Detectives found 20 unsecured guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition throughout the home of the family of a 3-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself in the abdomen March 3, according to reports released last week.
The boy, who survived the shooting, was flown to a Tucson hospital where he underwent surgery.
The case is being referred to the Pima County Attorney's Office, according to a Pima County Sheriff's detective. The boy's parents, Don and Sharina Marion, have not been arrested or charged. Don Marion is the volunteer fire chief for Elephant Head Fire Department.
The boy apparently pulled a small chair up to a counter where his mother was working on a laptop computer, saw the .32-caliber semi-automatic pistol there and shot himself, according to reports. The gun was in an ankle holster with the trigger exposed “and could easily be pulled by almost anyone,” according to a report.
In most cases one would ask how could something like this happen? But in this case the question is, how come this did not happen sooner?
Sheriff's detectives obtained a search warrant for the house in Elephant Head and found 20 guns along with boxes, cans and bags of ammunition in several rooms. The weapons included shotguns, rifles, a Ruger and a Colt .45 handgun in a holster affixed to the headboard in the master bedroom. The family owns a gun safe where several weapons were found but it was not locked, according to the report. One of the couple's four children told detectives he knew the safe was not locked; another said his father “did not remember the combination to the safe.”
Funny thing about gun safes, they only keep the guns away from children if they are actually stored, and locked, inside of them.
This is why the 2nd Amendment specifies "a well regulated militia." There is no way the founding fathers wanted idiots like these parents to have access to this kind of weaponry.
I am sickened by this, and further sickened by the fact that there are probably hundreds of other homes where a similar situation exists.
Here's what The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union had to say about firearms:
ReplyDelete"every State shall always keep up a well-regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutered, and shall provide and constantly have ready for use, in public stores, a due number of field pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition and camp equipage."
I found that interesting, seeing as The Articles were a precursor to The Constitution and might shed a little light on the intention of that 2nd Amendment phrase about 'keeping and bearing arms'.
(By the way, no mention of Jesus Christ, Yahweh, Moses, David, Solomon...)
It just astounds me that charges don't get filed in these cases. Why isn't this considered to be child endangerment, at the very least?
ReplyDeleteI agree. It's astounding that these parents are not held accountable.
DeleteBut it's a tragic accident and the parents have suffered enough.
DeleteIf dangerous weapons and ammunition are left within the reach of a child, that is no accident, that is parental neglect, pure & simple.
DeleteAll of these stories give me a sick sensation. I may be paranoid but are these people just stacking the deck against their children? They know the climate in this country. They know if their child winds up dead from a gunshot wound nothing will probably happen to them.
ReplyDeleteThis is sick. Sick. Are people this clueless---or are we seeing one of the scariest forms of passive child murders in the history of this country? Hell, we cover the outlets in our house
because a four year old visits sometimes. The thought of leaving loaded guns around (which we don't own) is tantamount to leaving a toddler by a pool and then going off to the mall without them.
Many of us grew up with public service announcements. The dangers of lead paint, smoking, choking hazards, seat belts, don't talk to strangers, etc. I say we need to run a list of the dead by gunshot wounds on every news outlet, everyday and put the age beside the name. How many kids under the age of eighteen die daily by guns?
Screw the NRA.
Makes me sick too, but I take a small comfort ion the fact that these morons are shooting each other, and not sane people who know enough not to own a gun, or at least know enough to keep them locked away from kids and depressed teens, and anyone who might get angry and hey, shoot you back! And until we start charging these people with murder or negligence, they will not stop being irresponsible. Funny how the right wants to hold Hillary and the President 'accountable' for every damn thing they can think of, but when it comes to gun owners who allow their weapons to be used and abused by children, they are just fine with all those 'accidents,' which kill more people than wars.
ReplyDeleteCarry on, GOP. These are your future voters who are dying.
Where the fuck is CPS when you need them? Why do they need so many guns? Why are they laying around a house with toddlers?
ReplyDeleteIdiocracy.
Daddy forgot the safe combination... BULLSHIT! If the safe is open and had a mechanical dial lock, the gates can be read by simply removing the back cover. If it's an electronic lock, it can be reset and a new combination programmed. What we have is another fucking wannabe Rambo who never grew up and shouldn't have had offspring!
ReplyDeleteWhen my kid were little, I asked their friend's parents if there were guns in the house when my little ones went to visit. I was lucky - nobody in my neighborhood had guns. These days, I would always assume there were guns in the house. What's a parent to do?
ReplyDeleteBasically, you, your kids, and everyone you hold dear has exposure to guns most of the time. Driving to the supermarket, it's a good bet that some of the other cars on the road contain guns. Any public place or public event probably has several people carrying loaded weapons. And, it's a good bet that at least some of those people might not be mentally capable of handling a weapon safely.
DeleteWhat are we do? What are we teach our kids? The kindergarten classes teach "drop and roll" for fire safety. Maybe they learn a jingle for what do when a gun goes off.
How many of these kids of reckless parents have to die before the laws change? The parents should be charged with murder, in my view. It's so different than allowing a child to roam free in a house full of poisonous vipers. Child protection agencies would take the child away immediately and place him in a foster home.
ReplyDeleteGun safety laws are to protect lives. Are these parents so obstinate that they'd put the lives of their children in danger, just to stick it, with their warped views, to lawmakers they think want to take their guns away?
These are all WHITE people who are such a..holes who do not get charged.
ReplyDeleteIf it were BLACK or HISPANIC folks, they would most likely get charged.
Either those 'colored' people have way more sense in protecting their children and locking up their guns - OR there are way, way less 'colored' people who OWN guns - contrary to what those white old farts want us to believe. Just like with voter fraud - does not exist, EXCEPT from the GOP...
The parents should be charged with negligence. If their child had gotten a hold of and swallowed some pills/drugs, the parents would probably be charged.
ReplyDeleteThe schools teach kids to TELL someone if they are being touched inappropriately. How about teaching kids to TELL someone if they see an unsecured gun? Of course, the kid has to live long enough to be school age, but...
ReplyDeleteGet that kid out of the house ASAP and arrest the SFB parents. This wasn't an accident, it was a crime.
ReplyDeleteI'm sick of reading items like this when the perps get a tsk tsk, you've suffered enough, we won't prosecute because it was an accident.
How paranoid does one have to be to have that many unsecured killing apparatuses within reach of their kids?
Anyone willing to wager they have a bumper sticker that's anti abortion on their hum vee?