IT'S NOT THE GUNS - PART 8

Authorities in Louisiana don’t know how a 5-year-old boy managed to shoot a 3-year-old boy, but they are pretty sure that people taking care of the children are lying about the incident.

According to The News Star, Monroe Police Sgt. Mark Johnson said officers responded to reports that a 3-year-old had been shot by a 5-year-old playing with a gun after 1 p.m. on Thursday [Aug. 1].

“We think there may be more going on than we’ve been told,” Johnson explained. “This is a serious situation. Some people may have given us untruthful statements.”

One day later:

 A child shot at a Dixie Avenue residence in Monroe died Friday after being taken off life support.

According to Sgt. Mark Johnson, the child, whose name was not released, was declared dead around 1:30 p.m. Friday [Aug. 2] at St. Francis Medical Center.

Around 1 p.m. Thursday, police responded to 201 Dixie Avenue in relation to the shooting of a 3-year-old child.

An investigation revealed the child was shot by a 5-year-old and the 3-year-old’s mother rushed him to the hospital.

Part of the what the NRA says is true.  It is the guns, but it's also ignorant, reckless, irresponsible  people who own guns.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

How does a well regulated militia come to include people who leave loaded guns around accessible to toddlers and children?  Where is the regulation?  Who is responsible for the killings?  How long will we allow such senseless deaths to continue?

IT'S NOT THE GUNS - PARTS 6 AND 7

A teenager in Marrero died Sunday after being shot in what the shooter said was an accident.

Christian Cardon, 23, told investigators he didn’t know there was a bullet in the chamber of his new AR-15 semi-automatic rifle when he pulled the trigger early Sunday morning.

A single shot fired, striking 16-year-old Trey Stahl, of Marrero, in the neck, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman Col. John Fortunato said.

Stahl was pronounced dead at the scene, Fortunato said.

Cardon, 23, 1718 Gulf Drive, Gretna, was booked into Jefferson Parish Correctional Center on one count of negligent homicide.
....

It was the second time in a week that a child has been killed in what authorities are calling accidental shootings.

Brandajah Smith, 5, shot herself in the head with a .38 caliber gun June 23 after her mother left her locked and alone in her house on North Galvez Street.

Brandajah’s mother, Laderika Smith, 28, a convicted thief and prostitute, was booked with second-degree murder in the child’s death.
....

Louisiana has the nation’s second-highest rate of childhood gun deaths, after Alaska. In 10 years, more than 1,000 children were killed by bullets in the state — 739 were murdered, 224 committed suicide and 89 were killed accidentally.

In a country with weak firearm laws and a state with some of the weakest gun laws in the country, is it any wonder that the accidental shootings are all too frequent?  The National Rifle Association blathers on about the mentally ill with access to guns, lack of enforcement of present weak gun laws, and the warning that enactment of stronger gun control laws will result in only criminals having guns.  But what's the NRA's solution for stupid and irresponsible people who own guns?  I'd guess the group would suggest their usual solution - more guns with fewer restraints.  How many deaths will it take to bring us to our senses?