Only Cops Should Have Guns!!!
The 7-year-old daughter of a Marysville police officer who was shot accidentally on Saturday by her brother died early Sunday morning the Snohomish County (Washington) Sheriff’s Office said.
The parents were away from their van when this girl’s brother found a loaded handgun in the glove box. Both the van and gun belong to the cop.
Here in Texas, when a child gains access to an unsecured gun via non-criminal means, and “causes death or serious bodily injury to himself or another person,” the adult gets charged with a Class A misdemeanor (Texas Penal Code Title 10, Chapter 46, Section 13). The penalty is a fine of up to $4,000 and a year in jail (Texas Penal Code Title 3, Chapter 12, Section 21).
Interestingly, Washington is currently considering a bill that, if enacted, would make an adult “guilty of reckless endangerment” if a child gains access to their unsecured gun, a gross misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and 90 days in jail.
In both cases, if the child gains access via criminal means (e.g. unlawful entry), the gun owner isn’t liable.
No doubt Brady Campaign is celebrating Sunday’s tragedy, because this increases their “child gun death” numbers so they can better sell civilian disarmament.
5 will getcha 10 that a lawyer somewhere (defending a gun owner) will say: “But my client told his kid to NOT touch the gun. Therefore, his child’s taking hold of the weapon was a criminal act, and my client isn’t guilty for leaving his .44 Ruger Red Hawk laying loaded and cocked on the coffee table.”
That sound like a very sound and logical defense. Thanks for that, I’ll remember this one. Remember you can’t child-proof the gun so you have to gun-proof the child.
Teach your kids about gun safety. Teach them to tell an adult when they come across a gun. Do not make them exciting by always hiding them and making them mysterious. Firearms in the hands of responsible adults keeps our country, towns, streets and homes safe. Respect guns like any potentially dangerous tool and teach that respect to all youth.
I might point out that Chuck Yeager, better known as the first pilot to break the sound barrier in SUSTAINED LEVEL FLIGHT, was also involved with firearms as a kid. The story I heard was that during the depression, as a five-year-old, one of his chores was to take a single-shot .22 rifle to provide small game such as squirrel and rabbit to supplement the family larder. No grown-ups or other children were injured because he had access to a firearm, knew what it was for, and knew how to use it. Can you imagine what would happen to Mr. and Mrs. Yeager if they did this today in this era of “nanny government?”