And yet more irresponsible gun owners....

[BoomerLynn]

A 2-year-old girl was accidentally shot by her 5-year-old brother with a gun he received as a gift. Apparently their mother was cleaning and stepped out on the porch for a minute and heard the gun fire while she was out there. The gun was kept in a corner and they didn't realize there was a shell left in it. The little boy was apparently used to shooting it.

1. WHO THE HELL BUYS A GUN FOR A 5-YEAR-OLD?!

2. WHY THE FUCK WAS THE GUN LEFT SITTING OUT?!

Both my husband and I grew up around guns and we were both taught from an early age to always assume a gun is loaded, never put your hand on the trigger unless you intend to shoot, never ever point a gun at anyone, and to always always always check the chamber to make sure there was no bullet in it. In other words, basic gun safety. Guns were never left lying around, my father-in-law is a collector and all of his firearms are kept in a gunsafe when not in use. Now, thanks to the idiocy of these parents, a little girl is dead and her poor brother will have to live with the fact that he killed his baby sister for the rest of his life. :cry: I fucking hate people sometimes.

:cry: :cry: :cry: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :angry-screaming: :pull-hair:

Link below:

http://www.local12.com/news/state/story ... tRD2g.cspx

[debrand]

I was just about to post that. My daughter is reading it out loud to us now.

Five year olds do not have the mental capacity to be around guns without supervision. The dumbass mother should be in jail.

In rural southern Kentucky, far removed from the national debate over gun control, where some children get their first guns even before they start first grade, the accident stunned the community.

and

The company that makes the rifle, Milton, Pa.-based Keystone Sporting Arms, has a "Kids Corner" on its website with pictures of young boys and girls at shooting ranges and on bird and deer hunts. It says the company produced 60,000 Crickett and Chipmunk rifles for kids in 2008. The smaller rifles are sold with a mount to use at a shooting range.

[Marianne]

The company that makes guns should be put in jail.

There are three reasons why I'm not going to travel in America : money, my health, and weapons. I will not go into a country where people who are not soldiers have weapons. This is clear. I don't know how you do for live reassured when you know that your neighbor has a weapon. Glups.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Guns are not for children, they are designed to kill. You wouldnt let your children play with knives, or bombs, or poison, so why let them have guns?

This poor boy :( Hes going to have to live with that for his whole life :(

[Irishy]

These parents are 100% responsible for their daughter's death and fucking up their son for the rest of his life. That burden coupled with their grief will be unbearable. Please god this will cause like minded people to stop and THINK.

[Savoring Samsara]

If only there were some way to prevent such a tragedy from happening. :roll:

(Or, as my husband sarcastically put it, "Maybe if the 2-year-old had been carrying a gun, she would be alive today")

[OkToBeTakei]

I'm just waiting for 4thSurvivor to turn up.

[Bloo]

That mother is unfit to parent and should be imprisoned for life. There's no excuse for that level of negligence. None.

[Sola]

Who the fuck buys a gun for a five year old? I wouldn't even buy my son a toy gun when he was little. Guns are not playthings.

FFS.

[idonthaveajname]

What an incredibly sad story that could have been easily prevented. :(

[browngrl]

I hate to blame the parents because after all what worse punishment can there be than the loss of a child but there is so much gun violence and I am sick to death of hearing the excuse "it was God's will" - that I am starting to think that a stand must be taken. Maybe if the parents are held accountable for their stupidity then someone else might learn better and maybe just maybe a life could be saved.

[infooverload]

I really can not imagine giving a five year old a gun as a gift. There is no good reason for a child to have a gun at that age in my opinion. I know the redneck hillbillies of Kentucky will say you are taking away our culture heritage of teaching our young sons to hunt. I would retort back that if you teach them when they are older and more responsible they can carry the heritage onto their own family, instead of being burried in the ground due to an accidental shooting. A five year old should not have his own gun and if you know guns are going to be around the child you start teaching gun safety not saying here is one.

[BoomerLynn]

I really can not imagine giving a five year old a gun as a gift. There is no good reason for a child to have a gun at that age in my opinion. I know the redneck hillbillies of Kentucky will say you are taking away our culture heritage of teaching our young sons to hunt. I would retort back that if you teach them when they are older and more responsible they can carry the heritage onto their own family, instead of being burried in the ground due to an accidental shooting. A five year old should not have his own gun and if you know guns are going to be around the child you start teaching gun safety not saying here is one.

This. I live in KY (thankfully close enough to Cincinnati to avoid many of the hillbillies lol) and we own a gun (which is kept locked up and out of reach of our children). The excuse of "teaching our young sons to hunt" is bullshit IMO. My husband grew up in a hunting family. He was not taught to shoot until he was around 9 or 10, and that was only supervised with a bb gun at first. He learned to fire a rifle a bit after that (strictly at a target on his grandfather's rural property and only when supervised ). Guns were never left lying around (certainly not propped up in a corner). This is what I have typically seen in other families that are into hunting. Gun safety was drilled into him from a very young age as well. In fact, the first gun I ever fired other than a bb gun was while dating my husband, and even though he knew that I had been taught gun safety he still went over it with me again. Bottom line, there is no excuse for what happened to these poor kids. It could have easily been prevented. Their parents chose to allow a 5-year-old to have a gun. They chose to leave said gun propped in a corner instead of properly storing it. They chose to leave their children unsupervised with said gun. And now a toddler has lost her life and her brother will be traumatized for the rest of his. These parents belong in jail for negligent homicide, and get no sympathy from me.

[doggie]

It does not matter that he was 5 I have been seeing this same crap happening with adults. in the last few months many children have been killed by adjust cleaning or paying with their loaded guns not knowing they were loaded. so at least 5 the 5 year old has an excuse compared to the stupid adjust who owns a gun and has no clue it is loaded.

[So Says I]

I used to work with a lady who, along with her husband, was a gun fanatic. When her first son was born, they received a gun for him as a baby gift. She seemed to think this was the most adorable thing ever. My boss thought it was cute too. They just couldn't wait until he was big enough to go out and shoot things with his dad. Apparently in some circles, arming young children is considered normal. I think it's totally fucked up. Personally, I insist on having the talk with the parents of my son's friends to make sure their are not accessible firearms in the home.

The story made me cry. You wouldn't leave drugs or household cleaners where a small child could get into them. Why the fuck would you leave a gun available to them? Those poor children. One is dead and ones life is marred forever. I hope the parents rot in jail.

[YPestis]

I used to work with a lady who, along with her husband, was a gun fanatic. When her first son was born, they received a gun for him as a baby gift. She seemed to think this was the most adorable thing ever. My boss thought it was cute too. They just couldn't wait until he was big enough to go out and shoot things with his dad. Apparently in some circles, arming young children is considered normal. I think it's totally fucked up. Personally, I insist on having the talk with the parents of my son's friends to make sure their are not accessible firearms in the home.

The story made me cry. You wouldn't leave drugs or household cleaners where a small child could get into them. Why the fuck would you leave a gun available to them? Those poor children. One is dead and ones life is marred forever. I hope the parents rot in jail.

There was a recent article that talked about just that. The Newtown shooting reminded parents that asking about accessible guns at their children's friends' houses is no different than inquiring about food or pool access. I think it's a sad situation when we, as a country, have to make sure weapons are kept out of young child's hands in a domestic setting but the prevelance and ease of owning one means some will be irresponsible about it. There are just some things we should make sure only responsible and sane people have control over: children, narcotic medications and guns. Is it sad that my husband has to go through more hoops (including criminial and civil background checks) to get his medical license than he would to get a gun? Hey, I bet you the guns kill just as easily as the narcotics he could prescribe.....but I guess it's ok to let stupid and insane people handle a gun, but heaven forbid they get a hold of a prescription pad.

[Salamander]

Someone in my Twitter feed tweeted a link to this story and to another one about a girl in Florida who performed a science experiment that resulted in a small explosion. No one was hurt. She's a good student with no previous record of bad behavior and says it was an accident, but she was expelled and is facing felony charges.

Yahoo! News: [link=http://news.yahoo.com/teen-girl-expelled-charged-felony-science-experiment-goes-050006336.html]Teen Girl Expelled, Charged With a Felony After Science Experiment Goes Awry[/link]

USA Today: [link=http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/02/florida-student-arrested-science-experiment-blast/2130381/]Florida teen arrested, expelled over science 'blast'[/link]

Interesting last paragraph in the USA Today article:

Some commenters accused [assistant state prosecutor] Glotfelty of a double standard, noting that three days after Wilmot was charged she declined to prosecute a 13-year-old boy who killed his 10-year-old brother with a BB gun. She said "it is our opinion that this case can only be seen as a tragic accident."

The point the person whose tweet I saw was trying to make is how fucked up these laws and policies are. You can give a five-year-old a gun as a gift, he can kill his sister, and it's "'a little early' to talk about possible charges in connection with the shooting" ([link=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-05-01/news/sns-rt-us-usa-kentucky-shootingbre9400ow-20130501_1_five-year-old-boy-rifle-birthday-gift]source[/link]), but a girl who does a science experiment that goes a little awry but hurts NO ONE is expelled and faces felony charges because of her school's zero-tolerance policy. What the fuck??

Edited to add a word.

[skrmom]

I was shocked at the stupidity of the parents for buying a small child a real gun and leaving the gun accessible. I wonder if child endangerment charges are pending.

[MissNothing]

Dammit, this just proves we need to arm 'em younger! Should've given that 2 year old a gun as soon as she was able to grasp objects! (I say this in my best gun toting fundie impression )

Why the hell was the gun IN THE CORNER OF THE ROOM? For fuck's sake, they probably keep their medicine in a place where the kids can't reach it, so they won't accidentally think it's candy and eat it, but they leave a gun in the corner of the fucking room? An instrument designed to kill, where young children could easily reach it? No. Just no. If you're going to "arm" a child, give him a water gun or something!

It's the comments of the coroner that really squick me out though. He talks about it almost like "Well...we've always given our youngins guns in Kentucky...shit happens, right?"

[crazyforkate]

"Stunned the community"? Seriously? Just about anyone could have seen that one coming.

[wildcatgrrl]

Well, I live in Kentucky, and I was born in the county where this happened. My Dad and my Granny still live there. The attitude really doesn't surprise me, to be honest. It's very rural, very "good old boy," very country, and in many ways, rather backwards as well. Not to say that all Kentuckians have those ideas, or even that everyone in Cumberland County does. Just saying I'd be more surprised to hear prominent locals condemning the parents for buying the kid a gun than I am to hear the parents being supported.

[BoomerLynn]

Here is another article relevant to the story. It talks about age limits on kids with guns. The pic at the top I find rather disturbing.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05 ... t#comments

This part is especially cringe-worthy (bolding mine)

Through studies and promotional materials, some sporting associations encourage young people to take up hunting and shooting as recreational activities, and point to potential benefits -- both for avid gun-owners and youths themselves -- of young people handling firearms.

A study conducted on behalf of the Hunting Heritage Trust and the National Shooting Sports Foundation in January 2012 asked young people ages 8 to 17 about how they viewed hunting and target shooting. A 385-page report on the telephone survey said the results were clear: Young people who were exposed to hunting and shooting were more likely to have a positive view of those activities.

“The focus groups also revealed substantial willingness among youths to introduce their friends and peers to activities that they themselves participate in and enjoy,†the report concluded. “This tendency must be encouraged among youth hunting and shooting ambassadors, as introduction through direct involvement and experience represents the most effective recruitment strategy.â€

Hey kids! Not only should you treat guns as a fun toy, you should show all your friends and tell them to do the same! And what, exactly, are they recruiting for? I have no problem with shooting for sport, at an appropriate place such as a gun range. I don't even have a problem with a kid who is old enough (and by old enough I mean a 12-year-old, not a 5-year-old) learning to shoot at a gun range as long as proper safety precautions are taken and as long as that is the only time the kid has access to the gun. The above statement, however, makes me nervous. I do not want one of my children's friends telling them how awesome it is to shoot a gun and they should totally try it sometime. What if some kid hears that and somehow gets ahold of a gun (which should never happen but apparently there are actually people who think it's ok to leave guns laying around), tries to shoot it and kills someone? :pull-hair: :angry-banghead:

[Jezebel]

1. WHO THE HELL BUYS A GUN FOR A 5-YEAR-OLD?!

Country folks.

I have family who live in rural areas where hunting is both a pastime and a way to put meat on the table. My relatives who grew up in that environment learned how to handle firearms at a very early age. That there's a company making and selling rifles for children doesn't surprise me; I know exactly what kind of people are buying them for their kids, and as long as they are taking all appropriate safety precautions, I don't have a problem with it. (FWIW, I do have a problem with handguns and a huge problem with assault weapons, but I'm okay with hunting rifles.)

2. WHY THE FUCK WAS THE GUN LEFT SITTING OUT?!

THAT is the part of this terrible story that I just cannot fathom. It was left out--rather than put in a gun safe, a locked cabinet, or even just put up high, out of the boy's reach. And that nobody even knew it still had a shell in it? WHAT THE FUCK. Why did nobody check it after the last time the boy had used it? Was he used to simply taking it out and using it unsupervised?

One of the most elementary rules of firearm safety is to always assume a gun is loaded. And among my relatives who are gun owners, never pointing a gun at another person, and never pulling the trigger unless the gun is pointed at something that's safe to hit, are hard-and-fast rules. I haven't seen them teach small kids how to handle guns, but I know there's no way in hell the would ever leave a child's .22 rifle sitting out where the kid could get to it and use it without direct supervision.

That poor kid is going to spend the rest of his life knowing he killed his little sister. But if anyone is to blame here it's his parents--they utterly failed when it came to the most basic safety precautions, here.

[moodygirl86]

Those poor kids, both of them. I wish I had some way to tell the boy, "This wasn't your fault. You're not to blame." Because he isn't, his stupid irresponsible parents are. When they're rotting in jail, I hope that at least the five year-old child will get to go to a home where his safety is put first. And if so, that will be the only positive outcome to arise from this tragedy.

[Jinger Jar]

We were terrified something like this was going to happen to my stepdaughters because my husband's parents used to leave their guns out when their grandchildren were visiting. They have so many they'd forget some, and we'd have to do recognizance before the girls could go in certain rooms of their house like the playroom or the bathrooms. And doing "gun patrol" gets very tiring very quickly, and we'd get so angry because grandma and grandpa were really blase about it. Mr. Jar finally put it to them very simply - either they put all the guns away before the girls stepped foot into the house all the time, or they would have to come to our house if they wanted to see the girls.

When I was in middle school one of my classmates shot and killed his father in a deer hunting accident. Horrific doesn't even begin to describe it. I remember that he was out of school for a long time after that, and when he returned he was a completely different kid. A shadow of his former self is a trite but apt way to describe how he'd changed. And we didn't really interact with him because we didn't know what to say. "Hey, sorry you shot your dad," isn't a very good conversation starter. He stayed in our school for a year or so after that, but by high school he'd gotten into drugs and transferred to the alternative high school in town. I don't know what happened to him after that.

It's not just a life lost that's the issue here. The brother is going to have to somehow cope with what happened for the rest of his life. How you would even begin to do that I have no idea, and we didn't want to of the girls to have to find out.