I’m all for banning stairs and bathtubs that are specifically designed to kill living beings.
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Not necessarily. The final photo shows to me a little girl who is holding a firearm very inappropriately, whether or not it’s loaded. Notice how her finger’s on the trigger, but she’s not looking at where the pistol is aimed? That’s unacceptable, and her parents should be ashamed of themselves. The finger should only ever touch the trigger if you’re in the process of shooting.
Times your finger should be touching the trigger: When you’re firing the weapon.
Times your finger should not be touching the trigger: Any time you’re not actively shooting the weapon. (IE nearly all the time, and absolutely 100% of the time you’re not firing.)
It’s that simple, yet it seems half these bozos don’t bother teaching proper trigger discipline, and it pisses me the fuck off whenever they talk about being “responsible gun owners”.
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The improper handling of the firearms was far more offensive to me than the fact it was kids holding them.
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Stairs and bath tubs have to be built and installed according to building code regulations, most of which are intended to ensure safety. I think that what’s being asked for is to get gun safety codes on par, though what that would entail to keep toddlers from accessing guns I do not know.
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How about charging the owner of the gun for improper storage?
If the gun was stolen it needs to be reported right? So if th gun is legally required to be locked up and it’s not, charge the person responsible.
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If we’re not going to do anything to restrict people’s access to firearms, and daddy can just get mad and go out and buy a handgun any day of the week, then we need to at the very least teach our children how to handle these killing machines properly.
As long as there’s as many firearms in this country floating around, and as long as we’re not going to make them harder for anyone to own for no good reason, we have to teach children how to handle them. Because otherwise shit like this happens.
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That’s illogical. Unsafe is unsafe. Lawn Darts weren’t made to impale children either.
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“BAN TODDLERS NOW!” - Jeb Bush
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The only thing that stops a bad toddler with a gun is a good toddler with a gun.
ARM TODDLERS NOW!
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TOUGH ON TODDLERS, TOUGH ON THE CAUSES OF TODDLERS
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True. Guess what happened when kids started getting hurt playing with them all the time? Everyone stopped selling lawndarts.
It looks to me that toy stores have discovered a better solution to preventing the maimings than people advocating a Laissez-Faire approach to firearms regulation.
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When Toddlers are outlawed, only outlaws will have Toddlers.
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Now that’s a progressive justice system!
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It’s illogical to continue to do nothing to stem the deaths of innocent people due to gun violence, whether intentional or accidental. You’ve been shooting down (pun intended) proposals that are posted here. How do you propose to reduce gun deaths in this country?
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He has nothing to propose. At least I’ve ever seen him try to be part of the solution. As far as I can tell, to @Mister44 accidental and some intentional deaths and injuries in this sphere are variously: impossible to prevent (because criminals don’t obey legal laws, or even the law of supply and demand), any further measures are unacceptably stringent and tyrannical, or deaths are an acceptable risk in his assessment, and this is like arguing about whether we should ban cars, or pools or five gallon buckets.
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This post is about children hurting themselves or others in accidents. I don’t think you can completely eliminate accidents or irresponsibility through legislation. I would dare to say these events aren’t from ignorance (Oh, DON’T let kids play with loaded guns! Now you tell me!) It is from people who are either irresponsible or complacent.
Sorry, but when people parade these horrible accidents out as a call for “gun law reform now”, I have to say it is BS. What laws are going to stop accidents like this? Mandate people lock up their guns? How does one enforce that? Seat belt laws don’t make people buckle up, though the awareness campaigns have an affect of education that maybe it is a good idea to go ahead and wear one. Perhaps education and awareness campaigns will help, but there are still people who ride with out helmets or wear seat belts and there will still be irresponsible people with guns - including many cops.
I see it for what it is - using ones emotions and fear to push the idea that we should just get rid of all of them. There are many many more deaths and injuries caused by other household dangers. 10,000 people a year die from drunk drivers per year. I can’t remember the percentage being children, but IIRC it is over a thousand. Should we mandate breathalyzers for all cars? Why or why not? Alcohol is a factor in many violent acts, domestic abuse, rape, and chronic health problems. Should we ban alcohol for safety reason? Why or why not? I don’t have hard evidence, but fights are one of the leading causes of gun crime and I would dare bet alcohol is involved in many of those cases. I bet that it has a factor in many gun accidents and suicides as well.
At any rate, just like 9/11 didn’t warrant the creation of the TSA or giving the NSA domestic spying powers, 43 children out of 300+ million people isn’t an epidemic.
Gun crime and its causes is a whole nother conversation.
You are mostly correct. I think I make a valid point. Gun crime and violent in general has gone down with out gun control reform. Why is that? Isn’t figuring out the root cause of the violence and addressing it not the most prudent course of action? Crime is going down for a reason, why not figure out why and continue with that course of action?
I just do not think any of the laws I have heard proposed lately will do ANYTHING to lower crime or gun crime. Banning all of them would. But I don’t believe in punishing the 99.whatever% because of the small number of criminals, accidents, and suicides.
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Well, the rate is going down so we must be doing something. We haven’t been this safe since the 70s. Now if only we knew what it is that we are doing right. I propose that we find out what we are doing right and do more of it. Gun control hasn’t increased recently so that probably isn’t it. Perfectly logical.
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This post might be about 43 children a year, but gun control isn’t. It’s about reducing all gun violence. While I think 43 is too many for a rational mind to accept as “acceptable casualties,” I don’t think toddler gun violence statistics are the only support for doing something more than we’re currently doing. If you agree that these incidents arise from irresponsibility, why don’t you support stronger restrictions on those who are so irresponsible?
And no, no practical solution is going to completely eliminate every incident. Australia’s vaunted gun restrictions don’t prevent all gun violence in that country, but their rates are significantly lower than ours. And yes, their gun culture was different than ours and our approach to curbing the issues might need to be different and will be more difficult to pursue, but that doesn’t mean we should just give up and say “shit happens.”
Alcohol and cars and stairs and bathtubs are not designed for the purpose of killing living beings. A toddler with a toy gun that doesn’t fire lethal ammunition is a lot less likely to kill someone or themselves. Cars aren’t used intentionally to kill people to nearly the same degree as guns. I’ve not heard of someone intentionally providing alcohol to another with the purpose of killing them (unless it was lethally poisoned, i.e. not just alcohol). So the red herrings of cars and alcohol and any other thing that could possibly cause a death don’t compare with the fact that guns are manufactured with the purpose of killing a living being.
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Serious issue, but I can’t help but be reminded of this clip from the 1967 film “The President’s Analyst” - (skip to 1:37 if you don’t want the lead-up):
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Oddly, lawn darts are basically identical to ancient Roman plumbata, which were designed for killing.
mittent eos super domum
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