If you type the words "accidental shootings" on Google you will get plenty of stories about shootings occurring over the past year. On Huffington Post alone I learned a murder suspect accidentally shot himself in Washington State; a 10-year-old girl died in West Virginia, accidentally shot by her 9-year-old brother while target shooting; a 62-year-old man accidentally shot himself in a City Hall building in Michigan. On and on these articles go about people being shot "accidentally."
Attention, friends, as the National Rifle Association likes to say, "guns don't shoot people, people shoot people." A gun is an inanimate object. It must be loaded with bullets by a person. The safety must be released by a human. The trigger must be pulled by someone with, typically, 4 to 6 pounds of pressure. There can be no accidental firing, as this scene from "Pulp Fiction" highlighted.
Because law enforcement, along with the media, keep calling these shootings "accidental," very rarely is anyone held responsible. When kids under 18 are involved, the parents should be held responsible. If the gun was found in the home of a friend or neighbor, then the friend or neighbor needs to be held responsible for allowing access to their weaponry. We must begin to hold people responsible for keeping others safe from the weapons they own. The 2nd Amendment gives every citizen the right to own a gun. It does not give citizens the right to mishandle them.
Because law enforcement, along with the media, keep calling these shootings "accidental," very rarely is anyone held responsible. When kids under 18 are involved, the parents should be held responsible. If the gun was found in the home of a friend or neighbor, then the friend or neighbor needs to be held responsible for allowing access to their weaponry. We must begin to hold people responsible for keeping others safe from the weapons they own. The 2nd Amendment gives every citizen the right to own a gun. It does not give citizens the right to mishandle them.
Maybe, as many argue, we do not need new gun laws. Perhaps, however, we need lock laws. Laws so tight that if a loaded gun is found in a home where children are present, and that gun does not have a trigger lock or is locked in a safe, the owner of the home should be charged with criminal negligence. If a gun is used in a suicide, murder, or "accidental shooting," the owner of that gun should be charged with criminal assault or homicide depending on whether the victim lives or dies.
Let us stop fooling ourselves. Using words that suggest no one is responsible is just plain wrong. If I drink and drive and kill someone, I am guilty of a criminal act. Likewise, if I handle my gun irresponsibly, I should be guilty of a criminal act.
Let us stop this nonsense.
Let us stop fooling ourselves. Using words that suggest no one is responsible is just plain wrong. If I drink and drive and kill someone, I am guilty of a criminal act. Likewise, if I handle my gun irresponsibly, I should be guilty of a criminal act.
Let us stop this nonsense.
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