Common Sense about Kids and Guns

[hminsky]

Wow, where does the stupidity stop?

I happened to be looking at Ted Kennedy's wikipedia bio, and saw that his
wife runs an organization called Common Sense about Kids and Guns

http://www.kidsandguns.org/

We believe that all adults have a responsibility to protect children from gun-related deaths and injuries.

It is vital that we recognize the risk to children of unsupervised access to guns and understand that there are common sense steps that all adults MUST take to protect children.

Common Sense about Kids and Guns is a public education organization dedicated to providing all adults with the necessary information to empower them to protect their children.

On their home page is a link to this article. This little piece of sh*t had stolen a "large caliber" handgun from a home he burglarized, and was playing around with it when it "somehow discharged" and he shot himself in the head. I think there is some measure of common sense involved here, which is that his parents should have used a better contraceptive.



http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=42858

Investigators say teen accidentally shot himself with stolen gun
By: Alexandra Hackett

Plant City, Florida - A sadness hung over Plant City High School Thursday morning, as word spread of Devin Fontaine's tragic death.

"I couldn’t believe it. I just saw him the other day. He was a good friend of mine," said friend Amy Fette.

The 17-year-old senior was at a friend's home Wednesday night. Investigators with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office say the two boys were handling a large caliber hand-gun when it somehow discharged. The bullet struck Devin in the head, killing him instantly. Deputies believe the boys got the gun from a home they burglarized earlier in the day.

Fette says the teens often joked around and played with bb guns.

"Devin is the type that, ‘Man, I'll do it, I'll do it. Wanna see?’ Playing around," said Fette.

 

[Twigg]

...two boys were handling a large caliber hand-gun when it somehow discharged. ...

...Deputies believe the boys got the gun from a home they burglarized earlier in the day.

"somehow discharged" means the doofus PUT HIS FINGER ON THE TRIGGER AND DELIBERATLY PULLED IT.

Steal a gun, goof around with it and kill yourself = Poetic justic.

No sympathy from me.

The real crime is using the self inflicted death of a CRIMINAL to further one's own political carrear.

 

[Admin]

Ahhhhh..... The cleaning of the gene pool...

 

[reinbeau]

Ahhhhh..... The cleaning of the gene pool...

Oh, Derek, how mean-spirited of you





NOT!




Que Ted Knight

 

[sellscottsell]

The tragedy here is that this incident will now be recorded as another “youth” killed by a “handgun accident”. I’d like to see the statistics of handgun accidents once you rule out the “bone head” factor (dumb kid pulls trigger of gun he just stole, but not before placing muzzle against temple), the “gang bang” factor (kid buys stolen gun to shoot rival drug dealer and mistakenly puts muzzle in mouth thinking it’s a crack pipe, then pulls the trigger to light the pipe) and the truly tragic “kid’s of drug dealers” (tough guy drug dealer passes out on couch with loaded 9mm on coffee table, the rest is self explanatory). But trying to explain these factors to liberal acquaintances is like loading hounds into a wheelbarrow.

 

[Jaxon]

Ahhhhh..... The cleaning of the gene pool...

+1

 

[DevX]

I think there is some measure of common sense involved here, which is that his parents should have used a better contraceptive.

I lol'd.

 

[Thor67]

There are fewer than 800 total accidental deaths from firearms/year.

Many of them are hunting related. I'd be willing to bet that the number of kids "accidentally" killed is less than 50, but just a WAG.

Keep in mind that many of the "accidents" are either 1) intentional deaths covered up, 2) suicides mis-reported

 

[csharpdev]

compare that with the total # of accidental deaths from automobiles and I think you'll see where the real danger to society is... not that I would be in favor of "Car Ban" either...

 

[Thor67]

OK, I was wrong.

For children aged 0 - 15 the 2003 number is 74 according to the CDC. The number for kids aged 16 - 18 (many of these may be attributable to gangs) is 53. Again, many of those are likely to be mis-categorized homicides.

Auto accidents 0 - 15 = 2,590 and 16 - 18 = 3,394 - almost 6,000 total!!

Poisonings 0 - 15 = 156, and for kids 16 - 18 = 281

Falls 0 - 15 = 120, and for kids 16 - 18 = 60

 

[Admin]

The numbers are pretty telling...

 

[davidfxs]

I still feel there should be protection from Teddy driving a car. Maybe there should be a a group "protecting young girls from Teddy" in more ways than one.

 

[Thor67]

There is. It's called "Fathers with Guns" . . .


oh wait . . .


The REAL reason Teddy wants to ban all firearms!

 

[Lugnut]

Are you saying that the web site is totally corrupt and has no good points? I honestly think that it one of the more gun neutral sites I've seen in a while. The web site states it's about:

"Common Sense about Kids and Guns is a non-profit group of owners and non-owners of guns committed to working together to protect America's children from gun deaths and injuries."

Sure... you can bet your ass that many of the group are pure antis... but I think the intents are reasonable.

"FLAME SUIT NOW ACTIVATED"

 

[hminsky]

I didn't see anything very helpful on the site. It had a magnet sticker you could get that told you to lock your guns up. But there was nothing at all that I saw about responsible education of kids or shooting sports or anything at all healthy or positive about firearms.

The one thing that was useful I think, in a roundabout way, was the articles about how childrens' and teenagers' brains work differently than adults. I think you should take responsible precautions so that teens are not put into a position of having to decide whether to do something incredibly stupid or not.

That means not telling them the combination to the gun safe, for example. Then there is no question about whether they will submit to peer pressure to show the family guns to some friends or something. If they don't know the combination, the issue won't come up. When their brains are a little more solidified, they can be given more responsibility.

And strangely, in my experience, the kids of LEOs have been the worst offenders in this regard. Showing off dad's pistol when he's not at home, things like that occurred in my high school. Maybe because where I grew up, nobody except the police had firearms in their homes.

 

[Lugnut]

I didn't see anything very helpful on the site. It had a magnet sticker you could get that told you to lock your guns up. But there was nothing at all that I saw about responsible education of kids or shooting sports or anything at all healthy or positive about firearms.

The one thing that was useful I think, in a roundabout way, was the articles about how childrens' and teenagers' brains work differently than adults. I think you should take responsible precautions so that teens are not put into a position of having to decide whether to do something incredibly stupid or not.

That means not telling them the combination to the gun safe, for example. Then there is no question about whether they will submit to peer pressure to show the family guns to some friends or something. If they don't know the combination, the issue won't come up. When their brains are a little more solidified, they can be given more responsibility.

And strangely, in my experience, the kids of LEOs have been the worst offenders in this regard. Showing off dad's pistol when he's not at home, things like that occurred in my high school. Maybe because where I grew up, nobody except the police had firearms in their homes.

Well said. Even if you didn't find anything very helpful on this site.. I'm sure there are others that aren't as knowledgeable/cautious.

I DO try to think like my kids and worry about how "stupid" they will get when they are older. It's not just them to consider but thier friends as well. I was a kid/teenager and I KNOW I wasn't responsible. Proper education are the best first steps... followed by good storage practices. IMHO.

 

[csharpdev]

I remember when we moved in with my step father. I got the attick for a bedroom, which had 2 shotguns in it, unlocked. I used to play with them, occationally I'd even load them, and then unload them. My step father wouldn't teach me how to shoot because I wasn't "responsible" enough. But at 14 years old having never seen a real gun up close before... I was an accident waiting to happen. Now that my step father has passed, his rifles and shotguns are now locked up and safe (probably for the first time ever) and in my custody...