The man told reporters that he had his pistol out to clean it and thought it was unloaded.

[Robb]

HOPKINSVILLE, KY (WSMV) - Police in Hopkinsville said a 6-year-old girl has died after being shot by her 4-year-old brother in a tragic accident at their grandparent's home.

(snip)

The children's grandfather told Channel 4 News that the shooting appeared to be an accident.

The man told reporters that he had his pistol out to clean it and thought it was unloaded.

The grandfather said his 4-year-old grandson picked it up and pointed it at his oldest sister.

The gun went off, and the bullet hit the girl in the mouth and lodged in her spine.

Read More: http://www.wave3.com/story/22725284/child-shot-at-home-in-hopkinsville

[Skidmore]

1. This makes ome heartsick. All of these stories do.

Why? Just why?

[premium]

2. Fucking dumbass,

always treat a gun as if it's loaded, even if it isn't, and
KEEP THE GUN AWAY FROM CHILDREN, WTF is so complicated about that?

[lpbk2713]

19. That's TWO things to keep track of.

And that's a lot to expect from some people.

[arcane1]

3. "his 4-year-old grandson picked it up and pointed it at his oldest sister."

That's gun culture, right there

[premium]

4. Bullshit.

That's not the gun culture I and my siblings were brought up on, that's stupidity and negligence on the dad's part.

[Robb]

5. Who knew gun culture had its own Andy Rooney?

"Have you noticed there aren't as many homemade gifts given anymore? It's the Gun Grabbin' Liberals."

[premium]

6. I can't even make any sense of your post. nt.

[ieoeja]

23. Reference to the fact that today's gun culture is not yesterday's gun culture, I would assume.

We were not allowed to have loaded guns in the house. Ever. Period.

The handgun was for adults only. Children were not allowed to touch it. Ever. Period.

Guns were pulled out for shooting matches or to kill something. We didn't carry a gun on our person when we went around the farm. I played in forests as a child by myself and unarmed.

That is the gun culture in which I was raised.


Conversely, my nephew used to goof around with loaded guns in the house all the time. Even pointing it at people. I have adult relatives who will not dare a step into the woods without a gun because of the dangerous animals (squirrels?) where I routinely played as a child.

This is the gun culture today. And useful people who fail to see how badly this culture has been derailed over the last 20 years only make the crazies' job easier.

[premium]

24. I got it now,

thanks, seems Robb doesn't want to explain it to me.
You and I seem to have grown up in the same culture.

[ieoeja]

25. Which is why we need to push back against the insanity that now rages in that culture.

I continually challenge my relatives when they make statements fearing to step out of the house unarmed. When concealed carry was legalized in Indiana, my dad and I were brutal to those people walking everywhere with guns on their hips. It had ALWAYS been legal to carry handguns openly!

Nobody did it because they had no reason.

One Christmas a cousin of mine was dating an EMT who "had" to wear a pistol everywhere he went. When he showed up at our family dinner with a pistol on his hip, that was pretty much the end. "Leave it in the auto, or get the fuck out," was pretty much the message he got.

Unfortunately, today more of my relatives are likely to *be* that guy than to laugh at him.

[Orsino]

21. Yep. Law-abiding gun owners are quickly disavowed when they make a mistake.

The gun culture includes the fantasy that no real gun owner is ever negligent, and that anyone who is suddenly doesn't count. However, mistakes matter, and every one indicts a culture that rejects regulation.

[bettyellen]

7. Grandpa should have all his guns taken away, and face charges.

[winter is coming]

8. If you take out a gun to clean it, wouldn't unloading it be the first thing you'd do?

[Mariana]

20. You don't have your guns out at all

just sitting out there, loaded or otherwise, when there are little kids running around. If your guns need to be cleaned you wait until after the children have gone to bed or you do it when they're not in the house.

My father had guns the whole time I was growing up. I can count on one hand the number of times I saw them at all, and he never just set them down where we could touch them. We weren't allowed to watch him take them out or put them away and to this day I have no idea where he kept them.

[kestrel91316]

9. The stupid knows no bounds. "Thought" it wasn't loaded

is no excuse. You always handle guns as if they ARE loaded.

ALWAYS.

[longship]

10. Step one: clear chamber. nt

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

11. "Accident"

Fuck that. Dangerous weapons being brandished proudly by idiots around children is no "accident". It's just one more part of the "Fuck you, it's my riiiiiooooot" gun culture.

[calimary]

14. Can't help but agree. "Accident?" FUCK that.

Leaving lethal weapons around in the presence of children is just ASKING FOR TROUBLE. You "THOUGHT" it was unloaded. Well, why didn't you frickin' CHECK, asshole? When you simply assume the gun was unloaded, you make an ass of yourself and a corpse out of the other person in the room. That gun make you feel safe now, grandpa?

[galileoreloaded]

12. Charge him for negligent homicide. nt

[EdwardSmith74]

13. If you can't determine whether or not a gun is loaded, you shouldn't have one.

[calimary]

15. TOTALLY, EdwardSmith74! And Welcome to DU!

Glad you're here, and a GREAT point you make.

And I would add - if you're too lazy and/or negligent to check first and make absolutely dead-on CERTAIN it isn't loaded, especially with kids around, then your precious fucking 2nd Amendment "rights" should be taken away PERMANENTLY. And you should be locked up so the rest of us around you are still somewhat safe. You simply should NOT have guns around in the presence of children. Go play with them in private, so the only person you hurt is yourself, grandpa.

[EdwardSmith74]

16. Even if you don't have a clip in it, there could still be a chambered round.

I've rarely fired a gun but even I know how to tell if it's ammunition-free.

[calimary]

17. And you very likely wouldn't pull it out and have it lying around in the open

where children are present. That's just ASKING for trouble. BEGGING for it, is more like it.

WHAT ON EARTH was that man thinking????????????? That his gun made him inviolable? All-powerful and safe from any calamity?

I'm sorry - I just don't get the mentality of people like him. Just don't get it. Doesn't compute. At ALL.

[EdwardSmith74]

18. My guns are in a fire safe.

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. The usual stupidity from the gunners

They work double time to convince us that a gun is a tool like any other, so why is it any surprise that gunners treat guns with such casual thoughtlessness.

More evidence for why I will never let my children in the care of gunners or in gunner homes. People who keep guns near small children are simply too irresponsible to entrust your children to, full stop.

[BainsBane]

26. excellent point