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3 Y/O S.C. Boy Killed After Mistaking Pink Handgun For Toy
- Thread starter Zappa
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Golddiggie
NES Member
I can see a good amount of therapy ahead for her...
Scarecrow
Army Veteran
I'm painting one of my guns baby blue with pink tiger stripes now, just because I can. I'm gonna do it to a Barrett, because it will amuse me. People paint their guns different colors because they like the look of it, and it makes theirs distinctive. Saying "you don't deserve a gun if you paint it pink" is just wrong. That's like me telling you you should not be allowed to own a truck because you would not get it with 4 wheel drive, or saying that you should not own firearms if you don't hunt.
No matter which way you slice it, I'm happy as hell you are not the one making the rules; I just wish the ones who WERE making the rules showed more sense than that, which they usually don't.
How about we let people alone to do what they will with their own property? If a crime is committed, prosecute the crime, not the object.
But a 4wd truck drives better in the mud than a 2wd truck. A 1911 with a pink slide, purple frame, and rhinestone grips does not shoot any differently than a plain black 1911. Internal parts make a difference, but the look has no bearing.
Scarecrow
Army Veteran
Ok, so I chose a poor metaphor, I retract that. What about the second one?
Interesting fact: California tried pushing through legislation a few years back that would ban black vehicles, as "it takes more energy to cool them than other colors". This seems to be on par with this discussion, I think.
DemonChronicles
NES Member
I suppose the Obituary and the services that were held today were all "fake" too?
Jesus Christ, if you're gonna claim "fake", at least be smarter than a 3 year old and do a little research first...
what difference does it make what color the gun was? the owner left it loaded somewhere their children could get it and play with it. they could have just as easily grabbed a black gun and had the same result
what the ef people
what the ef people
The second one is just as easily dismissed. A gun is designed to effectivly put rounds down range at a target or individual whose main goal is to violate you in some manor. A gun, no matter the color, does this (unless it's a jam-o-matic something or other).
Does the color of your gun have any bearing on it's ability to accomplish this goal? Are you going to pull out your weapon from the night stand and miss your shot because you are distraught that you couldn't have your gun Cerakoted in "Passion Pink" with a rose on the grips?
Bottom line is that I am sure this is not the first time this has happened. It might be the first time someone has been killed, but a pink gun will always look like a toy to a 3 year old.
Take your choice. We can make sure guns dont look like toys (no pink guns), or we can make sure toys don't look like guns (legally required orange muzzle tip on all guns (airsoft included) or you get locked up).
Or we can keep saying how dumb the owner was, and have the anti's choose for us.
"Can and should be used against you?" I think you are emotionally thinking here.
Your argument completely overlooks the fact that the gun should have never been around for anyone to "just pick up" and handle, let alone a child.
My gun is locked up always unless it is on me. I go to sleep; it's locked. Shower; it's locked. Watch a movie and get frisky with the little lady; you guessed it. Locked up.
I'm going to boil this problem down to the absolutely smallest and densest way that I know how:
The gun was not locked up period
One could argue there's no reason for a gun to be anything other than black (or gray) or green, or brown.
One could say the same for jackets, pants, shoes, cars etc. There's no need to have cars any color other than White. There's no need to have pants any color other thank blue.
It's ALL personal TASTE, not need. When you base laws on NEED rather than the freedom to adapt your personal property to your personal tastes, you've started down a path to total government control.
Some people like black guns, others stainless steel, chrone, high-gloss nickle, drab olive, parkerized gray. Some people like blue, pink or purple. That's their freedom and choice and you have no right to say whether then NEED it to not just because YOU don't like thier choice.
Scarecrow
Army Veteran
There is a third option: Don't tell me how to run my life, and teach your children what to do when they encounter a gun that has not been handed to them by mommy or daddy. I can assure you that my children will know what to do if they encounter a gun as soon as they are old enough to walk. They may not get it right away, but they will understand eventually, and I won't have to worry about them finding a gun in the park and shooting themselves in the head. I already don't have to worry about them finding a gun laying out in the house, since that does not happen in my home. EVER. End of statement. If a gun is left out, it is because it is in multiple pieces being cleaned and I went to get a drink or use the bathroom, and I have some part of it on me while I'm gone so it cannot possibly be put back together and used. This whole thing is nothing but an exercise in PSGWSP, only this person's child was the one who won the stupid prize for the game the owner was playing.
Yup, and that is kids were neglectfully left in a room with a dangerous object,
If you think the color of the gun is the problem, when gunshot accidents have been happening since long before the days of plastic guns...back when toy guns were making an honest effort to look like real guns, you are dense.
One single antecdote and you are ready to ban. Riiiight "I think it is bad (not that I have data), so none of you can have it." Whenever have I heard that before????
One single antecdote and you are ready to ban. Riiiight "I think it is bad (not that I have data), so none of you can have it." Whenever have I heard that before????
KBCraig
NES Member
Pink, blue, black, or purple... you can never be sure all guns are child-proofed. Instead, you must gun-proof your children.
When my youngest was two, he wold stop strangers in the store and tell them his (abbreviated, age-appropriate) version of The Rules: "Guns can be very dangerous. Never point them at people or pets. Never put your finger on the trigger until you're ready to shoot."
You can have a gun painted like bowl of Skittles for all I care, just don't be a nimrod and make it accessible for your UNTRAINED kids to play with. Unfortunately, it seems the owner was one such nimrod.
People shouldn't be punished more severely just for the color their gun, something that in no way enhances lethality. It may attract children, but what the BLEEP is doing in their hands without your supervision!?
I apologize for starting this semi-shitstorm by expressing my disdain for pink guns. I feel it is a cheap gimmick that exploits sexist stereotypes to attract women who otherwise may have never considered purchasing a gun. This is not to say there aren't women who have a genuine interest in firearms and ALSO want a pink gun. I just feel there are much better ways of getting people to exercise their rights.
I personally only like pink when it is of the backlit, neon variety--but that doesn't mean I think it should be illegal to paint your guns pink (or any other color) or that it should be used against you in a court of law. Gun owners already have enough stuff being used against them in the courts. People have gotten in trouble for disabling magazine-disconnects--sometimes even for their guns that were not involved in the shooting! Handloads used in shootings have also been used against people.
People shouldn't be punished more severely just for the color their gun, something that in no way enhances lethality. It may attract children, but what the BLEEP is doing in their hands without your supervision!?
I apologize for starting this semi-shitstorm by expressing my disdain for pink guns. I feel it is a cheap gimmick that exploits sexist stereotypes to attract women who otherwise may have never considered purchasing a gun. This is not to say there aren't women who have a genuine interest in firearms and ALSO want a pink gun. I just feel there are much better ways of getting people to exercise their rights.
I personally only like pink when it is of the backlit, neon variety--but that doesn't mean I think it should be illegal to paint your guns pink (or any other color) or that it should be used against you in a court of law. Gun owners already have enough stuff being used against them in the courts. People have gotten in trouble for disabling magazine-disconnects--sometimes even for their guns that were not involved in the shooting! Handloads used in shootings have also been used against people.
It's really the best policy to educate your kids, especially when they are young. You did good! The NRA needs to stop promoting the "Run and tell an adult" safety policy and they need to start focusing on being proactive. And not just them, everyone who owns a gun and has children. You can't just tell kids, "NO!" They need to know why.
Hopefully, real gun safety will be taught in school to kids someday. They already learn about safe sex in middle school.
Where do you guys come up with this stuff?
For those saying that you should educate the kids. Do you have kids? Do 3 and 7 year olds understand the concept of death? And do they always listen?
Failure 1: Letting kids get ahold of the gun.
Failure 2: "That doesn't look like a real gun like on TV" Pink gun...
Failure 1: Letting kids get ahold of the gun.
Failure 2: "That doesn't look like a real gun like on TV" Pink gun...
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You're overthinking this. (And over-reaching with your earlier stated desire for more laws and regulations, but let's leave that part alone for now.)
Failure #1 covers it all. Even hinting that the color of the gun held any share of the root cause of this horrible mishap partially or fully relieves some of the absolute, 100%, inescapable culpability of the parents for allowing the children to play with the gun. Laying it out as two separate failures contributing to this insinuates that the absence of either failure would have broken the mishap chain. Simply put, it implies that if the gun looked all scary and dangerous like those evil black killy ones that this 3 year old would purportedly have seen on TV, nothing bad would have happened when the parent(s) let the children play with it.
The one and ONLY contributing factor to this was the parent(s) allowing the child to play with the gun. Claiming that it was the fact it was pink and not all scary and black and killy looking is a ridiculous argument - in fact, it's the SAME EXACT THOUGHT PROCESS driving the current frenzy that deluded numbskulls are on to ban 'assault weapons'. So, basically, you're the problem, dude. You come of as fairly well spoken and of reasonable intelligence, so I can't for the life of me understand why you'd display such naivete here. Your signature line is screaming irony.
Scarecrow
Army Veteran
Actually, at 7 years old, I knew the difference between my black plastic toy gun and a real gun, even having never fired or held a real gun. At 3, my cousins all knew better than to touch their fathers guns under any circumstances without their father HANDING it to them. He can set his gun down on the table and walk away and know that it will not be touched because his children are not taught that it is a forbidden object, they are taught it is a tool like any other, and they have their own tools to get work done.
EDIT for clarification upon a second reading: The experiment I was referring to was a 1911 with no barrel being left on a side table for them to "discover" to see if they would do what they had been taught. Turns out they did exactly what they were supposed to and went straight to my uncle who was "taking a nap" in the other room. /EDIT
Maybe my family just isn't retarded or something, I dunno.
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dcmdon
NES Member
Very nicely said.
June4th
NES Member
I researched children/gun safety quite a bit before buying my first gun. Corneredcat.com had a lot of useful tips and so did other sites. I had 5 and 3 year old then,
1. I told them honestly that I was going to buy a gun
2. We watched Eddie Eagle
3. I explained that guns can hurt or even kill them or someone else if they are not careful.
4. I told them it's OK to be curious about guns, but if they ever want to see, or touch any guns, all they had to do was to ask. I would drop everything on hand to show it to them.
5. The only thing isn't allowed is to handle guns without my supervision.
6. If they ever found out that I made a mistake, and a gun was left accessible, they should let me know and they will be awarded big prizes.
The gun (or guns) were big attractions for a few months (and for me too!), they'd ask to see the take down process all the time. But over time, the curiosity factor was completely neutralized. As time went on, I started the four safety rules education
I'd say, maybe 2-yr old is a bit too young, but my 3-yr old understood my seriousness and followed my order to a T.
As a parent, the safety of my children is right on my top priority list. I was determined to do whatever it took to educate them about gun safety. The parents in this incident, sadly, didn't seem to have done enough.
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Because I have worked with kids. I spent 4 years in college to become an educator, a year teaching 1st grade, before moving into working with adjudicated youth in both a clinical and outdoor therapy setting (mainly juvenile sex offenders, but I had all sorts of kids in my program).
So having actually spent time in the real world, with idiot kids and smart kids, and ****ed up kids, and kids who just want attention, I have a basis as to how they think.
You are making an assumption based upon the idea of "Well my kid knows, blah blah blah, I'm such a good parent, blah blah blah."
No. If you have a pink handgun, you are a dumb stupid asinine person who isn't looking at the whole picture. You are painting yourself as someone who never ****s up, and never makes a mistake, and is never in a position where a kid may be able to grab a gun. And you obviously don't give a shit about kids, or keeping the antis at bay.
By supporting a pink gun, you are supporting the idiot that "needs" a pink gun, and then leaves it out for their kids to shoot themselves. The bottom line is that a pink gun is much more likely to be though of as a toy.
You are well spoken as well. But the difference between us is that you don't think about how an anti's mind works.
Because they are the types of folks who purchase a pink handgun...
I am not attacking the guy who builds a nerf gun Glock for fun, or a Pink cerakoted 1911. But the chick that buys a pk380 over another gun because it's pink? She isn't buying that gun for the right reasons, it's an accessory and she deserves and accidental discharge straight to the foot...
dcmdon
NES Member
June4th.
I've got a 5 and a 3 year old also. We've been talking about all kinds of stuff like you described.
I decided to test them one day so I left a black dryfire training gun (It looks just like a glock but is made out of plastic and has a laser that is activated when you squeeze the trigger) on my bed and then went in to take a shower.
I then called my kids into the bathroom with the request that they get my towel off the bed. (right next to the fake gun)
They performed wonderfully, running in and telling me that there was a gun on the bed, and then asking what kind of reward they were going to get.
15 minutes later they were sipping hot chocolate with whipped cream, very happy that they alerted me to the presence of a "gun"
I'd like to get the 5 year old started, but my wife is against it. I have a small spring airsoft pistol that would work for her.
She is very disciplined (gets it from her mother), and calm with fantastic focus and a great attention span. She's a natural.
Watch for her at the olympics in 10 years.
My 3 year old is CRAZY. I doubt she'll be ready to shoot before she's 10. You may see her in a reality TV show in 15 years.
I've got a 5 and a 3 year old also. We've been talking about all kinds of stuff like you described.
I decided to test them one day so I left a black dryfire training gun (It looks just like a glock but is made out of plastic and has a laser that is activated when you squeeze the trigger) on my bed and then went in to take a shower.
I then called my kids into the bathroom with the request that they get my towel off the bed. (right next to the fake gun)
They performed wonderfully, running in and telling me that there was a gun on the bed, and then asking what kind of reward they were going to get.
15 minutes later they were sipping hot chocolate with whipped cream, very happy that they alerted me to the presence of a "gun"
I'd like to get the 5 year old started, but my wife is against it. I have a small spring airsoft pistol that would work for her.
She is very disciplined (gets it from her mother), and calm with fantastic focus and a great attention span. She's a natural.
Watch for her at the olympics in 10 years.
My 3 year old is CRAZY. I doubt she'll be ready to shoot before she's 10. You may see her in a reality TV show in 15 years.
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