The obvious solution is to ensure all 8-year-old girls are armed so they can defend themselves.
"Guns don’t kill people, people kill people."
NRA says it’s so, must be true…
I read about this the other day, and I’m still trying parse it out.
An 11 year old who goes back to his home, grabs a shotgun, loads it, and then returns and shoots another human being in the chest knows exactly what they’re doing. It’s not just a 5 year old imitating what he sees on TV.
The kid is a psychopath, or was raised by one or more psychopathic parents.
hey, the problem is definitely mental health.
Stuff happens.
Stuff like this emphasizes the lie in the “good guys vs. bad guys” narrative that the NRA likes to tell itself. It’s not like this 11 year old boy was evil, he was just part of his environment, which included a fool of a father who apparently kept a 12-guage shotgun where just anyone can go in and grab it and shoot someone?
Responsible Gun Ownership would preclude that, but how do we enforce responsible gun ownership when the gun lobby won’t let us?
…I also hope that those who harp on “mental health resources” get mental health resources for that 11 year old boy. Something like that can mess a person up. There’s childhood mistakes, and then there’s…
The obvious solution to puppify all children, so that no child out-puppies another.
I think the way it went down was that she was outside his window with the puppy, and he was inside in a space that included a loaded shotgun. Not quite as premeditated as your description, but still pretty bad.
I believe there should be DRACONIAN PUNISHMENTS for gun owners who allow their guns to be used in this way.
But nobody could possibly have predicted…
She’s clearly flashing a gang sign in one of the photos. Obviously she was threatening the boy and he was just defending himself.
Stand your ground, man. If you asked to see her puppies, it’s your right to see them. Do not back down. That’s not the 'murican way.
The two golden talking points of the NRA and co are fundamentally at odds - “responsible gun ownership” precludes the guns being any use at all for “self defence”, keeping guns usably accessible for “self defence” precludes keeping those guns “responsibly”.
You can’t. That’s the problem I can’t get around. This girl is dead for two reasons. 1) The boy shot her 2) His parents/guardians had guns and ammunition he could get to . That’s it - plain and simple. Assuming he had the legal right to have the gun in the first place, why he wanted it (hunting, protection, etc) is not a concern of the courts. The parents IMHO are more responsible for her death. You want to have deadly weapons around then when something happens with them due to your negligence then you suffer the consequences. It’s called adulthood.
Here’s a great read on a different gun death. A two year old - that’s right, a TWO year old, shot her own mother at a Walmart. And the woman’s father-in-law claims she was a responsible gun owner, and is upset people are using her death in a gun-debate context.
Yeah let’s all arm ourselves 24/7. What could be safer. Goddammit.
About the only thing that could make this more tragic than it already is would be for the boy to be prosecuted as an adult.
I’m not really seeing the humor in this situation. Whether it was intentional or not, can you imagine being him for the rest of your life?
Opening sentence from Washington Post article: Veronica Rutledge and her husband loved everything about guns.
I don’t think I’ll ever understand my own country’s gun culture.
at which time the judge may decide whether he should be tried as a juvenile or as an adult
He’s 11. He can be sentenced as an adult. Lock him behind bars for 20? 25? years and he will be a 30-something knowing nothing about the life outside the prison. He will thrive!
I don’t understand the US gun culture, but I’m disgusted by your prison system.
Yeah, this is probably going to fuck him up mentally later in life. 11 year olds get swept up in an emotion and quickly do irrational stuff all the damn time. It’s insane that he’s getting charged and his parents who’s incompetence allowed the gun to get in his hands at the age of 11 don’t appear to be getting charged . It’s also maddening that the gun was there in the first place, but it’s the U.S., so I can’t say it’s surprising.
This is the inevitable result of U.S. gun culture. I’m just surprised I haven’t heard this scenario more often.
