Elmo's Shocking Death

Haven't you heard? Dick knows everything.

 

The idea would be to deter future parents and other adults from being careless with their guns around children.

 

I really would like to know what, if any, criminal penalties, might apply in such a case. If there are any smart posters with a background in law, I'd appreciate any feedback.

 

Do you honestly think the parents in this instance were made more likely to do whatever they did (or didn't) because the legal risks they ran weren't severe enough?

 

I have no way of knowing in this specific instance whether that's the case. I do know that, generally, people respond to incentives. You are recycling the argument often raised by death penalty opponents.

 

Criminals don't follow laws, so we shouldn't pass any.

 

...and passing another one definitely would've saved this poor 9-month-old from being shot to death. No question.

 

No, I understand that argument (namely, that the death penalty isn't a deterrent because it's not actually factored into the calculations of those whose actions make them subject to it).

What you're suggesting is that my knowing that I might go to jail for 20 years (as opposed to, say, 10) would make me more likely to secure my firearms around my 5-year-old. I'm saying that would be a ridiculously trivial consideration -- so trivial as to not remotely affect my behavior -- when you realize that we're talking about the life of my 5-year-old.

 

I know. This dead 9-month-old doesn't trump anyone's Constitutional rights, either.

 

Not sure why the two have to be mutually exclusive, or why we don't already have enough gun laws on the books. I'm sure you'd be willing to enlighten me.

 

Isn't there a signaling aspect to it, though?

Law is passed imposing come-to-Jesus penalties when something like this happens.

Therefore, people apt to be careless with their guns realize that people are sometimes careless with their guns, leading to the death of their children.

Said careless people also realize that this has been enough of a problem that state has imposed a come-to-Jesus punishment for people who let something like this happen.

Said careless people say to self: "Self, this is some serious business here. I should not be careless with my guns."

 

I don't know, DW ... in the interest of honesty, though, I guess that could make a difference. I doubt it very seriously, though.

How many kids die in hot cars every year? I don't want to look up the statistics (because it'll break my heart), but I know the number's greater than zero. Of course there are the cases where the parents (or whoever's in charge) do it on purpose. But there are also the cases where some otherwise decent human being gets distracted and forgets that there's a kid, maybe asleep, in the back seat. I don't think doubling (or tripling) the penalty for that offense (whatever it is), is going to move those numbers. That's where I'm coming from here.