toddler son fatally shot mother

[MyrnaLoy]

"A south Florida man said he was trying to take a gun away from his toddler son when it fired, killing the boy's mother, according to a 911 call released by police on Monday."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/25/us-florida-gun-toddler-idUSTRE73O5H520110425

[rrneck]

1. Unrec for pointless propaganda. nt

[MyrnaLoy]

3. so as in pointless

you mean it's unimportant to you when an infant shoots his mother correct? No actual loss to you so it doesn't matter, right?

[LibertyFox]

5. Straw man.

We can privately feel sympathy but as my below post and its response demonstrate, open sympathy gets used as a segue by antis to rail against private gun ownership by anyone.

[Hoyt]

18. Gunners shooting someone who they claim as a "criminal" (although unarmed and not a threat) is used

by toters to rationalize parading around in public restaurants, parks, nursery schools, churches, bars, etc., with a friggin gun poking out of their pants.

[rrneck]

17. Sorry, I was wrong.

The point was to stroke your sanctimony muscle. Noobs.

[LibertyFox]

2. Is very sad

But irresponsible behavior has a way of ending in tragedy.

[elleng]

4. Right, irresponsible to have loaded gun w/in reach of children,

OR ANYONE, imo.

[abelenkpe]

6. +1000 nt

[baldguy]

7. The father should be charged with murder.

Reckless disregard for life & safety.

[elleng]

8. NOT. Murder =

The unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.

[baldguy]

10. Depraved indifference to human life? That's called second-degree murder in most places.

Gun enthusiasts always whine that we should enforce the laws we have, not create new ones. Well, this is the law we have. We need to hold gun owners responsible for their actions.

[elleng]

13. OK with me.

[petronius]

19. I think an appropriate charge (if one is appropriate) would depend much more on the

circumstances. For example, if the normal storing place for the firearm is on the bottom shelf of the coffee table, next to the Legos, loaded with the safety off, then I can see a negligence charge.

On the other hand, if he got the gun from a safe after being concerned about whatever it was that attracted police to the complex in the first place, then absent-mindedly set it down to stop some other kid from falling down the stairs, then it's a lot more like the parents who accidentally lock their kids in a hot car.

In other words, context is everything (and assuming of course that the child actually had the gun in the first place; there are few available details as yet)...

[buddysmellgood]

9. Why doesn't the NRA support keeping guns out of the hands of idiots?

[baldguy]

11. Because that would be reasonable & responsible.

[Control-Z]

14. They would lose too much $$.

Consider how many gun owners are idiots. Refusing sales to all of them (idiots) would be costly.

[TheCowsCameHome]

16. It would be counterproductive. n/t

[rzemanfl]

12. Or is the kid just being blamed? n/t

[ManiacJoe]

15. Reasonable followup story to the previous thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=118x405854

[applegrove]

20. If only there were conceal carry laws there the mother could have shot

the toddler before he killed her????

[X_Digger]

21. It's a good thing that accidental injuries are at historic lows and falling. n/t