jakemccoy
Member
I'd vote for mandatory gun education for grades K-12.
Man kills girlfriend while showing her gun, charged with negligent homicide
- Thread starter Cavalier Knight
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jakemccoy
Member
article said:
A more accurate statement would have been "the gun was fired" using the passive voice, but that's being nit picky. At the time of the article, there was no definitive proof as to who or what caused the gun to fire. It could have been the man's finger. It could have been the girl's finger. It could have been a piece of string from the man's pants or a host of other things. Who knows? Reporting "the gun fired" covers all scenarios.
An accident is a specific, identifiable, unexpected, unusual and unintended external event which occurs in a particular time and place, without apparent or deliberate cause but with marked effects. It implies a generally negative probabilistic outcome which may have been avoided or prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior to its occurrence.
Narrowly defined, the designation may refer only to the event, while not including the circumstances (facts surrounding) or results of the event; i.e., ‘accident’ is constrained to an immediate incident, the occurrence of which results in an unplanned outcome. In common use, however, ‘accident’ may include the entire interacting circumstantial framework (chance, pre-existing, or uncontrolled dynamically developing conditions; commonplace actions; random time and place; participants; etc.) leading up to, including, and resulting from, the accident's immediate occurrence. Experts in the field of injury prevention avoid use of the term "accident" because they look at these incidents from the perspective of epidemiology - predictable and preventable.
Accident Analysis is performed in four steps:
1. Fact gathering After an accident happened a forensic process starts to gather all possibly relevant facts that may contribute to understanding the accident.
2. Fact Analysis After the forensic process has been completed or at least delivered some results the facts are put together to give a "big picture." The history of the accident is reconstructed and checked for consistency and plausibility.
3. Conclusion Drawing If the accident history is sufficiently informative conclusions can be drawn about causation and contributing factors.
4. Countermeasures In some cases the development of countermeasures is desired or recommendations have to be issued to prevent further accidents of the same kind.
Narrowly defined, the designation may refer only to the event, while not including the circumstances (facts surrounding) or results of the event; i.e., ‘accident’ is constrained to an immediate incident, the occurrence of which results in an unplanned outcome. In common use, however, ‘accident’ may include the entire interacting circumstantial framework (chance, pre-existing, or uncontrolled dynamically developing conditions; commonplace actions; random time and place; participants; etc.) leading up to, including, and resulting from, the accident's immediate occurrence. Experts in the field of injury prevention avoid use of the term "accident" because they look at these incidents from the perspective of epidemiology - predictable and preventable.
Accident Analysis is performed in four steps:
1. Fact gathering After an accident happened a forensic process starts to gather all possibly relevant facts that may contribute to understanding the accident.
2. Fact Analysis After the forensic process has been completed or at least delivered some results the facts are put together to give a "big picture." The history of the accident is reconstructed and checked for consistency and plausibility.
3. Conclusion Drawing If the accident history is sufficiently informative conclusions can be drawn about causation and contributing factors.
4. Countermeasures In some cases the development of countermeasures is desired or recommendations have to be issued to prevent further accidents of the same kind.
IMO, when a tragedy like this is truly an accident and there is real remorse and acknowledgment of the errors (if any) made, there should be no prosecution.
What is the point of turning an honest citizen into a criminal and ruining the next 5+ years of his life over an accident? Our justice system and prisons are already overcrowded. And then there is all the money that is going to be spent on lawyers, judges, jury selection, as well as room and board in the local prison system. This is a colossal waste of time, money, and human life when there are thousands of real criminals out there.
Before you crucify this guy, think about how you would like to be treated if you backed out of your drive way and accidentally ran over your 5 year old child playing on the sidewalk. It could easily be argued that your child's death was a result of your negligence. Would you like some sympathy... or some jail time?
What is the point of turning an honest citizen into a criminal and ruining the next 5+ years of his life over an accident? Our justice system and prisons are already overcrowded. And then there is all the money that is going to be spent on lawyers, judges, jury selection, as well as room and board in the local prison system. This is a colossal waste of time, money, and human life when there are thousands of real criminals out there.
Before you crucify this guy, think about how you would like to be treated if you backed out of your drive way and accidentally ran over your 5 year old child playing on the sidewalk. It could easily be argued that your child's death was a result of your negligence. Would you like some sympathy... or some jail time?
lacoochee
Member
+1 To jail time for not taking the time to look behind your car or truck when you are pulling out. That is negligence.
Though personally, if I got in my truck, didn't check to make sure the little guy was not behind my truck and also inside the house and some how the object detector I installed on my back license plate the day he started crawling malfunctioned and then ran over him. Upon ascertaining that he was indeed dead, I would follow within minutes.
Though personally, if I got in my truck, didn't check to make sure the little guy was not behind my truck and also inside the house and some how the object detector I installed on my back license plate the day he started crawling malfunctioned and then ran over him. Upon ascertaining that he was indeed dead, I would follow within minutes.
SCKimberFan
Member
We don't know if it was an accident or not. It is best to get more information before jumping to conclusions. 
Better yet charge each and everyone involved in a fatal automobile accident, even the ones under the influence don't get five years, though they should.And if you were talking on your cell phone, life in prison with no parole!I've had two of them morons run me off the road in the last two weeks....
myrockfight
Member
? Like the passengers? The other driver? Your comment isn't very clear. Maybe it is just me being a dunce though.
SageMonkey
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That would be the finger on the bang-switch...
The sad thing is the only gun education most people will get is "stop - don't touch - tell an adult". While that might be good for younger kids, its a crying shame that high-school students aren't taught at least the most rudimentary gun safety (ie, the four rules), so that when they get closer to being an adult they know NOT to put their finger on the trigger.
If you look at almost any TV show or photo of a person handling a gun in mainstream media, guess where their index finger is? Most people just assume that you put it there when you pick up a gun... they have never been taught otherwise. I won't say that this kid shouldn't go to prison for a while, a woman is dead because he was ignorant- but we need to teach people how to handle guns even if they don't intend to purchase one- then they are less likely to be so ignorant as to kill a loved one accidentally.
CAPTAIN MIKE
Member
I Just Hate That
...Man, I just HATE it when a gun "goes off all by itself" without explanation.
...Man, I just HATE it when a gun "goes off all by itself" without explanation.
Stevie-Ray
Member
I'd go along with that, myself. Just think, it would be great for all the kids that WANT to learn about them, and very educational for those that fear guns or don't like them because their parents don't. Hammer the rules into them in school, along with the horrifying consequences of not following them, and I'll bet kids have a much better respect for them when adulthood comes.
Problem is, 99.9% of the teachers would never go for it.
Old School
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You just know if firearm safety was compulsory, it would be heavily editorialized throughout by most teachers. It amazes me what my child comes home telling me that her teachers have said about various topics. I think I will just continue to educate my family members myself.
jakemccoy
Member
Old School said:
You can say the same thing about any subject, but you still send your kids to school, right? Or you home school them. Either way, they're still being educated somehow about various subjects.
Mandatory gun education is more to address problems in society as a whole, rather than to address families like yours. Your family would not be the target here. With mandatory gun education, you’d still have the ability to step in where the school fails, and you should.
While you may have grown up around guns, I and many others didn't. Until I became an adult and took the initiative to learn about guns on my own, I was relatively clueless about guns. Note that, throughout all my schooling, I attended well-respected schools and did NOT live a sheltered life. There are many, many kids who are growing up in a similar manner. The lack of gun education in America is a major problem. After all, gun rights are highlighted by the Second Amendment!
Mandatory gun education would do so many positive things that outweigh the negative. For example, gun education would take the curiosity and the coolness out of guns. That’s what school tends to do to all subjects. Band is not “cool”, right? Taking the coolness out is a good thing. The only kids messing with guns outside of the regular curriculum would be kids who have a serious intellectual interest. That’s also a good thing.
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1911Tuner said,
Sadly many of us know of stories like this. A friends brother took the family gun out to plink without proper training. He saw something in the bushes and fired thinking it was some type of animal. Unfortunately it was a kid on the other side of the bush, and he died instantly. His brother wound up a mental vegetable to the point that he dropped out of HS and stayed in his room upstairs all the time. Last I heard he was still alive, but still a basket case.
Sadly many of us know of stories like this. A friends brother took the family gun out to plink without proper training. He saw something in the bushes and fired thinking it was some type of animal. Unfortunately it was a kid on the other side of the bush, and he died instantly. His brother wound up a mental vegetable to the point that he dropped out of HS and stayed in his room upstairs all the time. Last I heard he was still alive, but still a basket case.
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