That three year old little boy and his two year old sister were in the same room as two pit bulls and a loaded gun.
No amount of legislation will give these children the responsible parents they deserve Kate.
Toddler accidentally shoots woman dead in Idaho Walmart
by nicolaou 101 Replies latest social current
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Simon
It's interesting that in this case although the parents are victims they are being investigated and may be held culpable.
I think it depends on your definition of "victim". They were shot, yes, but they were not victimized or the victim of any crime - they are the guilty ones otherwise the guilt lies with the toddler which is clearly wrong.
If I leave loaded weapons with small children and they shoot me then they are not a perpetrator of a crime and I am not a victim of a crime. I am the victim of a shooting but am only a victim of my own criminal negligence.
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Village Idiot
What anyone who keeps a loaded automatic pistol nearby should do is to keep the gun unchambered and on safety. A child could easily take the safety off but will not be able to 'rack' the slide to chamber the weapon. That takes knowledge of firearms and some strength to do. Even then such a weapon, if it is not being kept in storage, should be in a man's pant pockets - unchambered not in a purse where she can be fumbling for the keys or something.
It takes discipline and responsibility to own a weapon. I believe that couple should be ordered by the court to take gun safety classes while the firearm is held by the courts until their completion of the classes.
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Simon
I believe that couple should be ordered by the court to take gun safety classes while the firearm is held by the courts until their completion of the classes.
Don't they have a "right" to have the gun no matter what?
See how the 2nd amendment makes no sense if it's interpreted as an absolute right - it either is a right that applies to all or it can obviously be curtailed by having rules and regulations, perhaps a license that must be obtained.
I think everyone has the right to a musket and that is it. Bullets were never mentioned. In fact it says "bear arms", it doesn't say anything about having the right to load, arm or shoot them. Yes, you can hold your musket as much as you want.
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Village Idiot
I believe that the Swiss example is a good one to follow. Gun ownership is actually required for some. This is how it works.
Every man of military age goes to boot camp and after training goes back home with his full auto rifle. Then he returns every so often for a week or so to practice army stuff.
The logic behind this is that in an emergency an armory would be the first place that's taken thus they should have their rifle in hand, at his home. When he's no longer in service he gets to keep his rifle under condition that it would be permanently altered to be a semi-automatic instead of the army's full auto. Shooting for target practice is encouraged by the Swiss government so that the citizen soldier can maintain his skill.
All other type of weaponry as well as non army gun owners are required to have an intensive background check before buying a weapon.
[Did some edits]
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Simon
Background checks for ALL weapons purchases seems like a no-brainer. I can't believe anyone ever opposes such a thing. -
Village Idiot
Simon: "I can't believe anyone ever opposes such a thing."
This might seem hard to believe, given the present state of things, but there was a time, back in the 1980s, when the NRA was in favor of a background check. The situation was this, Liberals wanted a traditional background check - which in those days involved bureaucrats and filing cabinets - but the NRA wanted a computerized background check which involved computers which were relatively recent technology.
The Liberal media actually opposed the computerized background check because they said it was too expensive. Back then computers up to the task would have had some expense but not enough to justify the Liberal position, especially in contrast to an archaic bureaucracy with paper records.
I know this because I was there witnessing the issue unfold from both perspectives.
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Bungi Bill
after training goes back home with his full auto rifle
Interestingly, though, the Swiss militia are not permitted to take any ammunition home with them (not since 2009, anyway - and even before that, the packet of 50 rounds previously kept by each member of the militia could only be opened after an order for general mobilisation had been issued). When Switzerland is brought into any debates about guns, the first thing that to be remembered is that its 420,000-odd militia members who are permitted to keep their issue rifles at home are subject to strict army discipline.
I myself am a firearm owner, with rifle shooting being one of my hobbies. This is strictly target shooting though - while previously a hunter, I am no longer interested in that activity (these days, I do my "hunting" with a camera!) However, I am with Simon 100%, in that mandatory courses in firearm safety for all would-be firearm owners is a "no-brainer." Furthermore, I would add to the list of no-brainers mandatory requirements for the safe storage of firearms. Those requirements are only the same as what firearm owners in this country (Australia) have had to comply with since 1996, and in my experience, create very little inconvenience - let alone infringement of anybody's "rights."
In saying this, I am not sure exactly where this places me in the Liberal versus whatever-their-opponents-are- called debate - and frankly, I couldn't care less!
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nicolaou
And again! C'mon, how long . . . ?
Braylon Robinson shooting: Three-year-old boy shoots baby dead in latest US child gun accident.
A one-year-old baby was killed yesterday after he was shot in the face with a gun fired by a boy, three, who had found it inside a house, police said.
The victim has been identified as Braylon Robinson, from Cleveland, Ohio. The relationship of the two boys is not yet known . . . .
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done4good
Don't expect a country founded by Puritans, and that has a first and second constitutional amendment based on 18th century context, to understand the importance of statistical logic.
d4g