Instead of generalizing to such a great extent it seems worth noting a couple of major points about this incident that nobody else seems to think even worth noticing.
First, with her CWP the grandmother of
this particular four-year-old can legally carry a concealed weapon
anywhere in the State of South Carolina. She is the Hon. Donna Hutto Williamson, Magistrate for Aiken County, SC. I feel for her. She evidently is a well-respected person and not habitually irresponsible or negligent.
And according to South Carolina law:
SECTION 23-31-240. Persons allowed to carry concealed weapon while on duty.
Notwithstanding any other provision contained in this article, the following persons who possess a valid permit pursuant to this article may carry a concealable weapon anywhere within this State, when carrying out the duties of their office:
(1) active Supreme Court justices;
(2) active judges of the court of appeals;
(3) active circuit court judges;
(4) active family court judges;
(5) active masters-in-equity;
(6) active probate court judges;
(7) active magistrates;
(8) active municipal court judges;
(9) active federal judges;
(10) active administrative law judges;
(11) active solicitors and assistant solicitors; and
(12) active workers' compensation commissioners.
So even were Sam's Club to prohibit CWP holders from carrying on its premises, Magistrate Williamson she could still do so if she were in some way "on duty." I'm not interested in
how she might argue it if caught while shopping in Sam's Club again. Perhaps she could use the same argument used by uniformed police officers in donut shops. It's a side issue, not really relevant to what's happening. What might be relevant is that such violations often are decided in Magistrate's Court.
Second, another news story in the same newspaper on the same day involves another injured 4-year-old girl in the same area. This little girl was found locked inside a child-care center's bus for about 3-1/2 hours during a severe heat wave. Her screams went unnoticed until a nearby wastewater treatment worker heard them and informed the child-care center.
Same age, same sex, same day, and the same newspaper: the Columbia
State. But the little girl who shot herself because of her grandmother's inattention made front page news and the little girl who was almost roasted because of a day-care center's inattention was put on the back pages.
I'm not excusing the grandmother nor do I think for a moment that she excuses herself, and I'm not advocating tolerance for carelessness or disregard for the potential dangers of firearms.
Child-care centers are dangerous too, though, and so are buses: they need careful supervision and rethinking, especially where our precious children are concerned. This particular child-care facility had nine deficiencies in a December inspection by the state's Department of Social Services.
If our society is indeed seriously concerned for our children's welfare, perhaps there should be a Zero Tolerance policy for child-care centers. Maybe they should be closed after even one reported deficiency. It's the surest way to protect our children against being harmed by day-care centers. Schools too: it might be worth considering Zero Tolerance policies for them. It's surely not excessive to consider immediately closing any school that is the scene of any violent incident or negligence. Should society tolerate schools in which the administration and teachers don't protect the children with whose care they are charged? Close any that have neglected that duty the very first time they do. Academically too: why tolerate a school that cannot educate all children it enrolls? One failing grade and the school should be closed.
Incidents like these one are opportunities for opportunists of all kinds to score points. The 4-year-old in
the first sad incident is now the occasion for those who don't want other people to own or carry defensive firearms to score lots of points.
Peter Hamm of the Brady Campaign said, "'The best way to make sure that kids don’t get injured with a firearm is not to have a firearm around,” he said. “If you’re going to have a gun around a kid, you should have a trigger lock on it so you can’t operate the thing.'"
With one modification in wording, Mr. Hamm has a good point. The best way to keep kids absolutely safe from
specific guns is to get rid of those
specific guns. The next best way is to make them inoperable. Many gun owners in this forum seem to prefer having inoperable guns. Who can argue that they shouldn't.
It probably is possible to impose such absolutist requirements on everybody in the United States. It's been done elsewhere in the world so it can be done here too, especially if increasingly significant numbers of gun owners favor the approach.
The only other alternatives seem to be trusting people to make judgments about their own lives and sympathetic understanding when bad things happen to good people. They've always been hard to do. I wonder if they're just impossible today.
