Parents will be prosecuted

[DaveH]

Parents of boy who accidentally shot and killed friend will be prosecuted

The parents of an East Texas boy accused of accidentally shooting and killing another boy with a gun that had been left accessible to him at the family home will face criminal charges.

The Harrison County grand jury has recommended prosecution of Richard Brown, 33, and Rachel Brown, 37, on misdemeanor charges of endangering a child by allowing a firearm to be accessible to a minor. The grand jury decided against filing felony charges in the case.

Last June, 12-year old Will Lincoln of Hallsville was killed by a shotgun blast at the Browns' home near Marshall. Harrison sheriff's investigators said the Browns' son was handling the shotgun when it discharged.

Investigators said the Browns' 12-year old son, his younger brother and Will Lincoln were home alone when the shooting happened. There were several guns in the house that were not secured in a gun case, investigators said.

The Browns' son was arrested for negligent homicide. The case was handled in juvenile court, whose proceedings are confidential.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[mcp1810]

As they should be.

[edr9x23super]

+1 on that.....

[Tom G]

Another tragedy due to the lack of common sense. When will people learn to secure their guns.

[dldeuce]

When I was twelve, growing up in west Texas, I had my own 20 gauge single shot shotgun and a Ruger .22. I took them hunting for birds right around the house and rabbits and quail out in the pasture right behind the house. I hunted by myself, with my brother and cousins, as well as with my father, grandfather, and uncles.

I hear that's against the law nowadays. Instead, we have people here on this board advocating mandatory government training for adults they presume have no clue how to handle guns. I get a kick out of that mentality. How do you think people get to be adults without knowing how to handle a gun?

[JOHNSMITH]

Another tragedy due to the lack of common sense. When will people learn to secure their guns.

Indeed, it only takes a moment to change several lives forever. All of this could've been prevented with just a little bit of education and a simple lock.

The combo means that it doesn't have to be a strong lock; just like how a simple wooden fence won't keep out an invading army, but can keep honest neighbors honest.

[ccw9mm]

If adults (a) fail to ensure the child is trained AND (b) negligently leave their firearms lying around for use by whomever, then they absolutely deserve a bit of legal attention heaped upon their shoulders ... especially if someone gets shot or dies due to "accident" as a result. My $0.03.

[bandit383]

...and for sure a civil suit to add to the legal responsibility.

Rick

[Ron]

If there are children or grandchildren around your house, then IMO your gun or guns should either be on you or locked in a gun safe.

These people, and others like them who act irresponsibly do us a great disservice, because each time there is this type of avoidable tragedy it plays into the hands of the gun control groups. They should be called to account, both criminally and in a civil suit.

[swaggs]

sounds like things in texas are proceeding in a responsible manner following an irresponsible incident.

dldeuce, I wish more people had the experience that you did growing up and I agree, we recognize the youth years as the best time to teach our youth everything else, why not teach those youth about firearms and safety. Best way to have an informed and knowledgeable adult population is to teach them when they're young. Ideal world of course, as implementation would be a problem - won't utopia be great when we get to design it?

[XDFender]

If adults (a) fail to ensure the child is trained AND (b) negligently leave their firearms lying around for use by whomever, then they absolutely deserve a bit of legal attention heaped upon their shoulders ... especially if someone gets shot or dies due to "accident" as a result. My $0.03.

+1000

It is all about the responsibility that comes with liberty. It is the human compact. With your rights against the rest of the community (freedom "from") come responsibilities to the rest of the community (responsibility "to"). The failure of so many in our society to exercise the latter is, in great part, the cause of ever-increasing infringement of the former.

[Glock30SF]

When I was twelve, growing up in west Texas, I had my own 20 gauge single shot shotgun and a Ruger .22. I took them hunting for birds right around the house and rabbits and quail out in the pasture right behind the house. I hunted by myself, with my brother and cousins, as well as with my father, grandfather, and uncles.

I hear that's against the law nowadays. Instead, we have people here on this board advocating mandatory government training for adults they presume have no clue how to handle guns. I get a kick out of that mentality. How do you think people get to be adults without knowing how to handle a gun?

Sad situation for sure. I hear you. I was brought up around guns and in fact my dad had a gun shop. I always had guns that were accessible in our home. Never an issue. I was taught how to shoot them and to RESPECT them. Unfortunately most kids don't get that. Again sad.

[Sticks]

Don't get me wrong for what I am about to say. I agree that these parents need to be punished. However....

This is precedent (another one I am sure) that will add backing to Brady's push for firearm locks, storage, separation of ammunition from firearms... for EVERYONE!

They do not care if you have kids of your own, visit, or are allergic to them like my wife and I are (cold frosty McNugget day in Hades when a kid will be allowed in our house allowed to stray more than 2 feet from the owner, if at all).

We do not want laws coming down the pipe that read identical or even close to the one in New Zealand (some of you have read that thread about the homeowner that had to have his weapon locked in a safe, unloaded, in a manner that required it to be in the basement in his case, AT ALL TIMES)

My wife and I chose not to breed. We already have to put up with enough special treatment for those that do, let alone required to conform to laws regarding them.

[mp45fan]

Another tragedy due to the lack of common sense. When will people learn to secure their guns.

+1! If everyone had just a little common sense we wouldn't have to read about stuff like this. So sad.

[dldeuce]

If adults (a) fail to ensure the child is trained AND (b) negligently leave their firearms lying around for use by whomever, then they absolutely deserve a bit of legal attention heaped upon their shoulders ... especially if someone gets shot or dies due to "accident" as a result. My $0.03.

What does "trained" mean? I think that's a key question. I don't see any discussion here in this thread indicating the parents failed to "train." Yet, they're condemned as criminally irresponsible simply because there was an accident, regardless of any training they may have given. Many people will never accept that any amount of training is sufficient to justify giving minors access to firearms. That's how we got this law in the first place.

Training doesn't have anything to do with it. Regardless of training, someone under 17 can have an accident, just like any adult. The Texas law and the presumption in this thread reads just like that. Regardless of training, if someone under 17 simply has unsupervised access to a firearm, especially if someone is injured, the parent is by definition criminally negligent.

That's what the Texas law says. If someone under 17 gains unsupervised access to a "readily dischargeable firearm," it's a Class C misdemeanor and a Class A misdemeanor if someone is injured. That the parent gave more than "adequate" training is not a defense.

If the minor used the firearm in defense of property or people, that's a defense to prosecution. Of course, the parent has to commit the Class C misdemeanor in order for the minor to ever have access to a firearm to use in defense of property or people. If you're a farmer, well, that's different altogether. It's perfectly responsible under Texas law for farmers to give children access to firearms. If you're a farmer, training is irrellevant as well.

I don't know if you guys noticed this from the story, but this happened in Hallsville TX, a town of 2800 people, which is half way to no where between Tyler TX and Shreveport La. The story didn't mention whether the parents were farmers or not. Under Texas law, that's a pretty important distinction before we decide criminal negligence. So, if the father was a welder, then yes of course, we have the worse sort of criminal negligence. For the farmer right down the farm to market road, that's different. Of course he wouldn't be irresponsible for doing the very same thing. So much for equal protection under the law.

I think it's ludicrous to presume criminal negligence in such a black and white way. My neighbor's son was sixteen when he loaded and fired a high powered rifle off in the house. Fortunately, no one got hurt. Two years later, and he's carrying an M-16 in Afghanistan. I know the kid well. He didn't just become responsible the day he turned 17, and I guarantee he had enough training and common sense to know better than to load and fire a rifle in his house. Even the state will recognize that somewhere between 12 and 17 a minor is responsible as an adult for his actions with a firearm.

This is just one more unreasonable anti-gun law. A child was killed in an accident. The last thing we need is to imprison the parents for violation of a hypocritical and unfair law.