Idaho woman shot dead by two-year-old son was successful nuclear scientist

[bananas]

Source: Guardian

The woman who was accidentally shot dead by her two-year-old son in an Idaho Walmart is described by those who knew her as a gun lover, a motivated academic and a successful nuclear research scientist.

<snip>

“All the precautionary measures weren’t taken to ensure the safety of that weapon,” Miller said later.

<snip>

She went on to become a nuclear research scientist working for Battelle’s Idaho National Laboratory, which claims to be the Department of Energy’s lead nuclear research laboratory. The lab has worked with the Department of Defense on armor and weaponry since the 1990s. Rutledge wrote several papers there, on topics such as nuclear waste and fuel processing.

<snip>

“She was very competent,” said Loomis. “This is not somebody that is just a nut, let me tell you.”

<snip>

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/31/idaho-nuclear-scientist-shot-dead-son-walmart

---

This was a horrible tragedy, and it should remind us that even highly intelligent, competent, trained scientists are only human, and sometimes they make horrible mistakes.

They make horrible mistakes with their children, and they make mistakes with their nuclear weapons systems.

While this was a personal tragedy, a number of scientists have been warning us that a horrible mistake with our nuclear weapons systems is all but inevitable, unless we get rid of them, worldwide.

[bananas]

1. Mom shot by 2-year-old: nuclear scientist who supported gun rights

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2025348711_apxwalmartshootingidaho.html

Mom shot by 2-year-old: nuclear scientist who supported gun rights
Originally published Wednesday, December 31, 2014 at 12:15 PM

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. —

Concealed weapons are part of everyday life in Idaho, and that's unlikely to change in the Mountain West state despite a shocking accident in which a 2-year-old boy reached into his mother's purse, grabbed her gun and shot her in the head inside a Wal-Mart.

<snip>

"She was not the least bit irresponsible," her father-in-law, Terry Rutledge said, in a brief interview with The Associated Press. He complained about people using the incident to attack his daughter-in-law.

Terry Rutledge told The Washington Post that Veronica Rutledge and her husband practiced at shooting ranges and each had a concealed weapons permit. He said for Christmas this year, her husband gave her the purse with a special zippered pocket for a concealed weapon.

<snip>

She was an employee of the Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls, Idaho, where she was a nuclear scientist. The laboratory supports the U.S. Department of Energy in nuclear and energy research and national defense.

<snip>

[samsingh]

24. even responsible people can forget things - the reason the love of guns can result in tragedies

despite all the preventive measures.

if she wasn't scared or brainwashed into believing that having a loaded gun in your purse with children around was a good thing, this tragedy would not have happened.

[Fred Sanders]

32. Carrying a gun at all times is like carrying a coiled cobra at all times. Only the cobra is safe.

Now where did I put those cobra bag twist ties?

When is criminal negligence going to be called criminal negligence again? Why is a gun the American sacred cow?

[samsingh]

86. agreed

[MADem]

2. It's not rocket--or nuclear--science to know one shouldn't leave a loaded gun in a pocket book

near a two year old.

That was more than a 'horrible mistake.' That was gross negligence.

[Warpy]

3. it's just a pity she was such a paranoid one

I don't know why she felt it necessary to carry a gun everyplace and why she put it in the stupidest place possible, a purse full of other junk where it was difficult to retrieve and other stuff in the purse could knock the safety off.

Being a nuclear scientist is no guarantee of mental stability or a lack of ignorance about everyday items which, for her, was a deadly weapon.

What a complete waste.

[ileus]

30. She was carrying a dedicated CC purse.

The have compartments (most with lockable zippers) especially designed for a holstered and secured firearm.


Her mistake was not having it on her person and/or not having the zipper locked. What good is a SD firearm if it's out of hands reach if needed. Or in this case beside her son....


A complete waste indeed.

[TheCowsCameHome]

33. She may as well have had a Mosler safe,

if she didn't use it, everything was for naught.

[Fred Sanders]

37. That holsters for guns for women to put their purse and carry around to Walmart with your toddler

even exist is a symptom of the gun loving addiction of America....

"Clean up in Ailse Two"....just another tragic and so easily preventble gun overdose victim.

Wait for the sun to rise again for the next tragic story of gun addiction in America.

[Demeter]

42. If anything, being a nuclear scientist is a sign of mental instability

AND ignorance. She wasn't working for the Peaceful Atom, Warpy. Not at Battelle.

[former9thward]

57. So people working for DOD are insane?

How about the troops? Should we not let them back in the country? Or jut send them straight to institutions?

[NuclearDem]

62. "being a nuclear scientist is a sign of mental instability"

Stay classy, ANM.

[msongs]

4. "she was very competent" umm ok nt

[JI7]

5. isn't that why they are called gun nuts

[DeSwiss]

6. ''...was successful nuclear scientist...''

- I never considered a ''successful nuclear scientist'' as being a danger to others with conventional weapons before.

Irony?

[center][/center]

[ErikJ]

7. Maybe she was too close to her work like Madame Curie

and had a bit too much radiation poisoning.

[ReRe]

8. She might have been a nuclear scientist...

... but she didn't have a lick of common sense.

[2naSalit]

65. Oddly

that's not so far fetched. One of my parents was an electronics wiz, had a good position with a DoD contractor but not nuclear and he was a terrorist in his own home. We sold his guns when he wasn't home once. But I digress.

[ReRe]

82. I think it wouldn't be too far-fetched...

... to say most MIC contractor employees are paranoid, as I am very close to someone who also had a security clearance and has worked under contract all his life AND has license to carry. Producing all those WMDs does something to the psyche.

[2naSalit]

85. Indeed.

My parent wasn't the only one of those with whom I've been acquainted who had such proclivities.

[reACTIONary]

90. I'm a card carrying member of the MIC...

... or, more accurately , the MIAC, A for academic, since fundimental scientific research and development is an essential component of national security and defense.

Believe me, it is a lot easier to find signs and symptoms of parrinoia here on DU than it is in and around a physics laboratory.

[ReRe]

91. Hit a nerve, huh?

... guess it depends on what your definition of "paranoid" is.

[reACTIONary]

94. Nope . Unless you count . ...

L'ing OL as having a nerve hit. I'm forever amazed and often amused by the presumptive nonsense I often read, here and and in other forums. When I have direct experience I try to share it in order to encourage a broader and more acuurate perspective.

[McCamy Taylor]

9. Safety anyone?

[bearssoapbox]

10. "She was not the least bit irresponsible,"

Except for that 'one' time...

That she was.

[jtuck004]

11. I wonder if they carry handguns in and out of that lab? I realize she probably had

more than one purse so probably not, but if she wasn't working in a secure area, there might be no reason to check.

Maybe thought being a nuclear scientist she was in danger?

Regardless, I've had a belly bag version of that for a lot of years, and they are designed for easy access to a hidden weapon. A 2 year old would find it trivial, and probably any safety as well, if that didn't just get knocked around.

I read a quote elsewhere that said the mom that caused it had no responsibility but the kid was gonna have to face "what he did" when he got older.

wtf?

What he did was be a normal, healthy 2 year old, a creature of sticky hands and pure inquisitiveness. He didn't do a thing wrong, and I hope the adults in his life don't try and punish him for her mistake until he hurts someone else.

It's weird to live in a country where people hold out hope that the young will save them, despite the evidence of the past, and the fact that broken adults can't just breed unbroken children as if they aren't creating little replicas of themselves.

Gun sales for women were so brisk they reported those especially on the news these past weeks, all the pink and purple expressions of love that may right now be swinging past you in a purse, which was something else being talked up.

Peace.

[Hulk]

12. So, what's the point?

She wasn't to blame for carrying a loaded gun in her purse that was available to her children to access? Meaningless. I'm sure lots of intelligent paranoids are human. Im guessing it could happen to anyone...who carries a loaded weapon around in their purse that can be accessed by a two year old, or three year old, or ten year old, or twenty year old, or possibly a pet, or thief, or blah, blah, blah.

"Quite frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."

[ellenrr]

13. why did she take a gun to Walmart? Is Walmart that dangerous?

or did she take it with her everywhere?

strange....

[ManiacJoe]

97. Everywhere.

[riverwalker]

14. is crime rate so high in Idaho

that you can't go to Walmart without packing heat? I don't think so. Insanity.

[secondvariety]

16. I wondered

the same thing. Especially in Middleofnowhere, Idaho.

[Historic NY]

18. Isn't it the big prepper state....

perhaps everyone is paranoid of each other.


http://isp.idaho.gov/BCI/CrimeInIdaho/CrimeInIdaho2013/Kootenai%20County.pdf

[Nay]

50. It is. And since the 70's it's also been the hideout for neo-Nazis of all types.

There are places in Idaho you don't wanna go to, and you don't want to stumble upon those places accidentally either. Add in a bunch of Mormons and. . .

Not that this excuses her idiot behavior of taking a gun and 4 little kids to a Walmart. I simply will never understand these people.

[whathehell]

26. My first thought as well...n/t

[Cryptoad]

15. another case of being educated beyond their intelligence

[marble falls]

17. She was guns and kids. It should have been guns or kids. The kid could have shot himself, a cousin..

or another shopper.

Casual carry with a chambered round? Not very smart.

How many "citizens with a gun" saved the day lat year? How many citizens with a gun were shot or shot someone else accidentally?

No need to be packing at WalMart with children. No reason at all.

[Fred Sanders]

46. Idaho Walmart shoppers killed by guns, 1, saved by guns, 0. Wonder what the score is in other stores

[marble falls]

53. It does. It truly does. I'm going to start asking this question. A lot.

[Politicalboi]

70. Out of those choices of how bad this could have been

The bullet hit the right person in this case. IMO. What could she have done had it hit an innocent person. Say "I'm sorry". This woman may have been a scientist, but she wasn't too bright when it came to guns and kids.

[watoos]

19. I don't think you posters here realize the mind set of Tea Partiers.

I live in Alabama, half way between Pittsburgh and Philly, and I blog on a local web site. There are like 4 of us who are "liberals."

Let me tell you this, I live in a rural town, but most of these people keep loaded guns hidden throughout their houses, most of these people conceal carry wherever they go.(or open carry)

I accuse them of being paranoid and they all jump all over me and state that they carry guns wherever they go because they are not afraid when they do so. They are not afraid because they have loaded guns hidden all over their houses.

When I tell them that I have never locked my doors, that I have gotten rid of my guns when I stopped hunting, that I never saw the need to buy a hand gun, they ask me what I am going to do when 2 crazed, drugged up thieves show up at my house to rob me?

I tell them that I live in the moment, that I don't worry about far fetched future possibilities.

They all pile on me and accuse me of being afraid, name call (limp wristed lib).

The bottom line that they all stick with is that because they hide guns in their houses and pack wherever they go, they are not afraid.

Scary, isn't it?

[Major Nikon]

22. They are completely oblivious to their own paranoia

If you have to sit around and dream up "what if" scenarios, and then further imagine "what if" scenarios that might make you more safe in that narrow instance while remaining oblivious to the reality of being less safe all the time and making those around you less safe, then there's a good chance your paranoia is getting the better of you.

[Fred Sanders]

35. They think it is YOU being paranoid of owning a harmless weapon...it is akin to the denial of drug

addiction. I think addiction theory has a lot to tell us about the massive lack of reasoning in gun loving folk.

[Major Nikon]

44. There seems to be some sort of pathology at work with some of them

[Fred Sanders]

45. It is a disease, like all addictions. Denial is the first line of defence.

[DBoon]

69. "harmless weapon"?

Best oxymoron of the year

[Locrian]

83. thats what's sooo weird

>>paranoid of owning a harmless weapon

It's like they're in reverse. They never think THEY will screw up, and assume everyone ELSE is out to get them.

Like some sort of virus where you make the more dangerous choice. I mean the thought of carrying - having to be aware of carrying - EVERY SECOND and never loosing track of your 'harmless weapon'. Because if you do - your 2 yr old shoots you.

And say you do carry "all the time". Does anyone not think that it will not become so routine that your forget? Ever lose your car keys? Cell phone? etc.

CC should be a HUGE deal to get a license. A gun is not a pacifier - you don't automatically eliminate threats just by buying one. It just seems that they view them as a cure all for fear and don't realize the tremendous cost. The "risk analysis" is never done: they see some type of "risk" (real or imagines) but don't do the rest of the calculation concerning the potential for screw up and severity of the screw up.

[LiberalLoner]

23. +1 that is exactly the teabagger mentality, I know people in my home state that do the same.

I feel as if a substantial portion of the US - the teabagger/fundie crowd - has become delusional due to Fox News.

[whathehell]

27. These people are obviously paranoid..Have any of them even

been CLOSE to getting mugged or whatever?..I'm guessing they have not.

I lived in cities for at least half my life and, over the course of many years,

was the victim of a purse snatching and two home invasions (no harm to me, but did

have to physically "escape" one situation to avoid contact) and I STILL don't carry

a gun, nor feel the need to do so!

I honestly cannot get into the mindsets of these people

[Fred Sanders]

36. Yes, and then they shoot dead sleepwalkers and drunk German students seen as threatening them.

And they still do not see through to their own paranoia, spoon fed to them by the NRA and Fox, they have just given in to it, it is woven into their fabric of their life.

[whathehell]

54. I'm guessing, in this town at least, that those are a small minority,

at least in that rural Pennsylvania area the poster mentioned.

I'm guessing most of these rural small towners have rarely, if ever, come close to a

mugger.

[DBoon]

72. That makes it all the more frightening

An unknown threat requires more drastic measures than a known and familiar threat

[whathehell]

76. To them, I suppose.

[DBoon]

93. Yes, that was implied

nt

[DBoon]

71. Their personal paranoia is an entire worldview

Fear of outsiders drives political xenophobia and racism. If you don't believe the police can provide any protection or enforce the rules of a civilized world, then by implication any government initiative or common action is impossible.

Splitting us into paranoid individuals suspicious of each other and of even the possibility of common action make it easier for elites to rule us.

You are seeing civil society split into a thousand broken shards.

[Skittles]

80. they're paranoid assholes is what they are

check this out:

http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/denton-county/2014/12/31/family-remembers-man-killed-neighbors-home/21132483/

[peacebird]

20. I think she should be up for a Darwin award... Pity the child, it's going to be hard on him.

[Union Scribe]

88. ...not sure you understand Darwin award criteria. nt

[peacebird]

92. Dying while doing something incredibly dumb?

Putting a loaded weapon into a place where a toddler can easily access it, then getting shot and killed by said toddler with same weapon, sounds like it meets the criteria to me!

[Vinca]

21. I had no idea the blue-vested Walmart clerks were so dangerous.

Is Idaho, in general, such a dangerous place you have to pack heat 24/7? If so, why live there? This is completely beyond my comprehension. If I felt the need to be heavily armed when I go off to buy new underwear (which, apparently, these folks need because they're constantly shitting themselves in fear), I'd move elsewhere. Pssssst . . . keep your eye on that Walmart greeter. Just because he's in a wheelchair doesn't mean he won't try to kill you.

[TheCowsCameHome]

31. Those blue vests are Kevlar, according to the voices in my head,

aND i bELiEvE aNYtHinG thE vOIces tEll mE.

[former9thward]

61. You mock but women are often robbed or assaulted in retail parking lots.

But I guess where you live is crime free.

[Vinca]

63. Guess I do because I can't recall one case of such a thing in my area.

99.9% of the time if you take common sense precautions you'll be just fine anywhere. Everyone at any time is at risk of the worst possible disaster in life happening to them, but this lady was more likely to be struck by lightening or attacked by a shark. Of course she'd be armed so she could have shark fillets for dinner. In any case, I'm much more afraid of people driving and texting than of being attacked by a criminal. I do recall 2 recent fatalities caused by that.

[tabasco]

81. LOL

Find a new shtick.

Getting very stale.

[blackcrow]

25. four years out from a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Podunk U.

No one is a "successful nuclear scientist." That takes a PhD at the least, and a track record.

All these reports say is that, impressions to the contrary, she was not a total idiot.

[LiberalLoner]

28. My husband worked with her, didn't know her well at all, but

Said she was very well regarded in his office. Really such a senseless tragedy.

[rpannier]

29. Be tough to deal with something like that

May not have worked with her
But to lose someone who works in your building like that
It eventually spills over and effects almost everyone
It's easy to sit in judgment of this woman.
What she should have done, could have done, etc
It doesn't take away from the tragedy

[irisblue]

64. Monday Staff meeting is gonna be really bad in Radiology

that poor kid

[LiberalLoner]

75. Not physically in same office, but her lab works for DOE which is where my DH is.

They communicated via phone and writing.

[kath]

38. really. Only a bachelor's in chemistry from U.of Idaho. means she was a lab tech or similar.

hardly a "successful nuclear scientist".

"Journalism" these days. Sheesh.

[paleotn]

43. Exactly (nt)

[LibDemAlways]

34. Having a loaded weapon where a toddler can get at it

is completely indefensible. There is no legitimate reason for anyone in the middle of nowhere Idaho to be packing heat in Walmart in the first place. The victim here is the poor child whose mother put him, herself, and everyone else in that store in harm's way by her stupidity and paranoia.

[MannyGoldstein]

39. Shit multipliers

Everyone does stupid and impulsive stuff. Adding guns multiplies the badness of anything stupid or impulsive.

[JDDavis]

40. Well, she was NOT a successful mother.

As her dead corpse is now in evidence.

These people that think one needs to carry a firearm on a shopping trip in the suburbs are probably mostly very fearful, perhaps even paranoid people. Schooled in firearms from an early age, and convinced over and over of the "necessity" of carrying a weapon as a "rational" act, reinforced by two or three incidents a year where they hear or read about someone using a gun in self-defense, (and choosing to ignore the literally hundreds of stories of tragic "accidental" deaths involving children).

How not tho raise children is what this mother never learned.

[kath]

89. Ding ding ding ding! We have a winnah, folks! A WINNAH!

[undeterred]

41. Who knew successful nuclear scientists shopped at Walmart?

[former9thward]

59. People who want to save money.

[CBGLuthier]

47. She left a gun where a two year old could find it and discharge it.

She doesn't sound very fucking smart to me.

[global1]

48. There's A "Big Bang Theory" Joke Somewhere Here In This Story.......nt

[NuclearDem]

49. Oh give me a fucking break.

This has got to be the single cheapest shot you've taken against nuclear.

[enlightenment]

51. I've been a bit confused

how a young woman with a BS (2010) in chemistry turned into a "nuclear scientist". (this information was in a link in another article, yesterday - an online version of the commencement program from her university graduation. Sorry, I don't recall which article it was).

She worked at a DOE lab - apparently many people in the town do - but I'm not seeing the credentials that made her a "nuclear scientist".

This story keeps being repeated as if it somehow changes what happened - as if, yes, a highly educated and trained "nuclear scientist" can make a tragic mistake and that should mitigate the fact that she put a loaded weapon in her handbag, presumably with the safety off, in reach of her toddler child.

Even if she really had been a "nuclear scientist" it wouldn't change the seriousness of her lapse in judgement.

[upaloopa]

60. Yes it is as if it was more of an accident

because she was a scientist. Not some dumb truck driver gun nut who we should hold accountable. We can forgive a scientist.

[BillZBubb]

52. Yet she is still a candidate for the Darwin Awards.

I feel sorry for the child, not so much the irresponsible mother.

[magical thyme]

67. too late. she's already passed on her genes. nt

[JEFF9K]

55. Are there any UNSUCCESSFUL nuclear scientists?

And how would one earn that designation?

[miyazaki]

98. Sure there are. And they're parroted here as heroes. Go Figure. n/t

[Skittles]

56. she's packing while in a walmart with four children

but she's no gun nut?

[Iggo]

68. "..described by those who knew her as a gun lover, a motivated academic and a successful nuclear..."

Top of the list, per the people that knew her.

[LisaL]

58. It is just some purse. With a pocket.

Grandpa seems to think that because the purse was designed as a purse for concealed gun carry, it was some magic purse.

[DBoon]

73. Why not? Guns are magic too

Having a gun in your possession will magically repel evil. It is a magic amulet that repels any attack or threat.

[Runningdawg]

66. High IQ

is not always synonymous with common sense. If you feel the need to carry to shop in walmart, shop somewhere you feel safe. If you can't find a safe place, carry on your body. If you feel the need to carry anywhere you might shop, then its an unsafe place for children. Find a sitter, go alone.

[workinclasszero]

74. Her love of guns put her in the grave

And the plain stupidity of leaving a loaded weapon where a child could get a hold of it.

I guess nuclear scientists don't study the safe handling of deadly weapons.

I feel sorry for the poor kid growing up knowing that he killed his mother with a gun.

Seems like I saw a study that said you are way more likely to die from your own firearm than shoot a bad guy with it.

[Man from Pickens]

77. Sometimes an accident is just an accident

People trying to draw some greater moral lesson out of this incident are grasping at straws.

[ShannonB]

78. Heartbreaking

So sad for the child

[truthisfreedom]

79. It's not rocket science.

It's ballistics.

[ncjustice80]

84. Another responsible gun owner.

And people wonder why I want the 2A repealed

[valerief]

87. What a whacked POS! And she's working on nuclear research? She doesn't even have the brains

to NOT have a gun around a child? The best I can guess is that she was mentally deranged. If not, she was one STOOOPID asshole.

Guns Kill!

[Reter]

95. If that's not harse then I don't know what is

She's dead, and you still feel the need to call her a whacked POS.

[question everything]

96. I think that the mother of Adam Lanza also was a competent loving person

who refused to realize that guns and kids do not mix.