"Self Defense Gun" Kills 3 year old....

[Speer]

Oh, I just love the title of the article. And to blame the shotgun? Hell, that's just icing on the cake.

Anyway, an awful, bitter tragedy. One that should highlight the importance of responsibility.

 

[Soybomb]

That is tragic, I'm not sure anything can be said thats worth saying.

I understand the calls for incarceration but I question if the 8 year old will truly have a better life at this point in foster care and if society would see any benefit for the cost of her being locked up. I'd certainly have to think about this one for a while and see how children of that age generally respond to losing their parent.

It should be a reminder for everyone to not be complacement about locking up their weapons and teaching children gun safety be it their own, their neighbors, the boy scouts, etc.

 

[strambo]

I have given my shotgun the NRA Home Firearm Safety Course (wanna see it's card?) and have trained it only to shoot armed intruders.

 

[AStone]

Edmundson Police Chief Donald Kraher said
the weapon had been kept beneath a couch.

OK, let's review.

1. If kids are in the house,
don't keep a shotgun "beneath a couch",
but locked in a closet, safe or lockable gun rack
(lest you tragically learn the meaning of "natural selection").

2. Re-read posts 23 and 24.

 

[mbt2001]

I don't even know where to start.

 

[Jeff White]

They are piling it on deeper....

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...75269E53460F3BEC8625727A0017F375?OpenDocument

Guns were a staple in home of boy victim
By David Hunn and Heather Ratcliffe
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/06/2007

EDMUNDSON — Guns had been in the boys' home long before the 8-year-old shot his 3-year-old brother.

But this one — a 12-gauge, pistol-grip shotgun, tucked under the couch — had been given to their mother just recently. Rita Gollihur kept it for protection, neighbors said, likely from the very man police think gave it to her.

On Sunday, Gollihur's son, a third-grader at Holy Trinity Catholic School in St. Ann, shot his brother with this gun. The blast hit 3-year-old Benjamin Gollihur in the back and tore through his chest, killing him. He was the second local child fatally shot by another in the past week.

On Jan. 31 in Venice, a young child found a loaded revolver and shot 2-year-old Timberlyn Terrell in the head. She died 29 hours later.

Statistics show the number of accidental gun deaths has been slowly declining for two decades.

But some parents still don't understand the true risks of guns, some experts say.

"The best public health research shows us that homes with guns are less safe than ones without them," said Jon S. Vernick, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research.

Gun safety programs may work, he said. But some case studies show that children who were taught gun safety were just as likely to play with guns as those who weren't, Vernick said.

"A parent who relies solely on teaching their kids not to play with guns is taking a serious gamble," Vernick said. "You can't stem a child's natural curiosity."

Court documents make it clear that Gollihur's boys grew up around guns.

Almost four years ago, as Gollihur and former husband Jeffrey Kientzel prepared for divorce, Kientzel listed five weapons that the couple owned: two pistols, two shotguns and a rifle.

Just a year ago, police say, Gollihur reported two guns stolen from the house she shared with her sons just south of the airport, in the village of Edmundson.

Less than two weeks ago, Gollihur asked for an order of protection against a man she called a classmate.

Gollihur is a full-time student at St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, neighbors and school officials said. She asked her classmate to borrow his microbiology papers, she wrote in the court petition. They had lunch. And then, she wrote, he gave her some pepper spray, a switch blade and a shotgun.

Police believe that gun is the one used to kill Benjamin, said Edmundson Police Chief Don Kraher.

Neighbors said Gollihur feared the classmate would come to her house, so she kept the shotgun.

Gollihur would not speak publicly about the incident or her family.

"Our family needs our privacy, and needs time to heal," she said late Monday.

Her lawyer, Patrick J. McCarthy, said she would not say more until after the funeral.

But the community and school mourned Monday, both for the death of Benjamin and the innocence of his brother.

He is — neighbors, friends, and school leaders all said — a typical 8-year-old.

The principal called him a good student. Friends said he was a good athlete. His den leader said he was a good Cub Scout, set to receive his "Bear" badge this weekend. He likes camping and goes hunting with his father.

Many called him respectful, kind and caring.

Almost universally, they said he was protective of his toddler brother.

Neighbors remember the two as inseparable. They played ball outside, stomped in the snow and took Harrison, their German shepherd mix, for walks, the dog dragging them down the sidewalk.

"They were never apart," said next-door neighbor Michelle Van Dalsem, 23. The two did not share the same father, she said, and when the older brother went to his dad's for the weekend, "Ben stayed in the house, just waiting for him to come home," she said

Holy Trinity pastor Monsignor John Leykam said the community has already begun gathering to help the Gollihurs.

School parent Angie Fink, "homeroom mom" for the 8-year-old's class, said she, like most parents, was shocked when she heard.

"Let (him) know that we love him," she said. "No matter what, we love him."

Then she, like many that day, cried.

[email protected] | 314-340-8411

 

[thrasher64]

Sad.

I'm betting if the 8 year old had seen the 12ga in action he would have thought twice about "playing" with it. Them buggers are violent/painfull even on a full grown adult.

 

[XavierBreath]

Several things strike me about this story.

First, a young boy's life as been immeasurably altered by the death of his brother and the role he played in it. The same goes for his mother and anyone else in the home. You may escape legal consequences but you can not escape personal responsibility. When a child is lost to ignorance, negligence or any other preventable circumstance, it affects us all. This should not be taken lightly.

As responsible gun owners we have an obligation to teach, when we can, the responsible use, storage and handling of firearms. These accidents are caused by ignorance and/or failure to follow established safety guidelines. If you know how to safely handle, store, or use any dangerous object, whether it be a table saw, hydrochloric acid, an AED, a deep fat fryer, or a firearm, human conscience should compel you to instruct others when you see them using, storing or handling the object in an unsafe manner.

Not all of us are good teachers, but all of us have this ethical responsibility. If you are not a good teacher, consider reading up on the teaching process so you can share your knowledge. In these instances it may save lives. If you are not a good writer, then learn to write so your words may influence the thoughts of those who might read them and in turn influence the events that shape our right to keep and bear arms.

Next, this article reminds me of an ongoing thread here.......How young is too young? It's a compelling question with many different viewpoints. One thing is certain though.......Any age is to young if it is the age of an untrained person. If a home has an untrained occupant able to access the firearm, then intervention is needed in one form or another. Train the person or restrict their access. Again, this is where responsible gun owners try to pass on their knowledge.

The adults in this home apparently did not act responsibly. The legal system may not hold them accountable, but responsible gun owners must. We do not have to be harsh. We just need to present the facts in a straight forward fashion. A sane parent of a deceased child will hold themselves responsible without our assistance.

I'm sorry if I helped swerve this thread away from the Legal Forum's mission. Get involved. Do something. Train an irresponsible gun owner in this child's memory. Write to editors who allow this kind of biased reporting. Present the other side of the issue in a logical, unemotional manner. The facts are on the side of gun owners. Use them intelligently and wisely.

 

[BobbyQuickdraw]

Jump all over her, why don't you. Why should she be made an example of? This could be any of us if you've ever, for one second, been away from a loaded gun.

This is tragic, but as someone said, exceedingly rare. More children are killed by pools, buckets, hardwood floors, and stairs. It's something like 8 children a year under 12. It happens and it sucks.

But it shouldn't be news (anymore than the other deaths are) and she shouldn't be pinned to the cross over it. She has learned a harder lesson than anyone here could ever hope to teach her.

Keep your guns responsibly.

 

[ZeSpectre]

The woman was irresponsible and/or made a mistake. In this case it's carrying it's own punishment and I'm going no further with that. What I'm going to point out is the blunt "spin" in this article.

A shotgun that an Edmundson woman kept for self-protection killed her younger child

So the evil shotgun did the act.

Police say the shotgun blast caught him in the back

Can't just say he was shot, it was a blast AND it was in the back (couple of psychological touches there).

Police say the victim's older brother, an 8-year-old boy, fired the weapon -- an 18 1/2-inch, pistol-grip, 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun.

we know why the details (especially the evil pistol grip) were mentioned here.

Police say the mother of the boys was in the house with a man at the time but was in a different room.

Interesting the way this was phrased to imply certain things about the character of the Mother (a gun owner).

Police declined to identify the mother. But neighbors say she is Rita Gollihur, a full-time college student.

Isn't it nice when your neighbors blab to the press. See how helpful that is. See how kind and respectful of privacy the news media is.

The shooting was the second within a week in which an area child killed another.

Early on Jan. 29, a young boy in an apartment in Venice picked up a revolver and fired a shot that hit 2-year-old Timberlyn Terrell in the head. She died the next day at Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center in St. Louis.

In that case, authorities have charged the revolver's owner -- Anthony Wise, who has a drug-dealing record and is the ex-boyfriend of the victim's mother, Kimberly Terrell.

First they make some oblique implications about the mother and what type of person she might be, now they draw a similar (ugly) linkage to a drug dealer (implied statement...see, gun owners are all alike).

And finally, where's the civic responsibility? The sentence that says "experts recommend that all firearms be secured in households with small children" and a link to something useful like this list from "SafeKids USA" but no, don't want to report anything useful, just use sensationalism to sell papers.

 

[BobbyQuickdraw]

I like how the one article is "homes with guns are less safe..."

Let's think. It could be a statistic saying one of 2 things. If a gun is in the house you're more likely to be injured by a gun. Umm... Yeah, that's true. If you own a car and drive it, you're more likely to get in a car accident too.

Or maybe we draw that homes with guns are in neighborhoods that are dangerous and guns are needed more than ever. Hm.

 

[Old Fuff]

As I posted on another thread....

I don't think this parent was a member of The High Road.

Meaning what???

Meaning that if she had been she would have been more aware about safe firearms storage, especially with young children around.

As it was she didn't know, and if there is a villain, it’s ignorance. I doubt that she deliberately put her children at risk.

If the newspaper wanted to do something constructive, they could use these tragic incidents as a basis to run articles about safe storage, but they won’t because that’s something that’s not on their agenda. If anything, they will use this as a sounding board to call for more gun control.

So long as the authorities fail to make certain neighborhoods and areas safe people who live there are going to continue to arm themselves – legally or otherwise. Gun control laws are not likely to prevent these incidents. Better knowledge might reduce them.

 

[Cosmoline]

A shotgun that an Edmundson woman kept for self-protection killed her younger child Sunday -- and police say that her older child pulled the trigger.

Then the OLDER CHILD shot the younger one. The shotgun didn't get up and do it.

"A rifle today entered a mall and shot ten people before turning itself on itself."

 

[Mall Ninja]

"The best public health research shows us that homes with guns are less safe than ones without them," said Jon S. Vernick, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research.

Hmmm...I'd be willing to bet that fully 100% of the households where a person was ever shot contained a firearm at the time.

I'd also be willing to wager that almost 100% of diabetics have insulin in the house. Therefore, insulin causes diabetes! QED!

 

[ghschirtz]

I have to say my heart goes out to the mother, what a nightmare. That said, I hope she understands what she did and remembers it every day she has left. There is no excuse.

I guess further proof that there are no accidental discharges, only negligent ones. And media bias that guns act of their own volition, to be blamed sooner than human negligence or action.

 

[k_dawg]

I can not have pity on someone who kept a loaded, unsecure weapon around young children.

THAT is what a gun lock or safe is for.

 

[scurtis_34471]

This is a sad reminder that you should never, ever leave a round chambered in a gun you are not carrying. Any child too young to know better is also too weak to rack the slide on a semi-auto or chamber a round in a pump-action shotgun, but they are all strong enough to pull the trigger.

 

[Dorryn]

But some case studies show that children who were taught gun safety were just as likely to play with guns as those who weren't, Vernick said.

Case studies? You mean, like a sample group of less than 50? Oh, those statistics must be super accurate.

 

[Oana]

I have to say that I feel terrible for the mother. Yes, she was clearly negligent. Right now she's probably feeling like her entire world dropped out from beneath her. So extend a little pity.

And this is a reminder to everyone to not only train their kids, but to safely store their firearms. Because as Pax says, childproof...isn't. (I distinctly remember, around the age of 6, reading the top of one of those "childproof" bottle caps, thinking it was hilarious, and then showing my mom how well I could open it!)

Hate how they spin it to add to the "guns kept for self defense are dangerous" propaganda. \What if they did the same thing for pool deaths? "Last Wednesday a pool, installed by Bob & Jane Smith two years ago for 'exercise and summer pool parties', drowned their two-year-old child." Hmm.

 

[wuchak]

"The best public health research shows us that homes with guns are less safe than ones without them," said Jon S. Vernick, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research.

Actually that would be the worst research but coming from such a biased group what other type of comment would you expect than the outright lie Jon told ? The only thing I've ever seen making this claim is the old and thoroughly debunked study published in The New England Journal of Medicine back in 1993. If you are interested in learning more about this study and its flaws along with how the NEJM and CDC pushed information about guns they knew was false to further their anti-gun agenda read the excellent paper GUNS AND PUBLIC HEALTH: EPIDEMIC OF
VIOLENCE OR PANDEMIC OF PROPAGANDA? available at http://www.guncite.com/journals/tennmed.html

 

[Prince Yamato]

Cripes, this is just what we needed. Look, this crap is going to pile on for a couple months because the anti-gun nuts want some "sweeping reforms" in the next election. Let's counter all these arguments and they will eventually lose some steam by fall 2008. SOME steam. Not all.

 

[Slinky]

The headline should have read...

8 Year-old kills Brother, community shocked

 

[inherentical]

I don't feel pity for the mother, if possible I'd take her other child from her before he winds up dead, as well.

I have a son that just turned four. I feel pity for a little three-year-old boy who will never reach that age due to the stupidity of someone that killed through the same lack of responsibility that leads parents to leave their children in cars on hot days. I believe she should be punished severely for contributing to her son's death.

 

[ReadyontheRight]

So sad.

A lesson to us all to talk about and teach the lessons of gun safety. To everyone of every age.

There are, of course, better methods, but this could so simply have been avoided by the old trick of putting the shotgun up high - inside a closet or even over a fireplace or doorway - so that young ones will have to resort to extreme measures to get to it.

 

[romma]

If a firearm is needed to be made ready, it should be in your immediate control,, IMO...