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News & ArtsSaturday, July 25, 2009
War Let's Play
Posted by Charles Mudede on Sat, Jul 25, 2009 at 12:52 PM
BBC reports:
Two young children have been shot by their siblings in the space of 24 hours in the United States.Guns. Guns. Guns.In Las Vegas, a two-year-old girl was in a critical condition after being shot by her four-year-old brother at their home, police said.
In South Carolina, a four-year-old boy was shot in the stomach by his three-year-old brother after the little boy found a gun.
The injured boy was expected to make a full recovery, police said.
The incident in Las Vegas happened on Thursday night after the girl's brother found a loaded 9mm handgun inside their home.
It went off while he was holding it, hitting his sister in her torso.
According to police, the father was home at the time and the gun appears to have been improperly secured.
3
Yeah, you know that most 2nd amendment rights supporters believe that children should play with guns.
Look, this is bad parenting. I hate to be one of those "guns don't kill people, people do" people, but let's face it: there are a million and a half ways for children to get themselves killed if their parents can't bother to keep the dangerous items out of their reach. If kids play with rat poison and die, everyone's a lot more sensible about it: child neglect, not reason to ban rat poison.
Look, this is bad parenting. I hate to be one of those "guns don't kill people, people do" people, but let's face it: there are a million and a half ways for children to get themselves killed if their parents can't bother to keep the dangerous items out of their reach. If kids play with rat poison and die, everyone's a lot more sensible about it: child neglect, not reason to ban rat poison.
6
...appears to be improperly secured? No shit, your four year old was playing with it. These parents have serious issues. Do they leave knives, poison, and matches around, too?
7
Three times as many children choke to death as are killed by accidental gunshots.
Grapes. Grapes. Grapes.
Grapes. Grapes. Grapes.
8
Accidental drownings also kill three times as many children as gun accidents.
What are parents thinking keeping bathtubs in the house?!
What are parents thinking keeping bathtubs in the house?!
9
@6 Most likely they do leave that stuff lying around... most people can't even seem to take care of a CAT right, much less a human child. Yet they keep popping them out like clockwork, the government rewards people for popping them out, and if you don't have one everyone acts like something is wrong with you.
10
As many kids are hit by cars as stray bullets. And there is no Constitutional Right to Bear Vehicles, mind you-
11
Nine times as many children die from accidental poisoning as gun accidents. No more Tylenol or Chorox.
12
What a gaggle of glib, thoughtless fucks. There's no entertainment culture built around people pointing bathtubs at one another and filling them with water. There's no asinine, outdated cultural fetish centered on poisoning with household chemicals. We worship guns & lionize gun users, and inculcate our kids in our national cult of death worship at the earliest ages. Why any of us is surprised when kids use these all-too-familiar killing machines to kill is beyond rational explanation.
13
"Two young children have been shot by their siblings in the space of 24 hours in the United States."
During that same 24 hours 122 children in America dies in auto accidents.
Is the life of a child killed by a gun accident 60 times as valuable as a child killed in an auto accident?
Is it 60 times the tragedy?
Some perspective, please.
During that same 24 hours 122 children in America dies in auto accidents.
Is the life of a child killed by a gun accident 60 times as valuable as a child killed in an auto accident?
Is it 60 times the tragedy?
Some perspective, please.
14
good points hot pussy, but you have to admit that the parents of these kids are to blame, not the guns themselves like charles stated.
15
@12, I don't think "the culture of guns" killed anybody here. I don't think the guns decided to jump up and shoot someone either. The dumbassed fucking parents are responsible, and should be charged accordingly.
16
How many of the 45,000 children killed every year in auto accidents die as a result of drunk driving?
Do we scream for an end to alcohol consumption?
Or is the death of a child more acceptable if someone managed to get smashed in the process...
Do we scream for an end to alcohol consumption?
Or is the death of a child more acceptable if someone managed to get smashed in the process...
17
you can drown in a bathtub but that is not it's intended purpose. you can die in a car accident but that is not the intended purpose of a car. will someone please tell me what the intended purpose of a gun is.
18
Guns have a lot of legitimate uses. Hunting, target shooting, and please don't embarass yourself by saying self-defense isn't a legitimate purpose.
And then there's that silly old Second Amendment thing. . . .
And then there's that silly old Second Amendment thing. . . .
19
17
You could drown an assailant in a tub but it is a little messy.
You can run over an assailant in your car if he will stand still long enough.
But it is hard to beat a 38 special for dealing with an assailant attacking your family in your home.
You could drown an assailant in a tub but it is a little messy.
You can run over an assailant in your car if he will stand still long enough.
But it is hard to beat a 38 special for dealing with an assailant attacking your family in your home.
21
Only assholes have guns. Only assholes believe guns protect freedom. Only assholes have guns in a house with kids. Guns = assholes, full stop.
22
What are the stats on gun deaths from legitimate causes (e.g. self-defense from an attacker or burglar) vs. accidental situations like these? Is the former worth the human cost in the latter?
23
I wish I could answer that, laterite, but the only statistics on gun deaths are kept by the CDC, which lumps everything together. Anything beyond that is sheer speculation.
25
@24 - Absolutely.
Gun owners are the most scared people I've ever known. My ex-father-in-law wouldn't go for a walk in the local park without packing heat, because he was terrified of the bogeyman.
Gun owners are the most scared people I've ever known. My ex-father-in-law wouldn't go for a walk in the local park without packing heat, because he was terrified of the bogeyman.
27
Negligence. Negligence. Negligence.
While it is perfectly legal to have a gun in the house with your children, it is negligent to leave your child unsupervised with a loaded one. Sort of like having a swimming pool. It is perfectly legal to own a swimming pool, but negligent to leave your child playing in it or having it unfenced. Or rather like owning an automobile. It is perfectly legal to own an automobile, but it is negligent to allow your children to ride around unrestrained or speed or plow through a crowded street fair because you don't want to take a detour.
While it is perfectly legal to have a gun in the house with your children, it is negligent to leave your child unsupervised with a loaded one. Sort of like having a swimming pool. It is perfectly legal to own a swimming pool, but negligent to leave your child playing in it or having it unfenced. Or rather like owning an automobile. It is perfectly legal to own an automobile, but it is negligent to allow your children to ride around unrestrained or speed or plow through a crowded street fair because you don't want to take a detour.
28
21
when the struggles come (and they will...) I hope you girls find a way to talk yourselves through.
but I wouldn't count on it.
when the struggles come (and they will...) I hope you girls find a way to talk yourselves through.
but I wouldn't count on it.
31
Guns guns guns? I think this belongs in your "every kid deserves a mother and father". Ain't no way a 3 or 4 year old could find a well stowed gun. I bet these people hide their sex toys better (assuming they have some).
32
@31: That comparison just made me think of that story a few months ago about the woman who was badly injured after she and her husband tried to convert an electric saw into a sex toy.
Definitely the same general level of intelligence involved in that case as well.
Definitely the same general level of intelligence involved in that case as well.
33
Fifty-two-eighty: Does the NRA still publish its monthly listing of all the crimes it believes its gun-totin' members prevented, or the list of all the bad guys its gun-totin' members snuffed?
If so, are those figures even remotely reliable?
I remember when I was a kid, and my dad got the NRA magazine. The first page inside was a full-page listing of all the crimes the NRA members reported that they prevented with their heaters.
Any valididty to those numbers at all?
If so, are those figures even remotely reliable?
I remember when I was a kid, and my dad got the NRA magazine. The first page inside was a full-page listing of all the crimes the NRA members reported that they prevented with their heaters.
Any valididty to those numbers at all?
34
They publish a monthly summary of occurrences where guns in private citizens' hands have been used to prevent crimes, yes. It's by no means a list of all such occurrences, though. And yeah, they have to be backed up by a newspaper story or police report, so they're not phony. Five summaries for the month of May (I just checked); I'd say that's a bit less than average for a month.
35
Fifty-two-eighty: So any conclusion drawn re how many crimes are prevented / criminals stopped, vs. how many people accidentally killed?
36
No - as I said earlier, there's insufficient data to arrive at a conclusion. Quite a few people have tried; they have pretty much all been discredited. Coming up with this data isn't as easy as it sounds, and requires some "judgment calls" as to what constitutes a legitimate shooting and what doesn't, what constitutes an accidental shooting, a suicide, a criminal act, etc. I know it probably sounds pretty cut-and-dried, but it really isn't as easy as it sounds at first blush.
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