dad's wallet or look thru Mom's purse. It never entered my mind.
But when I was little? I really don't know what my folks did with guns during that time. But Dad was always very responsible so I assume he kept them unloaded or put away.
Carry all ones firearms on one's person ?
The general idea is to have a sidearm in a holster for general defense, the rest are inaccessible.....
There are of course other ways to keep firearms accesible to authorized people, yet not accessible to kids or anyone with poor impulse control etc..
I was of course just kidding, as you well know.
Not having to defend against continual invasions where I live in Houston, I'm content to have my home defense pistols ready nearby and not necessarily on my waist. Others of course, depending on the dire conditions where they live, may need ready and fast access and therefore wear the gun while walking around the house. Each gun owner decides on this, based on the crime rate and number of attempted home invasions in the place where he lives.
But anyway, yeah, it's essential that dangerous objects be kept from access by little kids.
Correct. And this is also how the law usually sees this. If the gun owner isn't some thug with maybe bags of crack sitting around too, county attorneys here in Texas decline to press charges. The do investigate, and if it's determined that the gun owner is otherwise law abiding, they don't prosecute. They know full well, as you correctly state, that the grandfather will suffer more from his own conscience than the law could ever effect.
My sidearm should be,, at my side, loaded and ready to go, not in a safe or other place of concealment.
If I had advance knowledge of a defensive encounter, I would be armed with the best weapon possible,, sadly,when my crystal ball broke, I can no longer predict personal defense encounters.
So, I am prepared to face whatsoever may come my way within reason......
Chances are, when X happens, you will have access to whatever you have in your holster, the guns in the safe may not be available at that time.... Especially If a bad guy is standing in the way....
Moat of my defensive encounters have rapidly evolved and escalated in a manner resulting in me being armed with whatever I had on me in my holster.
Funny thing. I don't care if he feels bad that his grandchild is dead, just the same way I don't feel bad for a drunk driver who wrecks and kills his best friend or relative. Feelings are irrelevant. Why would a justice system take guilt feelings into consideration?
George Carlin
Not precisely guilt feelings, but extenuating circumstances. Those should generally be included in any decision for pursuing an indictment.
For example, if the gun owner is a drug dealer with crackheads in and out all night, then toss him into jail. But otherwise, a law abiding but essentially unthinking guy whose only wrong deed was this awful thing, prosecution generally has no real effect.
We aren't made for the law. The law is made for us. And so we must use common sense and reason into the equation, not set up a hard code that's always enforced to the letter with zero flexibility.
At least that's how I see it.
I suppose that's possible, if I were an idiot and left my loaded pistol out where a curious child could get ahold of it. However, it still wouldn't matter because I wouldn't be the one making decisions about my punishment would I? If our justice system were based on the repentant, guilty feelings of every skell that was caught, nobody would ever be imprisoned because EVERYBODY would always be really, really sorry...after being caught.:roll:
George Carlin
I'm not saying the dude goes to the hoosegow forever, or even at all. I'm just saying he has to answer for his actions, regardless of his 'feelings'. We can't convict somebody due to another's bad feelings toward them, nor should we avoid punishing at all somebody who feels bad about consequences to their own actions. The law is not about feelings.
George Carlin
There can come a time in anyone's life, that a particularly poor decision or act can result in a chain of very harmful events, the law of unintended consequences, do you prosecute those people as you would intentionally criminal violators ?
No, the law is written to take intent and motive into account as well as a persons state of mind when the act was committed.
:that::that: Pretty much
Wise people say, "here but by the grace of God go I."
All it takes is one error, and you too, may find yourself wishing for Justice to be tempered with mercy....