Elmo's Shocking Death

[Songbird]

5-year-old shot his 9-month-old brother dead.

Infant fatally shot by 5-year-old brother in Missouri — RT USA

A nine-month-old boy was fatally shot on Monday by his five year-old brother in northwest Missouri. Police suspect the child found a .22 caliber magnum revolver lying in the house.

According to the Nodaway County Sheriff’s Office, the children’s mother initially reported that her five-year-old son had shot her infant in the head with a paintball gun. Though it was determined upon the arrival of an ambulance and law enforcement to the location that the infant had been shot with a .22 caliber magnum revolver.

A Life Net Air Ambulance took the infant to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.

A neighbor said the mother of the children, Alexis Widerholt, and her four sons were staying with the children’s grandfather in Elmo, Missouri, near the Iowa border.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Would any gun rights activists object to hellacious criminal negligence sentences for people who allow this **** to happen with their guns?

I'm usually not one for throwing the book at people, but there has to be some way to deter these instances where chidren are killed. Or maybe the penalties are stiff enough and this is just the cost of doing business.

Having a 5-year-old and 2-year-old myself who are so innocent it hurts because it's so beautiful, I have a tough time with these stories.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Kudos on the thread title. I thought either there was a special Sesame Street episode or one of the Elmos at Times Square got the **** beat out of him.

 

[Vombatus]

Or Kevin Clash got tied to the back of a truck.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

Would any gun rights activists object to hellacious criminal negligence sentences for people who allow this **** to happen with their guns?

I'm usually not one for throwing the book at people, but there has to be some way to deter these instances where chidren are killed. Or maybe the penalties are stiff enough and this is just the cost of doing business.

I wouldn't call myself an activist, haven't shot a gun in at least a decade and it won't bother me if I never do again. But I have some qualms about aggressive gun control that stem from growing up around avid hunters and responsible gun owners.

So coming from that point of view, HELL YES to this. Don't take away a law-abiding citizen's right to own a gun, but let's punish the hell out of gun crimes and if a crime is committed using your gun you go to jail for a minimum of 25 years. If an innocent person is killed with your gun you go to jail for life.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

Would any gun rights activists object to hellacious criminal negligence sentences for people who allow this **** to happen with their guns?

I'm usually not one for throwing the book at people, but there has to be some way to deter these instances where chidren are killed. Or maybe the penalties are stiff enough and this is just the cost of doing business.

Having a 5-year-old and 2-year-old myself who are so innocent it hurts because it's so beautiful, I have a tough time with these stories.

Are there no laws on the books that would apply in such a case? Negligent homicide?

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

Would any gun rights activists object to hellacious criminal negligence sentences for people who allow this **** to happen with their guns?

I'm usually not one for throwing the book at people, but there has to be some way to deter these instances where chidren are killed. Or maybe the penalties are stiff enough and this is just the cost of doing business.

Having a 5-year-old and 2-year-old myself who are so innocent it hurts because it's so beautiful, I have a tough time with these stories.

Yeah, stories like this **** me up.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Are there no laws on the books that would apply in such a case? Negligent homicide?

Yeah, that's exactly what I said. Keep trying.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

Yeah, that's exactly what I said. Keep trying.

I was asking a legitimate question, given your current career. But I guess I overestimated your knowledge.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I look forward to when you go away again.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

I look forward to when you go away again.

If you don't know the answer, just say so. I won't think less of you.

 

[Rhody31]

Would any gun rights activists object to hellacious criminal negligence sentences for people who allow this **** to happen with their guns?

I'm usually not one for throwing the book at people, but there has to be some way to deter these instances where chidren are killed. Or maybe the penalties are stiff enough and this is just the cost of doing business.

Having a 5-year-old and 2-year-old myself who are so innocent it hurts because it's so beautiful, I have a tough time with these stories.

I'm not an activist for or against guns. My buddy is a huge gun guy and has explained a lot of stuff to me, so if anything I lean pro-gun.
I think someone needs to be charged, but here's the problem - what will jailtime accomplish? Take away their rights to own a gun, but you cannot throw them in jail. A 5-year old who just killed their sibling is already going to have a messed up upbringing an taking a parent away isn't going to help.

 

[Hokie_pokie]

If you don't know the answer, just say so. I won't think less of you.

Haven't you heard? **** knows everything.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I'm not an activist for or against guns. My buddy is a huge gun guy and has explained a lot of stuff to me, so if anything I lean pro-gun.
I think someone needs to be charged, but here's the problem - what will jailtime accomplish?

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

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

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.

 

[User 11148]

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

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?

 

[Dick Whitman]

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.

 

[MisterCreosote]

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

 

[Hokie_pokie]

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.

 

[User 11148]

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.

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.