Is it just me, or does it bother you that a 7 year old finds a loaded gun in a bedroom and kills herself (with adults in the house), yet "no charges are expected to be filed" (!?)
http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?...8&provider=top :mad:
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Is it just me, or does it bother you that a 7 year old finds a loaded gun in a bedroom and kills herself (with adults in the house), yet "no charges are expected to be filed" (!?)
http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?...8&provider=top :mad:
Whats the point? The parents will live with that terrible fact every day for the rest of their lives.
Slapping a fine on them or putting them in jail for being negligent seems like a waste of time and resources.
But doesn't this assume that the parents value the life of the child? There are plenty of folks out there that don't give a rats posterior about their children. How often do we hear about abuse and neglect cases? How often do we hear about young mothers that don't want to be tied down by their kids?Quote:
Originally Posted by HotGuns
If it were the neighbor's kid that found the unsecured loaded weapon in her house and killed herself we would expect jail time wouldn't we? Why does the loss of this particular childs life deserve any less?
You're probably right, but I would like to think that a majority of people have a at least a little bit of love for their children.
In many cases, though, jail time would for a parent puts an addition burden on society. I've seen moms go to jail through some event that they had little control over, and then their children become wards of the state, an an arrangement that it usually counterproductive for all party's involved. At least otherwise, the burden of guilt is on the parent because they made a mistake or a bad judgment and that is as far as it goes.
Sometimes, putting someone in jail is counterproductive.
I remember when I was a youngster, my dad kept several guns in the house. He also emphasized that neither me nor my brothers were to touch them without his direct supervision. We did plenty of shooting, but he was always there and we never had any mishaps. This child should have been taught!
Our house too.Quote:
Originally Posted by automatic slim
When I was a kid my father had guns in each room and a handgun in his bedroom. He taught us when we were very young (my brother was 5 and I was 4) that we should never touch the guns without him with us. My brother and I knew the trouble we would be in if we touched any of the guns.
I was out with my father one time when my father told me to run home and ask my mother for one of the guns and ammo. My mother gave me the gun and the ammo and I carefully ran back to my father with everything. My father then used it to kill an animal that we hurt and needed to be put down.
Luke
When I was eight years old I had my own shotgun. I kept it along with the ammo in my bedroom. If your only solution to keep accidental shootings from happening with kids is to keep your guns away from them, I equate this keeping children away from water to prevent drowning. It will probably work, but why not teach them to swim anyway?
Responsibility. Moral obligation. Love and care for our children.Quote:
Originally Posted by HotGuns
Realize that just about 80% of our society has no sense of responsibility, nor moral obligation, nor love or care for anything more than themselves. It's ingrained, and we can't cure it. It's a disease. One that we let go for too long as a society. Because everyone has rights...even to be ignorant. Folks are protected these days from their irresponsibilities whether intentional or not. You talk about cleansing the gene pool and it's a sin and you become the bad guy for saying so. Taking care of things the old fashioned way is now illegal since we don't want to trample on anyone else' rights while keeping a moral standard for society as a whole. There's never such a thing as an accidental shooting. It always involves negligence. IMO...the parents might live with the loss forever,,,but my thinking says they never cared in the first place otherwise it wouldn't have happened. That's what they should be punished for since every life on this earth (especially the innocent children) work toward the good and away from evil. To look away, or in a somewhat of acceptance or reasoning of what's happened is a sin against humanity as a whole. We've got to become better than that...otherwise we're getting sucked into a hole we'll never get out of. That's why we look to a higher being and what's truly right. It's easier than depending upon ourselves and what we know to be true and purveying it upon an otherwise evil society. God is very busy. We should help out any way we can. Giving back some value to life is within our power. Taking care of things without asking for divine guidance means we're that much closer to where we should be at this time. Stand back and watch the hands of time move, and you might as well be the grain of sand that's walked upon. We're better than that....each and every one of us. Everyone needs to be held accountable in the book of life.
Not to pick on you HG because that same exact view is and has been often stated by multiple others in threads of this exact same sort among events past.Quote:
Originally Posted by HotGuns
Broad general question:
Lets say that were the case; Parent/guardian/relative feels awful about it and that alone is punishment enough.
Then why do we punish people for other crimes such as negligent homicide (whihc is what this is) or even negligence in general (no person dies) when the incident is related to some other who is _not_ that persons immediate child?
How is one different from another?
Birth child vs. say adopted or step child vs. say neighbor, co-worker or person as prior unknown to them (the guy that inadvertently shot a grandma 3 months back while firing in the street toward persons driving away with his car) that do suffer criminal as well as civil law punishment.
A person should not be negligent...As long as it's not someone that is their own blood child.
Otherwise yeah well that's bad too but there won't be criminal punishment to suffer because well they suffered enough by the injury/wounding/loss?
- Janq
This is very sad. Kids should be taught to never touch a gun if they see one. Her parents will have to live with it the rest of their lives. That is bad enough.
Remember, punishments for crimes are also a method of having deterrents for other people who would be so careless, forcing them to think what'll happen to them if they close their minds to reality and recklessly leave weapons around for their family members to kill themselves/others with. Yes, it's a nice thought to believe that folks will have much to deal with simply living with the fact of their negligence. But that's the point: unless it's actually fingered as negligence, many won't even understand the issue. Let alone other reckless folks who need the deterrent of knowing that something will happen beyond people looking the other way.Quote:
Whats the point? The parents will live with that terrible fact every day for the rest of their lives.
Slapping a fine on them or putting them in jail for being negligent seems like a waste of time and resources.
Either way, crime and punishment has been debated for centuries upon centuries. It won't get resolved here. There are different philosophies about how to deter people, require people to be responsible for the action (or the restitution), and so on.
Exactly...Agreed.Quote:
Originally Posted by ccw9mm
Items such as this should not be happening at all, even as they are now days relatively low in number, but they do.
- Janq
A seven year old CAN/SHOULD HAVE been taught about the danger of firearms and how to report finding one.
There is no reason for such an accident...pure carelessness on the part of the parents.
I'm not sure about the punishment part...:confused:
Someone for whom jail time would be more of a deterrent than love for their children deserve execution. Unfortunately, for it to do any good, the punishment would have to be administered BEFORE the incident (a little problematic until mind-reading is an accepted forensic science field) - I have yet to hear of someone who lost a child to firearm negligence being found culpable in another negligent firearm death or injury.Quote:
Originally Posted by ccw9mm
Ryan
Absolutely true. Any 7yr old child can be made to understand it. But it takes parenting, caring, and some diligence ... traits often not found with some parents today. And why should it? They themselves weren't taught parenting anymore than they were taught guns can be dangerous when recklessly handled.Quote:
Originally Posted by retsupt99