Wednesday, January 27, 2016

5 year old boy shot and killed by 11 year old child in Alaska. This one hits a little close to home.

Kokhanok, Alaska
Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch: 

Alaska State Troopers say another child is believed to have fatally shot a 5-year-old boy in the village of Kokhanok last weekend in what troopers had described as an accident. 

Troopers said in a Monday dispatch that the boy, who was wounded Saturday, "was playing video games in the living room of his residence when another child (age 11) in the residence obtained a firearm and subsequently shot" the boy. 
Medics flew the boy to an Anchorage hospital, where he died Sunday.

The Dispatch says that family members were home at the time, but apparently did not have the presence of mind to keep guns out of the hands of their children. 

You might be surprised to learn that in this case I am not advocating for no guns in the home, as these people living out there in rural Alaska exist largely on a subsistence lifestyle and it is likely that this eleven year old has gone hunting with his family numerous times in order to learn how to survive.

What I am advocating is that since firearms are a necessary way of life, that gun safety should be also be job one for these parents.

Of course it could be that this was an intentional use of a weapon by this eleven year old, and safety was not the issue. In which case this family has a very serious problem on their hands indeed.

28 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:29 AM

    no no no no
    tragic.
    (Will anyone dare say the 5 year old should have been armed to protect himself? Wait for it....)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous3:07 AM

    Obviously in this case no guns would have been a fuck of a lot better for all involved, rural local or not.

    ReplyDelete
  3. OT:
    Due to worsening hearing loss that started 20 years ago, I tend to watch TV with the sound off and just the captions playing. This MSNBC Morning Joe is an interesting experience watching that way.

    I never heard of this Mika Brzezinski before, which I unfortunately cannot say about Scarborough. It does seem that she has little function put to play long-suffering and quietly exasperated with whatever her beady-eyed partner is going off about. It would be interesting if someone took a random episode and counted how many words she gets to say versus him.

    Many days, if you routinely watch Hayes, Maddow and O'Donnell in the evening, then turn the set back on in the morning, it's as if MSNBC is having a practical joke to test whether we're really awake.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5:38 AM

      I could not agree more. A few years ago, I saw Mika on a show where she relayed her lifelong struggles with self-image and self-esteem. Sitting next to that bug-eyed blowhard day after day cannot be helping.

      Delete
  4. 66gardeners4:07 AM

    I just saw a segment on The Today Show, introducing a new technological gadget that will alert people in an office building with an active shooter where the assailant is as long as they are still shooting. WTF? How about figuring out how to keep active shooters from appearing in the first place?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Leland5:45 AM

      SNARK FOLLOWING!

      Oh, but 66, we CAN'T do that! That would reduce the income of those manufacturers who make their money selling deadly weapons!

      Delete
  5. Anonymous4:14 AM

    Maybe some day they'll stop calling these incidents "accidents." A girl can hope!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So true. And maybe they can stop declining to prosecute the irresponsible parties whose negligence caused the tragedy because they "have suffered enough."

      Delete
  6. A. J. Billings4:21 AM

    Very sad situation. Parents need to prosecuted for negligence at very least.

    Speaking of gun shots, the Bundy boys, and a few followers were ARRESTED and are in Federal custody today.

    THey fell for the oldest trick in the book, by responding to an invitation to a "town meeting"

    On the way there, they were all arrested, but one Ammosexual idiot pulled a gun on an Oregon state trooper, and lost his life.

    Now their movement has its martry, but hopefully the rest of the 3 year olds in that wildlife refuge will be packing up and going home.

    Sorry kids, you didn't get your civil war, and now you're in jail facing big sentences.

    HOOOOHAHH!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Leland5:46 AM

      And expensive BILLS!

      Delete
  7. Anonymous4:32 AM

    I keep waiting for a situation like this involving the Palins. Levi takes Tripp hunting and I HOPE he emphasizes hunter safety. Tripp is getting old enough that he can understand the concepts of permanence and death.

    Trig, on the other hand, will never have that capacity. I'm willing to bet Track is addicted to first person shooter games, and hasn't been shy about sharing them with Track & Trig.

    Track may understand that shooting in this venue may be a game, but Trig will not. I shudder to think what would happen if he was playing and picked up a loaded gun.

    And Gryphen, I completely agree about rural life and guns. We had a farm, and never went into the fields or woods without a .22--lots of snakes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:34 AM

      Fun times! I will laugh my ass off when that happens and it can't happen too soon!

      Delete
  8. I think that every time a child kills someone with a gun, the owner of that gun should go to jail for manslaughter. After all, they are responsible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:46 AM

      It never happens, and the presiding LEO's comment is always that the family has "suffered enough." Well, no, frankly, they haven't. If fear of having your child ripped from you in needless slaughter doesn't inspire people to secure their firearms and ammo, perhaps a few stiff jail sentences for other criminally sloppy parents will.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous5:44 AM

    Whether or not it was intentional does not affect the safety issue. An eleven-year-old with competent parents will not be able to access a loaded gun on his own. Period.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous6:04 AM

    Why couldn't the kids be armed with fishing poles and attendant gear? NO guns would have made that home safer. Gryphen calls Southerners in this situation idiots, but when it happens in his backyard, it was an accident. You're a freakin hypocrite!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are no Southerners in this situation.

      Do not equate frustration at finding a lack of chewing tobacco at the local Piggly Wiggly with living in one of the harshest environments on the planet.

      I also did not refer to this shooting as an accident, and I still think the parents should be held responsible.

      My only point is that where I would usually suggest that the owning of a firearm was unnecessary and only increased the likelihood of an incident like this, those living in rural areas far from modern conveniences have a different reality.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous6:30 AM

      Classy response, Gryphen. NOT! That is something a prick like Donald Trump would say. I agree, you are a hypocrite, too afraid you'll piss off an Alaskan reader that may know this people.

      Delete
    3. Leland7:02 AM

      @6:04 and 6:30

      A question: Have either of you ever lived a subsistence life? A true subsistence life? If not, I should think you may wish to live like that a while before you deny the need for almost any method of gathering food for yourself and your family.

      What Gryphen said, both in his initial posting and in responding to you, is basically true. He did say the parents should be held responsible. And he did take into account where and how they live.

      Not once did he suggest the parents shouldn't be held accountable. And not once did he make excuses for the shooting having happened. He merely said the life style HAD to be taken into account and reiterated what he has always stated: Owning a handgun in most places is more a hazard than not having one.


      Now it's your turn. Say what stupid retaliation remarks you will and then leave it alone.

      I must say, however, that this brings to mind an old American Indian prayer. "Lord, let me not judge another until I have walked a mile in their moccasins."

      Delete
    4. Anonymous7:32 AM

      Do you have comprehension skills, 6:30 AM?

      Delete
    5. Anonymous8:35 AM

      What good does knowledge about how to survive in a "substenance" lifestyle do if the family does not practice responsible gun safety? They're not shooting their food from the front yard of the igloo.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous8:37 AM

      What does Piggly Wiggly and chewing tobacco have to do with this? Gryphen again has shown he is a racist, classist asshole.

      Delete
    7. Leland1:42 PM

      @8:35 and 8:37

      I am going to guess by the tone and COMPLETE lack of reading comprehension, you two are the same ones who attacked Gryphen in this comment previously.

      8:35, there IS no connection to what you are asking and what Gryphen posted. You are seemingly refusing to acknowledge his point, so your argument is useless and non-valid. As for your final sentence, it merely shows YOUR ignorance and racism since even an IDIOT should know by now they live in houses now, not igloos. And don't bother trying to say you didn't mean it that way!

      And 8:37? As with your "partner" in stupidity, you refuse to see the correlation, and the difference. People who live a subsistence life NEED weapons to hunt and provide food for their tables. Is your brain capable of wrapping itself around that? People who live in the Lower 48 do NOT need to have this. That precludes the argument about the southern people - your listing, not mine - being in the same situation. They're not for the most.

      I'M in the south. I do NOT need a firearm to eat. And MOST people in the Lower 48 are in the same condition. People like those being discussed in this particular posting DO.

      And to both of you, at no time has he EVER said there wasn't fault with the parents!

      The two of you seem to be bent on making fallacious pronouncements and smearing people who comment here with intelligence and wit. It is my feeling, in fact, you are not CAPABLE of intelligence and wit.

      Therefore, A lot of us would greatly appreciate it if you would permanently disappear. I know I, for one, shall await your final bombast and then completely ignore your less-than-childish word salad.

      Have a nice evening.

      Delete
    8. Anonymous1:58 PM

      Leland,

      Go find some fellow SC moron like yourself and fuck the fuck off. You are consistently obnoxious here, whether ranting about atheism or just mouthing off on subjects you know nothing about.

      Delete
    9. Leland2:38 PM

      See? I just KNEW you were going to come up with some piece of shit statement that is too stupid to comment about! Thanks for making my faith in you come to pass.

      Oh, and you tried making that statement about my obnoxious comments before and look what THAT got you.

      Go seek help and leave us alone. BYE!

      Delete
    10. Anonymous3:20 PM

      I'll concur with 1:58.

      Leland is consistently an obnoxious, annoying know-it-all who is usually ill-informed and wrong. Why don't you leave us alone Leland.

      God even your name is annoying.

      Delete
    11. Anonymous4:25 PM

      Agreed 1:58 & 3:20. Just go away Leland.

      Delete
  11. Let me see if I understand this correctly.

    This 5 year old was shot on Saturday but only wounded.

    On Monday he was shot again by a different child but this time he died.

    Was the 11 year old finishing the job some other kid started?

    I find it hard to believe there were TWO gun accidents with the SAME victim in the same house.

    ReplyDelete

Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.