Southern Beale read about that tragic Wal-Mart shooting out in Idaho and decided to do a cursory Google search to see just how rare it is for a 2 year old to get his or her hands on a firearm and discharge into someone else’e flesh.
It turns out, sometimes they’re actually on the receiving end of unwanted gunfire.
• Dec. 6, 2014: Killeen 2-year-old in critical condition after accidentally shooting himself.
• November 21, 2014: 2-year-old Marion County, Kansas boy accidentally shot himself. He lived.
• Oct. 22, 2014: A 4-year-old in Meridan, Idaho, accidentally shot his 2-year-old brother in the head with a flare gun.
• Sept. 30, 2014: A Delaware 2-year-old accidentally shot himself in the head with dad’s gun. He died.
• Sept. 14, 2014: A Denmark, S.C. 2-year-old was accidentally shot at a neighbor’s house. He died.
• Sept. 9, 2014: A Florida 2-year-old accidentally fired dad’s gun inside a Wendy’s restaurant. Dad is a sheriff’s deputy.
• May 2, 2014: A Kentucky 2-year-old accidentally shot and killed her 5-year-old brother.
• April 20, 2014: a 2-year-old Utah boy accidentally shot by his 3-year-old sister died.
• April 6, 2014: A Philadelphia 2-year-old fatally shot his 11-year-old sister.
• March 12, 2014: a 2-year-old from Broken Arrow, OK, accidentally shot himself. He died.
• March 2, 2014: An Escambia County, FL 2-year-old was accidentally shot in the head. He died.
• Jan. 1, 2014: a dad accidentally shot and killed his 2-year-old son in the car.
I’m beginning to suspect that these guns aren’t all that great at their intended job of protecting the family unit.
If I ever had kids — unlikely, but who knows — little Sally or Johnny wouldn’t be having any sleep overs of the parents had guns in the house.
Sadly, the arguments are not going to be won based on statistical evidence. Those who have a gun fetish, including the millions of other Americans and the politicians who tacitly support this fetish, already believe that the number lives lost in cases such as these is infinitesimal compared to the number of lives saved as a result of the presence of guns. They really do believe that. And they will take every opportunity to bolster their case with some account gleaned from a pro-gun source, even though there are likely ten times, twenty times, or even more deaths as a result of irresponsible gun owners. It is irrelevant to them.
If 20 innocent children being massacred as they sat in their school classrooms doesn’t convince them or our politicians that there is an issue which, at a minimum, merits a serious national discussion, then an occasional news blip of a mother being shot by her two year old in a Walmart is, to them, simply the price of freedom in America. In this case there wasn’t a need for a tyrannical government or crazy liberal to pry the cold, dead fingers of that mother from her gun. All it took, as is often the case, was an innocent and curious child.
Clearly, all 2 year old kids should be getting appropriate training. /snark
Good to see that the toddlers are starting to turn the tables because obviously many of the 2 years-olds shot last year would still be alive if they had been armed…snark*2
If only the toddler’s mother had a gun she could have prevented her toddler from shooting her. Oh, wait…
//snark
“A Florida 2-year-old accidentally fired dad’s gun inside a Wendy’s restaurant. Dad is a sheriff’s deputy“
I guess his kid was “lunging at him”.
Yeah, it’s just not working out.
Sleeping with his gun. Undoubtedly fulfilling a fantasy.
Second thought. What would he think about a black man (or a poor white even) offering that excuse?
The wife and I comment on the events of the day reading the paper and checking out our home page over breakfast every day. One of my regular features is what I sarcastically call “fun with guns”. Many of the above mentioned stories made it into our morning talks over the last year. Nothing funny about that.
A round of fucking Darwin awards for the parents of these fortunate 2-year-olds. We see that these shootings are taking place largely in the Stupid States which are also denying the poors health care, voting rights, bargaining leverage for their labor, access to decent food and housing, and women’s agency over their own bodies.
The retrenchment of insane, deadly gun policy in the wake of Sandy Hook is particularly infuriating, and another round of bad midterm election results have placed the Stupids in power in these places again.
This is why I’m infuriated by those who claim that BOTH PARTIES ARE THE SAME. That’s pure and damaging horseshit that helps deliver midterms like the one we just experienced. The Democratic Parties in the several States provide far from ideal expressions of liberal/progressive values, but exactly zero States under Democratic control are, for example, passing open carry laws. In fact, Democrats in States like Colorado pushed through strong gun control legislation, in many cases at fatal risk to their political futures.
The dexertiy and finger strength of a 2 yr old would not work to fire most pistols, unless they have been purposely loaded, cocked, and left off safety.
Except for Glocks, where the safety is on the trigger and all that’s required is a light trigger pull. That is probably what the Deputy was carrying in the Wendy’s. Youtube is full of “unintended discharges” of Glocks, often by police in classrooms or schoolyards. If the gun is holstered but the trigger is exposed (tactical carry), with a round in the chamber, then kids can reach over and pull the trigger- to see what happens. Several incidences of this.
Why would any officer carry a gun without an external safety. and in a Swat, tactical holster? Especially in a school yard? Because, there is no real firearm training or screening for police in this country. They are given authority to arm themselves, so they load up with the most lethal weapons they can because, you know, firefights can happen anywhere and you need that mirco-second used with an external safety to out draw Bill Hickock.
And why does an officer need pistols that carry 15 rounds? Because they can’t hit the broadside of a barn. they need those 15 or 30 rounds to hit s suspect 2 or 3 times. They rest are sprayed down the street, hallway, business with rounds going into houses, cars, apartments and innocents.
Personally, I think revolvers with proper training is all that’s needed. But I’m old fashioned.
R
http://www.everydaynodaysoff.com/2013/09/07/small-child-pulls-trigger-on-cops-glock-and-it-delivers-
lead/
I was at the local outdoor range a while ago with my cousin, shooting her and my .22 semi-auto pistols (1951 Ruger Mark 1; 1938 Colt Woodsman Match Target First Series) and who should come in and take station next to us but a local cop wanting to practice for his range qualification test.
I forget what he was shooting, other than it was a lot more modern and larger caliber semi-auto than our guns, but I did notice that despite our being only-on-rare-occasions shooters, Susan and I were shooting farther-out targets, more accurately, than he was — until his gun jammed.
He couldn’t get it unjammed. He struggled and struggled; he called the department’s master of arms for advice; he borrowed the screwdriver I keep in my range bag. No luck. In fact, he was still trying fruitlessly when we finished shooting, did a quick chamber and barrel clean, packed up, and departed.
At least he didn’t manage to shoot himself.
Police firearm usage is a bugaboo with me. As budgets are cut, SWAT and other costly equipment intensive divisions are promoted over enhanced street training for patrol officers.
After years of resistance, we are finally beginning to see studies about shooting incidences which highlight this disparity.
Accuracy in major city departments barely crack 50% in daylight and much less in low light. Distance is also a factor. But what gets me is that if 2 or more officers are involved, shot count goes way up.
Better training in more realistic settings and conditions. Less glamerous than decked out SWAT squads.
But there is another factor, small/med sized departments vs major city. Those going on the forces of small town or suburbs are often not the best and brightest. The towns can’t afford them, nor the required screening. Is that the case in Ferguson? Probably.
R
http://www.policeone.com/officer-shootings/articles/117909-Study-reveals-important-truths-hidden-in-
the-details-of-officer-involved-shootings/
Went to a national chain Pharmacy today and while there perused the magazines. There were at least nine devoted to guns. Mentioned this large number to the cashier, who said she could remember when there was only one magazine in that section, “Guns and Ammo.”