An Arkansas couple has been charged with manslaughter after their 2-year-year old son accidentally shot himself with a .45 caliber pistol and died of a wound to his head, authorities said on Tuesday.
The parents, Phillip and Tabitha Ashley, 27 and 23 respectively, were arrested on Monday. Local media said the couple left a loaded gun unattended in the house.
Police declined to release any details but said additional charges are possible. The two, who are being held without bond in jail, have not commented on the incident.
Manslaughter seems like the appropriate charge here.
I am glad that we are seeing people like this punished for their negligence and no longer given a pass due to the fact that "they have already suffered enough."
No, they haven't. At least not yet.
It is high time this became the rule rather than the exception.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am happy they are being charged I do think a case could be made for 1st degree murder since it would seem the intent by having a loaded weapon where a young child could access it would have to be a decision these people ( I refuse to call them parents) made.
ReplyDeleteI think it's beyond time people like this get charged, but a 1st degree murder charge is too much too soon. After all, how many children had to die before these people got charged? And who knows if they'll be punished under the law.
DeleteIt's about time they start charging these parents and other adults who leave firearms where children can get a hold of them.
ReplyDeleteThis should be the rule of law in every state and jurisdiction in the nation. If a child gets ahold of your firearm, and kills them-self or someone else, you, the firearm owner will be charged with the killing.
ReplyDeleteNot only if a child gets hold of YOUR weapon and kills someone, but if ANYONE uses it to kill, you should be responsible. Why do gun owners not carry insurance? Why are they all so gullible, believing the NRA crap. Guns don't kill people? Well, yes, LaPierre, they do. Every single hour in this country. Thanks to you.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just that a gun was left in reach of an infant, but that the gun was left with one in the chamber and the safety off. A two year old does not rack a round and click off a safety, they just fiddle with it until it fires.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/24/1443208/-Let-s-make-our-safe-word-check-the-chamber-GunFAIL-CLXVI
DeleteVery good point, 4:10pm. Bravo!
DeleteR.I.P. little man!
ReplyDeleteGood.
ReplyDeleteIt's about time we start holding irresponsible gun owners for deaths caused by their carelessness.
In this case, they will be punished doubly since they have lost their child, who I'm sure they loved.
But apparently they didn't love him enough to keep their gun locked up and unloaded.
And while they'll live and learn, the same cannot be said for their son.
Lock them both up for a long, long time.
Isn't it a shame the only legislation we have that can protect us from guns occurs AFTER the fact, when someone has died.
Quietly, Congress extends a ban on CDC research on gun violence
ReplyDeleteIn the immediate aftermath of the massacre in Charleston, South Carolina, the US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee quietly rejected an amendment that would have allowed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the underlying causes of gun violence.
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-07-02/quietly-congress-extends-ban-cdc-research-gun-violence
Dr. Fred Rivara, a professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology at the University of Washington at Seattle Children's Hospital, has been involved with injury research for 30 years. He was part of a team that researched gun violence back in the 1990s and personally saw the chilling effects of the NRA’s lobbying arm. Rivara says that the NRA accused the CDC of trying to use science to promote gun control.
ReplyDelete“As a result of that, many, many people stopped doing gun research, [and] the number of publications on firearm violence decreased dramatically," he told The Takeaway in April. "It was really chilling in terms of our ability to conduct research on this very important problem.”
In 2013, some 34,000 Americans died from gunshot wounds. So Takeaway Washington Correspondent Todd Zwillich decided to ask House Speaker John Boehner why his party is trying to block research on gun violence.
“The CDC is there to look at diseases that need to be dealt with to protect public health,” Boehner said at a press conference last week. “I’m sorry, but a gun is not a disease. Guns don’t kill people — people do. And when people use weapons in a horrible way, we should condemn the actions of the individual and not blame the action on some weapon.”
But does the CDC research blame the public health issue of gun violence on the weapons themselves?
“The original concern from the National Rifle Association back in 1996, which Dr. Rivara mentioned, made that very implication,” says Zwillich. “The NRA complained to Congress that the CDC was using the results of its research to essentially advocate for gun control. They called it propaganda. And back at that time, Congress slashed the CDC’s funding by the exact amount that was used for gun-related public health research.”
Rivara and his team discovered that having a gun in the home is associated with a threefold increase in the risk of a homicide — they released this information in a series of peer-reviewed articles that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. The CDC both funded Rivara’s original research and stood by the findings.
But after Congress seemingly retaliated against the CDC for publishing Rivara’s findings, Zwillich says researchers with the agency have shied away from conducting gun research.
“There is other research that goes on at the CDC that does have to do with guns,” says Zwillich. “There is a National Violent Death Reporting System, which does record the causes of all violent deaths, including in domestic abuse, youth violence, and child abuse. If a gun is the cause, that’s recorded — it’s not like they ignore it entirely. But gun deaths and gun injuries as a public health issue, as Rivara said, are still basically anathema to CDC researchers and anyone who gets CDC funding, which is potentially millions of dollars.”
Same link as above
This family is Black. Not that I disagree with charging adults for leaving guns accessible to children, my only comment is that I don't think this incident reflects a change in how the police will handle similar incidents with white families. It seems that Black people are held to higher standards than whites. Let's wait until the first white parent is held responsible for the death/injuries caused by their handguns.
ReplyDeleteI stand corrected, this was a white couple. In this case, I am happy to admit that I was wrong - and look forward to seeing more cases where gun owners are held responsible for securing their weapons.
ReplyDeleteNegligent homicide would be more appropriate, unless the punishment is less severe.
ReplyDelete