Sadly, this seems to be at least a weekly occurrence around here. I don't know what more can be done to inform people to lock their guns and keep them away from children.

Devastating!

Terrible, horrible!! I'm not sure how this can be called an accident if the grandparent left the loaded gun out! He should be held criminally responsible.

Until people get over their obsession with guns, this will keep happening. It is totally preventable.

I don't understand careless gun owners. What a terrible tragedy.

And the 3 year old growing up with this on his shoulders.

He who doesn't keep long guns under lock and key in this part of the world will get heavy fines ... maybe jail time.

Heavy duty gun permits needed for handguns, and a parishioner told me several years ago that he had to get paper permission to take his handgun to a shooting range.

When visiting here - leave your guns that side of the border, please ... if you want to keep 'em. Unless you have criminal action in mind ... in which situation you'd better be super-skilled at hiding 'em.

ole joyful

When we were very little and playing cops and robbers with wood popguns with the cork and string for the sound, my father started teaching us gun safety. Just the words before we were old enough to go to the shooting range, but he enforced the applicable ones on the popguns: The only purpose of a pistol is for killing, never aim at someone unless you mean to kill him, always point a loaded gun at the ground unless you're aiming, always assume a gun is loaded, never dry fire especially at a person, never leave a gun loaded, always inspect the gun as you unload it and never assume there isn't a cartridge just because you think you've shot them all, never put away a gun without cleaning it, always lock up your weapons, always lock up the ammo separately.

BTW, by taking us to shoot a rifle at the gun range, my father took away
any glamour that firearms might have. Shooting is, yawn, something old
folks do. :)

Percentages: How likely is there to be an intruder who will give you time to get a loaded pistol out of the nightstand and set to fire but not enough time to stand and put your thumb on a head high gunsafe lock? You're in a better defensive position standing anyway.

How likely is it that your grandbabies will play in your bedroom and look in your drawer for candy, or hankies and coins for a game, or a deck of cards, or just to see what's in there, and play with whatever they find?

How can you fear the former highly rare occurrence so much more than the latter which could happen any day and without notice?

The NRA has stifled attempts to return to collecting stats about gunshot wounds and deaths, but... There are stats that show the increase in deaths and suicides in states that have relaxed permit laws -- and decreases in them in states that have made it more difficult to obtain a gun. I no longer have the article citing this, but I believe it was Florida that relaxed laws and one of the New England states (Massachusetts?) that strengthened them.

Earlier studies showed that just having a gun in the house has overall proven to be less 'protection' and more 'disaster'.

News tonight: police say at this time it doesn't appear any charges will be filed.

That grandfather is getting away with murder.

Murder by proxy, Fran .. but still heedless stupidity.

o j

Titled it "...a sad sad death..." and then put a happy pig face emoticon on it? Very, very strange! Apparently you were happy about the incident? Or you found something amusing that I don't see, perhaps? I guess I don't understand. I must have missed the punchline. (Though it wouldn't be the first time.)

Now cynic, you should know it was a typo error. SOME of us do make mistakes.

Now, you see! I assumed it was a Mr. Bill Oh No! face rather than a clown nose face.

Wouldn't it be nice to live in just about any other first world country, and not have to read about these senseless tragedies on a weekly basis?

NRA and its members keep defending their right to own guns.

just as smokers and tobacco cos defended their right to give us

secondhand smoke.

NRA members if you want to keep your guns then demand that the

CEO and the board find a way to get guns out of the hands of criminals

and people who kill.

My friend canceled his membership after what the ceo said about those

babies being killed in their school.

What would the CEOs and board members do without membership dues?

The other thread was removed, so you're picking up that baton here, josephine? Too bad that all of the other responses are off into oblivion now, and if anyone posts here to counter what you've said, this post'll be removed, too.