2 years old..self inflicted gun death.

Charge the gun owner/parent with negligence and child endangerment.

 

I thought I had lost the capacity for shock on this issue.

 

USA darwining itself into oblivion.

 

Tragic. Unfathomable.

 

Tragic? Certainly.

Unfathomable? Eh. Firearms are the #1 cause of death for children. So it’s quite fathomable. It’s bordering on routine (at a national level).

 

Said it in another thread. If one is so paranoid that he or she thinks that he/she needs a firearm for self-defense there is a good chance that the gun will be loaded and relatively easy to access. Under such circumstances access by children is an accident waiting to happen. Even if the gun owner believes that the loaded weapon is stored at location presumably inaccessible to young children living in the residence there is always the possibility that a child can find the gun. If nothing else the curiosity and ingenuity of children should never be underestimated and to do so could have truly tragic consequences. Not a gun owner but if I had firearms I would store them unloaded in a secure locked location separate and apart from any ammo. Better to be overcautious than to risk tragedy even the possibility seems to be remote.

 

Happened in Palm Harbor, FL years ago. Dumbass dad (Republican gun nut who flew the American flag upside down at his house to show his displeasure for Obama, my friend lived in the neighborhood and knew about him) left his kid in a car with a loaded gun. Dumbass dad was never charged... two years old ...

https://www.floridatoday.com/story/...-boy-kills-himself-with-fathers-gun/22154755/

Another one from 2020, 8 years old ...

https://www.wptv.com/news/state/child-left-in-car-in-south-florida-finds-dads-gun-shoots-himself

Good thing they had these guns for protection ...

 

I guess they don’t charge because the argument after losing a child in such a way is “they’ve suffered enough already”.

But this line of thinking doesn’t seem to factor in whether they have other children who may still be in danger, or the possibility they are still a danger to society, depending on whether gun-nut daddy changed his ways or not. You’d like to assume such a tragedy would have such people change their ways if not entirely disavow their gun extremism (and lack of safety), but some folks are so batshit crazy/stupid it truly makes you wonder. I think it’s in the public interest to charge irresponsible gun owners, have it on their record, and perhaps have it cost them their rights if it’s a felony. I can see the argument for no jail time, but not for letting them skate entirely.

 

If there's one thing you're never going to disabuse a wide swath of the American population of it's the right of every citizen to have a gun and carry it virtually at any time and place. Thus, I've given up on worrying about any kind of gun control . After all, there are 120.5 firearms per 100 residents per Bloomberg.