Horrible news!

[Lindy1724]

Yesterday was NOT a good day! I work as an Assistant Director at a childcare facility and yesterday we got some horrific news! We received a call from a family member of one of our students who was in our older 2 year old classroom. This family member had called to tell us that this little boy had died two days ago from gunshot injuries! This poor little boy had been at his father's house (parents were divorced) and evidently was playing, unsupervised no less, and came across Daddy's gun that was somehow near the headboard of his father's bed...he began playing with it, apparently, and shot himself in the head with this semiautomatic weapon that his father had made no attempt to lock up or at least hide in a place that a small child like his son could not find or reach!!

I am simply heartbroken right now as well as furious! I do not understand how people have such a hard time keeping their eyes on one child :eusa_wall ! I cannot even imagine what his mother must be doing through right now...imagine what it would be like to drop your child off at their father's house, expecting him/her to return in the same state that you sent him/her there in, and then come to find that your beloved child has been a victim of such carelessness and tragedy!

Some teachers in our center had seen the case on the news but had not connected it to this child that attended our center, so needless to say, when they heard the news that it was actually one of our students, we all were initially in shock and then simply felt an overwhelming rush of sadness and ache for his mother who we had known from her dropping her son off at our center many times before. He had been at our center the day before this tragedy occurred!

The police have ruled it an accident! While I know that the father is suffering as is the mother, I still cannot help but think that he should be punished in some way for letting something like this happen :eusa_naug ! I mean, I have shot a gun before and have a license to own a gun, but I would never have a gun in my home, especially when I have children! And to leave it somewhere where a 3 1/2 foot tall little person could reach it, that is just plain stupidity! I am sorry but if you feel that you need that much protection in your own home, then maybe your child should not visit you in that home or maybe you should move or something other than what he did!

I am sorry for ranting but it is how I feel and I do appreciate you all letting me vent my frustrations...I also ask that for any of you that have guns in your homes along with young children, please either rethink your choice or if that is not an option than at least please make sure that the guns are locked up and away from your children so that tragedies like this do not continue to happen!! Thanks again to all for listening!

[Rowan123]

How horrible!! That poor little baby! I have a 16 month old and you can't take your eyes off them for a second. You have to baby-proof your home to try to prevent any conceivable accident from happening. This father definitely didn't do this and was an extremely irresponsible parent. My heart goes out to the boy's mother and family.

[Adi]

Are their any laws against unsafe storage of a firearm in the States??? That's what the SOB would get charged with if he were here in Canada. And that could lead to other charges as well, such as criminal negligence or manslaughter...

Some people are just plain ignorant, makes you kind of embarrased to be a human being...

[Lindy1724]

Adi,

If what I have been told is correct, there are laws for how firearms are locked up in certain states, unfortunately for this little boy, his home state of Illinois is not one of those states! These stories are so incredibly sad and PREVENTABLE if people would simply watch their children!! There should be firearm containment laws in every state so that things like this don't happen...yet, there are still many stupid people out there so these laws still wouldn't protect the idiots that come home from shooting or something and set their gun down somewhere with intent to put it away properly later, but before they do, little Joey or Susie finds it and ends up hurting themselves if not killing themselves!!!

[Adi]

I'm so sorry Lindy, I'm just wishing so bad that something could be done...

Just reading about this story is making me sick to my stomach. I can't even begin to imagine how the people at your childcare facility and the childs family are feeling.

You'd think that situations like this, that involve children, would serve as a wake up call to everyone, especially the NRA... but no! How far does it have to go? Are children killing themselves not important enough???

[Takoda]

sometimes people just make mistakes. It's a tragedy, no doubt, and I feel sorry for everyone who cared for the child.

[CACPioneer]

Wow...what a horrible tragedy. My deepest sorrows to all those affected.

However, I feel I must voice my opinion on this. I can understand everyone's frustrations about gun-control laws, and I agree that this gun absolutely should have been put in a much safer place than it was. However, I grew up in a household with many, many, many guns, as did all the local children. I can't remember in my 18 years of living there ever hearing of a child accidentally shooting themselves. However, the big difference between where I grew up and where many other children grow up is that we, as children, were taught about the dangers of guns and were taught to respect them for what they can do. Guns were always locked up in a cabinet with a padlock or keylock too high for young children to reach. I will absolutely allow guns in my house, however, they will be kept safe, and my children will learn to respect them, and most of all, how to use them (kids are the most curious about things that they can't have/use...let them use a pellet gun in a safe, controlled environment, and their curiousity will die down).

We can't blame the NRA for this mishap...it would be like blaming Warner Brothers for a child displaying violence similar to something he/she saw on a cartoon. We must, instead, blame the PARENT(S) who were irresponsible enough to allow all the right circumstances to be present for this terrible tragedy to occur. The world is full of "bad" influences...it's up to parents to teach their children the proper sense of right and wrong, of pretend and reality. If this happened to my child, I would absolutely hold myself fully responsible. I'll quote a belt buckle my father has had for a long, long time. "If guns are outlawed, then only outlaws will have guns."

I appologize if my little schpeel was inappropriate, but I just felt that I had to voice my views on this, as I grew up in a gun-filled community. It's just that people now-a-days don't respect firearms and the damage they can do. It's such carelessness that leads to untimely and sad deaths, such as this poor little boy. My deepest, most heartfelt sorrows go out to all those touched by this little boy's life and death.

[Lindy1724]

CAC,

I didn't mean to put the blame on the NRA...I am putting the blame solely on the neglect of the parent! I do understand what you are saying, because my boss was talking about how her whole family is full of hunters who have guns in their homes and they teach their children to respect guns and how to use them properly, BUT I still think that this could have happened even if the child had been taught about the damage that guns can cause and the dad still left the gun out in the open where he had access to it. The child was not even three years old yet, and I do not think that a child that young can really separate real life and fiction and could truly understand the actual consequences of playing with a gun like he did. So that is what I think in response to you statement. For people that feel very comfortable with guns and teach their kids about them like you said, I think that is the best way to draw the line when you do have children in your house, however, with young children the line becomes more hazy and other precautions need to be taken to prevent absolute tragedies like this from happening!

Oh, and I don't think that your schpeel was inappropriate...sometimes when we post in the heat of fury, opposing viewpoints need to be addressed, but I still think my point is quite valid in regards to such a young life lost.

God Bless you "T" and your family.

[Vankarhi]

I hate guns, and am trying to teach my 3 year old little boy (3 on 26 this month) that guns are bad. He loves to pretend he is shooting something and we always tell him guns are bad, they can hurt people. I will not allow him to own a gun (a toy is all he would possibly get his hands on here anyway). Some people have said, but it is only a toy. Makes no difference to me, he is not having one.
I feel so sorry for the parents. The mother because she was only doing the right thing by allowing visitation and now her little boy is gone and the father because he has now learned a serious lesson - guns can kill and you should never leave one within reach of anybody who does not know how to use one properly and it should not have been loaded either.

[Adi]

Yes I believe it is absolutely the parents responsability to ensure that their child understands the danger of guns and the implications involved in owning one. I also believe that if your child is only two years old, it has no business even laying it's eyes on a gun...

If the parents aren't reliable enough to provide proper protection of their children, then there should be a law to back that up. Sure people break the laws everyday... their most likely won't be a 100% compliance. But trust me, if a few people are charged with gross negligence and have their guns removed because they are unsafely stored, that might save a few lives on it's own!

I took this from the NRA site:"Finally, enforcement of a storage law would divert police from crime-fighting duties."

Oh plllllllllleeeeease....... it wouldn't divert a cop one bit. If the police happen to make any routine call at your house and they catch sight of a gun you left accidently lying around then it should be bye bye gun and hello charges.

The NRA is boasting that firearm fatalities are at an all time low... one dead child is too many dead children in my opinion...

I do believe that the NRA is indirectly linked to this issue. Many politicians seem to be fighting to regulate firearm laws but the NRA seems to want everyone to be packing...

In any case, it's up to the parents to provide a safe living environment for their children. Use your judgement! Is leaving a gun laying around safe for a two year old???