Pistol found in backpack at daycare

Ah yes, the Golden years.

Things were handled differently in "the Golden years" as you put it.

Guns were not something that instilled panic, a motorcycle backfiring did not start a stampede in Time Square because someone thought it was a gunshot.

People knew what a gunshot sounded like, because Dad taught them to shoot, or they hunted, or they got a marksmanship merit badge, etc.

Children were taught gun safety. "If you find one leave it alone and find an adult" , and when my now 38 year old daughter was 6 and asked about guns... because she knew I CCW'd almost 24/7, she was shown a revolver, it was explained to her never to touch it unless I was there, never to put a finger in the trigger guard, and never to point it at anyone or anything. She was allowed to hold it unloaded that one time... I never had a problem with her and guns, and neither did my Dad because he gave me the same talk.

My 29 year old Goddaughter is engaged to a very nice guy who is a gun enthusiast, she got the same lecture from her Dad, she is an avid shooter and responsible gun owner.

My 25 year old Niece has a concealed carry permit and my wife taught her to shoot. My Nephew just graduated college, he was taught to shoot when he was 12, at some point he will get a permit when he settles down somewhere...

And there is another word we don't hear much these days, responsible.

Ahh the Golden years, where child care centers (kennels for kids) were almost unheard of... things were not perfect when I was young, there was a controversial war, political turmoil, race relations were not great, you know many of the same issues we have today, and we had smelly Hippies and a drug problem.... the more things change the more they stay the same.. but the one thing that got lost over the last 55 years in my opinion is common sense. That is the one thing I miss about "the Golden years" as you put it. I also miss penny candy and getting a roll of caps for my cap pistol... can you imagine giving a child a cap pistol today!
 
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I also miss penny candy and getting a roll of caps for my cap pistol... can you imagine giving a child a cap pistol today!

My son has a couple of cap guns... along with a .22 bolt action and .22 lever action that he got as Christmas gifts when he was 10.
 
Nobody died here (or even came close to it) but you keep trying to massage it into that.... keep trying to polish that turd... [laugh]

-Mike

I get it. But those can be the consequences of misplaced firearm, Its not like he misplaced his car keys, or even a screw driver, or a hammer or a sawzall. (Yes, a 3 year old could poke an eye out).
There is alot of turd polishing around here, I'm not alone. The gas chamber was introduced and that was never even implied, so let's be fair here.
And I don't think this is getting blown up like we all think, I'm not sure if the swat team showed up?. It seems it might have been handled with some mature professionalism, but I could be wrong, this Massachusetts. I'm not sure it's all over the news.?
 
My son has a couple of cap guns... along with a .22 bolt action and .22 lever action that he got as Christmas gifts when he was 10.

Would you have put your loaded gun in his diaper bag if you sent him off to daycare?
Now notice the word diapers. 10 year olds dont go to daycare, where they change your diapers.

I had pellet guns, bb guns, 22's when I was 10, but my father never left his guns in dumb places, like my diaper bag.. lol
I found them years later when I could reach in high place, and was old enough to understand gun safety, But I never fondled them, or my ass was grass.
I grew up with guns and ultimately we enjoyed guns together when I got older.
He definelty taught me safe gun handling. I was taught not to be negligent with firearms.
This could have cost him his sons life.
I'm sorry. I'm not ignoring his idiocy just because hes an ltc holder like myself. Hes a meat stick and deserves something for being just that. I'm not afraid to say it.
 
Things were handled differently in "the Golden years" as you put it.

Guns were not something that instilled panic, a motorcycle backfiring did not start a stampede in Time Square because someone thought it was a gunshot.

People knew what a gunshot sounded like, because Dad taught them to shoot, or they hunted, or they got a marksmanship merit badge, etc.

Children were taught gun safety. "If you find one leave it alone and find an adult" , and when my now 38 year old daughter was 6 and asked about guns... because she knew I CCW'd almost 24/7, she was shown a revolver, it was explained to her never to touch it unless I was there, never to put a finger in the trigger guard, and never to point it at anyone or anything. She was allowed to hold it unloaded that one time... I never had a problem with her and guns, and neither did my Dad because he gave me the same talk.

My 29 year old Goddaughter is engaged to a very nice guy who is a gun enthusiast, she got the same lecture from her Dad, she is an avid shooter and responsible gun owner.

My 25 year old Niece has a concealed carry permit and my wife taught her to shoot. My Nephew just graduated college, he was taught to shoot when he was 12, at some point he will get a permit when he settles down somewhere...

And there is another word we don't hear much these days, responsible.

Ahh the Golden years, where child care centers (kennels for kids) were almost unheard of... things were not perfect when I was young, there was a controversial war, political turmoil, race relations were not great, you know many of the same issues we have today, and we had smelly Hippies and a drug problem.... the more things change the more they stay the same.. but the one thing that got lost over the last 55 years in my opinion is common sense. That is the one thing I miss about "the Golden years" as you put it. I also miss penny candy and getting a roll of caps for my cap pistol... can you imagine giving a child a cap pistol today!

Just because firearms tolerance has gone down the pooper, doesnt mean it's more or less idiotic to leave a loaded gun in your kids diaper bag, even in the golden years. It may have been handled differently, sure.
These days more and more people are hopping on the gun bandwagon, some of them cant even look you in the eye let alone handle a firearm properly.
 
Does anyone think this is an acceptable mistake?
no.

I have a 4 year old and a 1 year old. I can't imagine even putting a f***ing gun in my daughter's diaper bag or my son's back pack.

While on the one hand I don't believe someone should permanently lose a constitutional right over this, I do believe the dad here is pretty f-ing stupid, kind of surprised he remembers to breath.

As a parent, I'd be pretty pissed off to get a call from the school like that too that there was a loaded gun in some kid's bag. If a kid found it before a teacher did, this could have had a pretty tragic ending.

I think the dad should get his license back, but only after he gets shot in the knee once.
 
You've never put anything in the wrong drawer, wrong backpack, wrong pocket? That's impressive.

You're assuming his bag was a Pokémon backpack, maybe it was just a regular backpack and dad mistook it for his own. Or kid took the wrong backpack. He could be 5 and grabs his own backpack. Mornings with little kids are crazy hectic. Mistakes are made.

Still why would he put it in his backpack? And if it was his, why did he leave it at daycare? Sorry, all wrong.
 
no.

I have a 4 year old and a 1 year old. I can't imagine even putting a f***ing gun in my daughter's diaper bag or my son's back pack.

While on the one hand I don't believe someone should permanently lose a constitutional right over this, I do believe the dad here is pretty f-ing stupid, kind of surprised he remembers to breath.

As a parent, I'd be pretty pissed off to get a call from the school like that too that there was a loaded gun in some kid's bag. If a kid found it before a teacher did, this could have had a pretty tragic ending.

I think the dad should get his license back, but only after he gets shot in the knee once.
You MUST be a Statist/Racist! How dare you criticize some dikhead that puts a loaded gun in his kiddies backpack!
 
Trying to figure out where people are at here. I think everyone agrees it was stupid. I think everyone agrees SOME form of punishment is due. I think we all agree the incident isn't even newsworthy.

So are we arguing over precisely how stupid he was? Or what his punishment should be? The former is pointless, and the latter none of us are qualified for. Unless someone here is or has been a sitting judge.

As I value my opinion highly, this was not my 2 cents, but an entire nickel. :D
 
Still why would he put it in his backpack? And if it was his, why did he leave it at daycare? Sorry, all wrong.

My backpack, (well knapsack actually if you want to be pedantic), has a kydex holster velcroed in one of the pockets. Just about every time I carry that knapsack, there's a Glock 17 in it.

In other compartments I've got a trauma kit, a flashlight, a spare knife, bandaids...
 
I get it. But those can be the consequences of misplaced firearm, Its not like he misplaced his car keys, or even a screw driver, or a hammer or a sawzall. (Yes, a 3 year old could poke an eye out).
There is alot of turd polishing around here, I'm not alone. The gas chamber was introduced and that was never even implied, so let's be fair here.
And I don't think this is getting blown up like we all think, I'm not sure if the swat team showed up?. It seems it might have been handled with some mature professionalism, but I could be wrong, this Massachusetts. I'm not sure it's all over the news.?

Kid finds car keys in bag, drives car through the daycare or asphyxiates himself.
Kid finds screwdriver, sticks it in socket and sets fire to school.
Kid finds hammer or sawzall and injures his buddy.

All possibilities but nothing we would get excited about cause the tools of mayhem aren't scary.

My kid did something bad in school which could have resulted in a lot of injuries- what I won't mention - he got sent to the principal and I got a phone call to let me know he was a bad boy but he was fine, that was it. No guns involved so nobody went off the deep end, it was just boys will be boys.
 
it's kind of funny to me that in other threads they talk about criminal intent or just intent. There was no intent here to commit a crime. This was a mistake. An oversight. Is it a bad mistake/oversight? Yup. Is he a criminal? No.

Kid gets expelled from the daycare, he is losing his LTC and guns, CPS is involved so he may even lose his kid....this is freakin the epitome of tyranny.

Nobody got hurt. The situation seems to be handled appropriately so what was the harm? A firearm is not a risk as long as you keep your finger off the trigger.

And others in this thread already have him convicted of a crime and agree with what he will have to go through.

Wow....just wow.

I hope all of you are absolutely perfect and never make a mistake. Otherwise you will be considered guilty until proven innocent.

At most this should be a fine. But we all know the punishment will be disproportionately greater than the alleged crime.
 
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My backpack, (well knapsack actually if you want to be pedantic), has a kydex holster velcroed in one of the pockets. Just about every time I carry that knapsack, there's a Glock 17 in it.

In other compartments I've got a trauma kit, a flashlight, a spare knife, bandaids...
Ok that’s fine, but do you leave that back pack at a daycare with the g17 in it ??
 
Ok that’s fine, but do you leave that back pack at a daycare with the g17 in it ??

No one does on purpose. You are again insinuating that this guy in the OP for some reason put a gun in a backpack and said "yeah, my toddler is gonna be packin' heat today!"

This is my main problem with your position on this matter. You seem to have some feeling that vengence needs to be doled out by government on this guy. You think everyone knowing he got his kid banned from daycare is not punishment enough on it's own?

The willingness to have the state wield abusive powers to punish a guy for a clear mistake, that to point out yet again harmed no one, is simply unbelievable. Why on earth would you want government to hold any power I this situation? How can you now step back and see that exact power can very easily be abused against you for other mistakes other people may not like you personally for?
 
Ok that’s fine, but do you leave that back pack at a daycare with the g17 in it ??

Not having that conversation. I was merely addressing Big Al's statement regarding the concept of having a firearm in a "backpack" because I do it pretty much on a daily basis.

Matter of fact - quite seriously - I just got home from the range - knapsack was on the passenger seat next to me, and it's sitting on the floor next to me right now. With a loaded G17 in it.
 
Ok that’s fine, but do you leave that back pack at a daycare with the g17 in it ??

<sarcasm>

Why not?

Whether it's left at a daycare, in a bathroom stall, or *any* place for that matter. I fail to understand what's the big deal? Whether it's an adult or a child there is not a soul on this planet who doesn't know the "Four Rules of Firearm Safety". And even if they didn't know the tenets there's not a soul who wouldn't recognize it's a handgun and would know *not* to touch/pull the trigger, even by mistake when picking it up. Furthermore, it's my opinion everyone, including children know proper handling procedures as well as how to render a firearm safe, so again what's the big deal?

Side note: Three or four months ago, there was a post about a four year old finding his mother's handgun in the center console and while his mother ran into the house to retrieve an item the child took the gun out of the console and pulled the trigger, instantly killing his sister with a bullet to the head? In that accident, which you might even label a tragedy, it was obvious the four year old hadn't been taught proper handling procedures so the fact his mother was absent minded and left a loaded handgun within his reach was just a simple mistake.

Returning to this incident at hand, no one was injured the result of Mr. Smither's having a brain fart and having packed a loaded handgun in his kids diaper bag along with a couple of Pampers, juice box and pacifier. It was a simple mistake and accidents happen. I wish people would stop making a big deal about nothing. If it wasn't a mistake, for all we know maybe Smither's intentionally packed the handgun, so that when he picked his son up later in the afternoon, he was planning to take his son to the range for a little father/son bonding time and hit a few targets. IMO that makes him a great father and someone everyone of us should aspire to be.

The bottom line is that Smither's made a mistake. One that any one of us could have made. I find it hard to believe there are some who think it appropriate he should lose his LTC. The fact he should receive any sort of punishment other than a slap on the wrist and perhaps a package of post-it notes so that he can label his range bag and diaper bag so he can tell the difference is all that needs to be done.

</sarcasm>
 
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Kids don't generally go in their own diaper bags. That’s something for adults to do.
Buncha pansies on here.

Everyone is picturing babies or toddlers but a typical daycare might have 5 babies and 30 kids aged 4-5. So odds are this was a backpack not a diaper bag. If Dad gave the kid a camo bag or something, easy mistake to make. A daycare backpack is typically emptied every night, so he could have put his gun in the empty camo bag by mistake in the mad morning rush, then mom put in the pillow case, lunch bag, snacks etc. not noticing the gun.

Simple mistakes can have dire consequences, luckily the string of bad luck ended before a kid found the gun.
 
Everyone is picturing babies or toddlers but a typical daycare might have 5 babies and 30 kids aged 4-5. So odds are this was a backpack not a diaper bag. If Dad gave the kid a camo bag or something, easy mistake to make. A daycare backpack is typically emptied every night, so he could have put his gun in the empty camo bag by mistake in the mad morning rush, then mom put in the pillow case, lunch bag, snacks etc. not noticing the gun.

Simple mistakes can have dire consequences, luckily the string of bad luck ended before a kid found the gun.

"Everyone is picturing babies or toddlers but a typical daycare might have 5 babies and 30 kids aged 4-5.".....and 30 kids aged 4-5 coming across a loaded handgun wouldn't be a problem. Kids that age, NEVER look into backpacks or drawers or any other places MORANS leave LOADED firearms. Really pathetic that ANYONE would excuse some fuktard doing this.
 
"Everyone is picturing babies or toddlers but a typical daycare might have 5 babies and 30 kids aged 4-5.".....and 30 kids aged 4-5 coming across a loaded handgun wouldn't be a problem. Kids that age, NEVER look into backpacks or drawers or any other places MORANS leave LOADED firearms. Really pathetic that ANYONE would excuse some fuktard doing this.

Why not go open your own thread and argue with yourself, cause no one said that stuff.
 
"Everyone is picturing babies or toddlers but a typical daycare might have 5 babies and 30 kids aged 4-5.".....and 30 kids aged 4-5 coming across a loaded handgun wouldn't be a problem. Kids that age, NEVER look into backpacks or drawers or any other places MORANS leave LOADED firearms. Really pathetic that ANYONE would excuse some fuktard doing this.

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I do not believe she was a gun enthusiast.
 
Why not go open your own thread and argue with yourself, cause no one said that stuff.

Actually I did.

While I don’t advocate doing it, mistakes happen. I refuse to give more ammo to the antis by eating our own. It’s a gun, so what? What if it were edible pot? Kitchen knife that slipped and fell into the bag?

BFD.

Maybe I’m spoiled by the fact that I taught my kids well. I would purposely leave an empty BB gun in the bathroom or dining room table and wait. My kids would leave it alone and come tell me. They also know they can see them anytime they want, as long as they ask me, I’ll always open the safe and we’ll dry fire. They also know the repercussions if they touch a gun in the house without me.
 
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