Jackson County Sheriff Steve Rand confirmed the 4-year-old son of a Jackson County Sheriff’s Office deputy accidentally shot and killed himself at the deputy's home Saturday, March 2.
Police and rescue officials received a 911 call asking for assistance at the residence shortly after 5:30 p.m.
The names of the deputy and his son have not been released, and the Michigan State Police are investigating the incident.
“This just serves as a reminder that we need to be vigilant when it comes to keeping our children safe,” Rand said.
You know one would assume that a Sheriff's Deputy would know all about gun safety and take great pains to keep his family safe.
What this illustrates is that even in the homes of people with extensive training these kinds of unfortunate accidents can still take place.
It is estimated that there are a whopping 310 million firearms in American homes. Roughly one for every single person in the country.
These weapons are often purchased with the idea that they will be used to defend a home against a home invasion, a crime whose occurrence is grossly exaggerated by those trying to sell you guns or home security systems, but which in reality is really quite rare unless you are in the drug selling business or living in an area with an extremely high crime rate.
Those over hyped statistics create an environment of fear which can seemingly only be calmed by the introduction of a firearm. However each year more than 20,000 children show up in hospital emergency rooms with gun related injuries.
So perhaps we need to ask ourselves what frightens us more? Phantom home invaders who we will likely never encounter, or the shooting death of one of our children, the likelihood of which statistically increases by 300% with the introduction of a gun into the household.
I think if somebody were to ask the parent of one of these deceased children they would not hesitate to answer that question. That is if you could understand them through their tears.
These are the people that are SUPPOSED to know about Gun safety!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes you would think they would be more concerned about their kids that anything else...but RWNJ just gotta have those guns.
I bet he still wouldn't be without it. :(
Sad state of affairs in this country when guns are more important than Children or Anyone?
"This just serves as a reminder..." What a bullshit, insipid comment from Sheriff Rand. Imagine how you'd feel if your 4 year-old's death was referred to as a good "reminder" (as if we needed one!) that guns cause more harm to their owners than to others. Moron!
ReplyDeleteNow that all these heartbreaking stories are actually in the news....how can the politicians ignore this carnage? I would like to see the ER docs of this country unite and explain the costs, the monetary costs of gun violence. It seems money talks in this debate....how about the gun manufacturers be charged a surtax to be used for medical expenses, burial expenses, counseling expenses. They super tax cigarettes and gasoline....why not guns?
ReplyDeleteIt is disgraceful, there should be no argument here. Make the case for money, it seems the moral point of view of human life just doesn't count...but to the GOP money is their GOD.
Your point about ER docs (and nurses) is a very good one Sharon. I suspect the hospitals that they work for may make too much income from billing the states for caring for the poor who are most often victims of gun violence to support it. I'd like to see it happen, though.
Delete"Each day now is getting harder, not easier," said Nicole Hockley, who lost her 6 year-old son, Dylan Hockley, at Sandy Hook. "I still expect Dylan to come out of the next room at any moment."
ReplyDeleteJoyce Russo, whose stepdaughter, Lauren Russo, a teacher, died protecting her students, said she is "doing worse today than I was the day after the shooting."
Families in Newtown are at the "very beginning, and they have a very long road ahead of them," explained Wendy Davidson, a Newtown-based therapist who has worked with families and teachers impacted by the shooting. Right now, she said, "they're still numb. As the numbness starts to wear off, you begin to feel the pain."
Over the course of a two-hour dialogue, Couric's own experiences of loss, which she shared with her guests, became evident. The former anchor of the CBS Evening News lost her husband, Jay Monahan, to colon cancer in 1998 and her sister, Emily Couric, to pancreatic cancer in 2001.
"[S]ometimes a ton of sleep is the only escape [from acute mourning], because you can forget," Couric told Davidson. "But then, 10 seconds after you wake up, there it is again."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/04/newtown-after-sandy-hook_n_2805491.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
my children are 27 and 32. when they were 6 and 11 we moved from des moines, iowa, to jefferson city, mo. one state capitol to another. when we lived in des moines i did not know anyone who owned a gun. i didn't even know anyone who hunted. when we moved to missouri, we quickly observed pick up trucks with gun racks all over the place, and we made acquaintance with many people who said they hunted, and people who said they owned pistols. even back then, the proliferation of guns where we lived worried me. i never let either of my children spend the night with any other child without first asking the parents if they owned guns and where they kept them. i usually prefaced it with an apology and said that "i know i am paranoid but . . ." i also told my children, even my 6 year old, that if they were ever anywhere and someone took out a gun, they were to immediately leave the premises and go to a neighbor or a gas station and call me. i explained to them that very bad things usually happened if a kid got a gun out. i learned a lot about the parents of kids i knew -- some had hunting rifles and kept them locked in a case or a safe. one of our neighbors had guns because he was an ex-security guard and didn't want to get rid of them in case he went back into that line of work. they were locked in a box on the top shelf of their bedroom closet. if i had little kids now, i would do the same thing i did then, but maybe press other parents even more.
ReplyDeletemy husband and i also never let my children (one boy, one girl)own play guns until they were teenagers, at which time they did have those big water blasters. people who gave them guns as gifts were told we had to return them. people thought we were crazy. and of course, my children played with pretend guns at other kids' houses. i'm glad i did it and my children, who don't yet have children of their own, tell me that they will do the same thing.
I live in the suburbs of a big city, guns are everywhere!
DeleteI did the same thing(s) and never regretted any of it.Losing a few acquaintances and risking being called crazy or paranoid are a small price to pay if it ensures the safety of one child.
Mark Kelly, former Rep. Gabrille Giffords' husband, is set to testify on a Colorado gun control bill, which would impose universal background checks for gun purchases. Watch live video of the Senate committee hearing, via The Denver Post:
ReplyDeletehttp://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/watch-live-mark-kelly-to-testify-on-colorado
Linda, you are a very wise woman.
ReplyDeleteFear factor: The cycle that drives assault weapon sales
ReplyDeleteThe cause of gun control in the US is lost unless we address the underlying anxiety that makes people feel safer armed
The future of guns in our society may be better understood if we knew more about what they mean to people and why people buy them.
Fear is a major factor for many firearm purchases. Recent trends in gun sales suggest that many citizens are becoming more fearful: Gallup poll data suggest that Americans are more fearful, at near-record high levels, about big government, compared to big business or big labor. This fear overlays the long-term public fear of crime and terrorism.
Reactions to mass killings, particularly the shooting of first-graders at Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Connecticut, sparked a national debate about gun control. But that, in turn, has heightened fear about government’s role in regulating assault weapons, especially popular semi-automatic models like the AK-47 and AR-15 that are bought and sold throughout both the US and the world.
Public reaction to the latest assault weapon massacre is disturbing in view of worldwide trends. Studies show that price increases for semi-automatic assault weapons reflect public moods and fears about social instability. According to author James Barr, in many countries, “The Kalashnikov index is effectively a futures market for violence.” More than 80m AK-47s circulate between countries in predictable patterns that are associated with social instability.
The cost of this weapon doubled and tripled in Iraq and Afghanistan just before the US invasions of those countries. Afghan arms merchants are selling the model favored by Osama bin Laden for $2,000, while Syrians are paying more than $2,100. Demand and prices fall only when citizens believe that things are settling down.
The US has around 4m assault rifles – about 1% of the 310m firearms owned by Americans according to estimates from the FBI. It is critical to understand the symbolic meaning of this weapon in the context of recent skyrocketing sales.
Then, there’s the United States’ gluttonous assault weapons market:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/02/fear-factor-the-cycle-that-drives-assault-weapon-sales/
AR-15 assault rifle stolen from unmarked San Francisco police car
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/04/ar-15-assault-rifle-stolen-from-unmarked-san-francisco-police-car/
WARNING! VERY GRAPHIC, HORRIFIC Image is about to meet your eyes. Don't say I didn't give you full and total warning, and be prepared to throw up in your mouth upon viewing...I did.
ReplyDeletehttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DtYJxraBpT0/UQ90Bcf_F7I/AAAAAAAAFPg/AakrwRRABdg/s1600/Gun+Nut.jpg
EWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DeleteAnd I bet he believes in creationism!
DeleteMark Kelly, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' husband, told a Colorado state Senate committee on Monday that submitting to a background check before buying a gun is a small price to pay when it comes to safety.
ReplyDelete"It's a small price to pay to keep all of us a little bit safer, where everybody is able to take a background check," Kelly said.
Kelly said he bought a hunting rifle in October at a Walmart. He said he submitted to a background check, which he said took about five minutes.
The Colorado Senate committee held a hearing on a bill that would impose universal background checks for gun purchases.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/mark-kelly-background-check-small-price-to-pay
“I knew it was bad when one of the local sheriff’s here, he came out of the house and was walking down the driveway,” neighbor Lon Zicafoose told WXMIM. “I could tell he was crying and he got closer to the road here and he was sobbing and crying.”
ReplyDelete“How did that kid get that weapon? How did he get a loaded weapon? How did they have access to it?” the neighbor wondered. “I just can’t imagine what the mom is going through, because the mom was there, what the mom and other kids are going through.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/04/michigan-sheriffs-deputys-4-year-old-son-accidentally-shoots-and-kills-himself/
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/ascii/vdhb.txt
ReplyDelete"An estimated 3.7 million household burglaries occurred each year on average from 2003 to 2007. In about 28% of these burglaries, a household member was present during the burglary. In 7% of all household burglaries, a household member experienced some form of violent victimization."
So 28% of 3.7 million is one million thirty six thousand home invasions. Seven percent of 3.7 million means 259,000 household members experience violence in the invasions each year. 7,700 are raped, 23,000 are seriously injured and 93,000 suffer minor injuries.
Home invasion isn't as rare as you think. Single females with children were more likely to be burglarized while someone was home than any other group. Because of course a male burglar has less to fear physically from a woman, plus the potential for rape.
How many of them had dogs?
DeleteM from MD
I wonder what words of consolation or advice someone like Wayne La Pierre would give families of children who kill themselves accidentally because the parent feels it's their constitutional right to keep a loaded gun within reach of their children?
ReplyDeleteIs there anything in the second amendment to quote that would ease their grief one iota?
I recall something similar to this happening a few years ago. I think it was in Oregon. The Deputy was charged with Criminally Negligent Homicide because of all people, he should have known better.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to note how people always twist statistics to suit their political agenda, every year man people use Guns for personal defense, There are few a accidents, these occur less frequently than automobile accidents, more children are killed due to badly fitting car seats than are killed in gun accidents.
ReplyDelete