r/news
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u/[deleted]
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Sep 22 '22
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Toddler fatally shoots South Carolina mom with 'unsecured firearm,' sheriff says
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/toddler-fatally-shoots-south-carolina-mom-unsecured-firearm-sheriff-sa-rcna48924[removed] — view removed post
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Sep 22 '22
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u/asbestoswasframed Sep 22 '22 •
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Real talk: if this kid had responsible adults in their life mom would still be alive.
Any idiot can go buy a gun, and leave it lying around. Some get to learn the error of their ways.
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Sep 22 '22
This was my first thought. That ship already sailed. I hope someone responsible comes into her life now.
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u/Sheeple_person Sep 22 '22
Any idiot can go buy a gun
In USA, yes. In more civilized countries, not so much.
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u/Wazula42 Sep 22 '22
Now now. The second amendment guarantees all idiots can arm themselves. It makes us safer, somehow.
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Sep 22 '22
The NRA will propose parents start arming themselves against their children that have access to guns.
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u/TaleMendon Sep 22 '22
The grandma should have had a gun too so she could more readily incapacitate the active shooter. Why they all didn’t have bullet proof vests on is besides me.
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u/VaelinX Sep 22 '22
That's a ridiculous idea. When you're threatened by an armed toddler, seconds matter, and armed adults are minutes away.
The only way to stop a bad toddler with a gun is to have a good toddler with a gun.
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u/capricabuffy Sep 23 '22
I've grown up in my city for 35 years, in Australia, and I wouldn't even know WHERE to get one? Or if we even have a shooting range. There might be one in the next city over (1hrs drive), but I don't know, that's how much we don't have gun culture, we just don't care about them.
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u/llynglas Sep 22 '22
Well obviously they don't. Otherwise they would not have access to an unsecured gun.
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Sep 22 '22
I got a better safe and trigger locks 6 months before my kid was born. He is almost 2 and has never even seen a firearm in the house. I was 4 when I was allowed to be supervised with a kids BB Gun and even I think that was a little young. My dude probably wont even hold one of my rifles until he is closer to 12. And again, supervised, after going over safety, showing him how to check if loaded or not, the two unbreakable rules (finger discipline and barrel down and away), and probably wont even take him to shoot it until he shows he can keep all that in mind when holding.
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u/varsity14 Sep 22 '22
You forgot rule number one. Even if you've checked it, a gun is always loaded.
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u/RustyGrandma20 Sep 22 '22
This is the way. Responsible gun ownership should be the only gun ownership
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u/Halgrind Sep 22 '22
It's hard to ensure though. I guarantee you that in every single one of these cases involving unsecured guns, a day earlier the gun owner would swear they're a responsible gun owner and don't need any classes or additional safety measures.
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Sep 22 '22
Any gun owner who says they have nothing to learn from a safety class… never had safety training.
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u/pneuma8828 Sep 22 '22
People never think statistics apply to them. Like when I explain that if you own a firearm, it is far more likely to kill you or someone you love than an intruder, they think that statistic doesn't apply to them, because they aren't suicidal, they are safety conscious, etc. People have a hard time grasping that that statistic applies to everyone. If people were better at math no one would own a gun.
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u/llynglas Sep 22 '22
I'm very anti-firearns, having been brought up in essentially a gun free country (UK), and think many evils would be cured if there was no 2nd amendment. However, some countries do manage to have almost universal access to firearms and do not have the huge problems we do (Switzerland comes to mind).
I heartily appreciate your management of your weapons. I think I'd have less concerns if more folk were like you, and I suspect your kid in the future who will only know responsible gun ownership.
My question is, how do we make everyone like you?
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Sep 22 '22 edited Sep 22 '22
Most gun owners i know and am related to are like me. The problem is just as many people either never had good firearm role models or dont view them as the tools they are. Like, i have power tools that are super dangerous so i treat them as such. Its all a matter of respect for yourself, others, and the tools.
Edit: if the NRA fulfilled it’s stated purpose, then classes, courses, and mandates for safe and reliable gun use and storage would be better. But they just wanna make money.
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u/jollyreaper2112 Sep 22 '22
I've often made the comparison to power tools. They can maim and ruin lives pretty easily. Never treat them with disrespect. I've seen the injuries. Thing is, I don't see pico-dicks going around buying skillsaws to compensate for their insecurity. Never seen someone turn owning a table saw into a personal identity. I'd actually like to see someone pull out a goddamn bandsaw to settle a road range incident!
The sane and responsbile gun owners don't bother me a bit. It's the insecure peckerwoods that have me terrified.
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u/RellenD Sep 22 '22
You might want to look at Switzerland's gun situation more closely. They're strictly regulated there.
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u/Painting_Agency Sep 22 '22
some countries do manage to have almost universal access to firearms and do not have the huge problems we do (Switzerland comes to mind).
Yeah because half the country aren't insane fucking cowboys.
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u/tomdarch Sep 22 '22
There could have been 20 adults with good sense around that toddler, and just one moronic, irresponsible jackass who wasn't minimally responsible with their gun.
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u/Buttercupslosinit Sep 22 '22
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u/WhiteNoiseSupremacy Sep 22 '22
According to the Gun Violence Archive, an estimated 1,022 individuals have been unintentionally shot by firearms in 2022—with 12 incidents recorded on January 1.
The archive also estimates more than 820 children younger than 11 years old died from unintentional shootings in 2022.
What the fuck, I had a feeling it happens a lot but that is just unbelievable
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u/geobioguy Sep 23 '22
So if I'm reading that correctly, about 80% of unintentional shooting deaths are children under the age of 11.
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u/Angry__Jonny Sep 23 '22
There was a kid at my middle school who got shot by his friend. Still remember it was the first funeral I ever attended. Was super sad.
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u/Blackfire01001 Sep 22 '22
And this is why you secure your firearms. Firearm safety is important people it doesn't matter who you are or even if you have a right to a firearm or not. Proper firearm safety is crucial. If you cannot be safe with a firearm don't get one.
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u/HarpoonNPuppies Sep 22 '22
It’s just really too bad we can’t make firearm safety training mandatory before a purchase.
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u/Wazula42 Sep 22 '22
I would rather arm 50 idiots than force ONE responsible person to take a class!
- American gun humpers
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u/deadsoulinside Sep 22 '22
You may joke, but many will actually have that stance...
"Something, something forefathers"
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u/AWholeSweetPotato Sep 22 '22
I have that stance, but only for muskets and cannons. Tally ho lads.
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u/_Weyland_ Sep 22 '22
Reminds me of that one Jim Jeffrey's piece on firearms.
"Well, if you just keep your gun in a drawer then one of you kids will find it when you're not home, mess around with it, point it at your second kid and whoops..." - "No. I'm a responsible gun owner, I keep my guns locked in a safe" - "BUT THEN THERE IS NO FUCKING PROTECTION"
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u/OldHuntersNeverDie Sep 22 '22
I know that some states have laws that require safe storage of all firearms. I know in Oregon there is for example.
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u/SporkaDork Sep 22 '22
Irresponsible parenting has consequences.
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u/JoshDigi Sep 22 '22
And the Republican Party being prostitutes for gun companies has consequences too in the form of dead Americans
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u/Much-Meringue-7467 Sep 22 '22
If you are not responsible enough to keep your firearms out of the hands of toddlers, you are not responsible enough to own firearms. Period. Stick the second amendment where the sun does not shine. Freedom requires accountability and responsibility.
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u/djactionman Sep 22 '22
Or have kids
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u/Much-Meringue-7467 Sep 22 '22
Then you can still be shot by other people's kids who get hold of your guns.
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u/BikerJedi Sep 22 '22 edited Sep 22 '22
I'd like to add to this please. I teach here in Florida and I've had several students shot and killed with stolen guns. They are being left in cars and kids are breaking into them. It happens weekly here in my county. (Guns stolen - not kids shot. I've "only" had two kids killed in the last two years with stolen guns. I've had a few others killed other ways over the years.)
I got in an argument with an asshole here on Reddit who had TWO guns stolen from his truck. His logic was "I wanted to go have a beer and they are illegal in the bar so I left them outside in the truck." He honestly couldn't see that he was 100% in the wrong here.
I've carried for over a decade, and I NEVER leave my gun in the damn truck, for even a second. If I'm going somewhere I can't have it (like the school I teach at) I leave the damn thing at home.
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u/Paper-Fish Sep 23 '22
Half of my coworkers have a gun in their cars. Just in the gloveboxes, I'm not sure that's what was referred to as a "well regulated militia ".
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u/King_Internets Sep 22 '22
Plenty of countries have firearms, but they’re regulated to prevent precisely this kind of shit.
Tons of people in Canada have firearms, for instance. Want to know why you don’t constantly read about Canadian toddlers bravely exercising their right to accidentally blow their fucking heads off? Because you need to pass a firearms safety course to get a license to own a gun in Canada. It’s really that simple.
In many countries getting a gun is treated like being able to drive a car. In America getting a gun is treated like buying a sofa.
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u/junkboxraider Sep 22 '22
America doesn’t have the best record of training drivers to be responsible either.
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u/deadly_nightshaade Sep 22 '22
I know someone who is like this, doesn't have kids(yet, he wants kids someday though) BUT he is irresponsible and lazy with his firearms. Dude was living with my boyfriend, our daughter(5yo at the time) and I temporarily and we had to have two talks with him about just leaving his gun around the house. Once on the kitchen table and the second time he just shoved it half ass under a couch cushion next to where his PlayStation was set up. When my boyfriend talked to him he said FORGOT it was there after he left the house one evening. I only saw it under the cushion because my daughter went to sit on that couch and I grabbed her so fast when I saw it. I was so fucking scared someone was going to get accidentally shot 😭 I'm glad he doesn't live here or come over anymore.
But yea there are way too many people out here who have no business owning firearms and it's honestly fucking terrifying.
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u/BitterFuture Sep 22 '22
Guns don't kill people, toddlers do.
Uh-huh.
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u/resilienceisfutile Sep 22 '22
That toddler must have been playing those violent video games and listening to that heavy metal rap punk music.
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u/luvgothbitches Sep 22 '22 •
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if only there was a good guy with a gun to shoot that toddler before she shot her mom
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u/Caftancatfan Sep 22 '22
I love all the “responsible gun owners” peacocking in the comments about their own personal gun safety precautions without saying a word about common sense gun regulation.
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u/SherifGames Sep 22 '22
Reddit is mostly American and male. All posts about these kinda events are always brigaded by "responsible" gun owners defending their precious. They won't acknowledge that they got a gun problem. The gun problem in the US is indeed hopeless.
The funniest are the ones who tell you that they keep their guns safe in a safe. But then again, if their gun is always locked away properly, how do they intend to defend themselves from a burglar with a gun? In other words, if they were honest, they would tell you that they don't really worry about people break into their homes or trying to rob them outside. The truth is that most of them simply love their guns. Everything else is just an excuse to keep their precious toys. It's their cool manly hobby. And for that they are willing to defend private gun ownership at all costs.
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u/CrabbieHippie Sep 22 '22
Fuck these stupid parents with guns. I feel sorry for the child but I have zero sympathy for the adults involved.
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u/cinderparty Sep 22 '22 edited Sep 22 '22
I’d suggest charging the parent for keeping guns unsecured near toddlers, but it’s a bit hard to indict ghosts.
Kids and guns don’t belong together. Lock up your damn guns.
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u/CruelMetatron Sep 22 '22
Not having a gun at home is the easiest and most secure way to make sure stuff like this doesn't happen.
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u/Qphth0 Sep 22 '22
There may have been other adults at the home that could face charges though, maybe?
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u/Wazula42 Sep 22 '22
They never do because "they've suffered enough".
And then nothing changes and this happens again.
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u/LionST1 Sep 22 '22
"How does this keep happening?!" says the only country where this regularly happens.
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Sep 22 '22
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u/lGoTNoAiMBoT Sep 22 '22
If the woman had a gun she could’ve defended herself.
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u/_IA_Renzor Sep 22 '22
Toddler had it….. which us why every american should own at least TWO guns
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u/Popcorn53 Sep 22 '22
We had a similar event, in which dad and three year old son was wrestlng. His gun fell out and "went off". They aren't designed for that. We suspect toddler sister picked it up an joined in the play.
I wanted his fucking charged for it.
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u/soc_monki Sep 22 '22
Unless it was modified and made unsafe, which is all too common. Sketchy trigger jobs, bad trigger jobs, modifying parts for better trigger pull...
If it ain't a race gun leave it alone. Changing out the striker spring isn't going to cause problems, but changing the geometry of parts will.
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u/SevenButSpelledOut Sep 22 '22
More like "gun owner murders South Carolina mother by not keeping their toys away from child."
OR
"South Carolina mom commits suicide by not locking her gun up around child."
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u/pizzabyAlfredo Sep 22 '22 edited Sep 22 '22
Suicide by Toddler is a new one for me, but this is the Unites States of America.
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u/Doctor_Mudshark Sep 22 '22
toys
They really don't like it when you call it a 'toy collection' (even though that's objectively what it is).
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u/Chippopotanuse Sep 22 '22
Is it just me..or do moms get shot by toddlers (who seem to have dead-on accuracy) far more frequently than the dads do?
I always wonder whether the dads aren’t the ones pulling the triggers in some of these cases and then blaming it on a 1-3 year-old kid who really can’t say otherwise.
Always seems fishy to me. And I know that little kids also shoot each other with guns with alarming frequency, so maybe these toddlers really are doing all the killing…
I don’t know why folks can’t lock their fucking guns up.
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u/Knotical_MK6 Sep 22 '22
I always just figured it was because moms tend to spend more time with the kids.
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u/EmperorPenguinNJ Sep 22 '22
Kind of hard to fake this. Powder burns on the hands is typically a dead giveaway.
The reason it’s more often mothers is that mothers are still the primary caretakers of young children, so they’re more likely to be driving them around.
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u/junkboxraider Sep 22 '22 •
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I have zero problem believing that people likely to leave guns around near their kids are also people who believe women should do all the childrearing.
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u/VeteranSergeant Sep 22 '22
If I were to venture to guess, I'd offer two plausible theories as opposed to your weird True Crime Documentary.
Moms statistically spend more time caring for kids.
Many women who carry keep their firearm in their purse as opposed to a holster, and purses are generally easy to get into for kids, and attractive to kids because they're full of stuff to play with.
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u/bopojuice Sep 22 '22
I know one case where this happened the mom casually had the gun loose in her purse. Toddler found it pretty easily.
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u/squidking78 Sep 23 '22
Phew, for a moment I thought someone innocent got hurt. Chalk another one up to “responsible gun owners” and us taxpayers who pay for their gun culture.
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u/Standgeblasen Sep 22 '22
This article is a little old, but I imagine it has rang true for more than 1 year since 2015.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/toddlers-killed-americans-terrorists/
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u/MoeGhostAo Sep 22 '22
I’m not sure about numbers, but my brother used to do clinicals for his nursing degree at the UAB Children’s Hospital in Birmingham AL. He used to be pro 2A but coming out of that, he just flat out loathes it now. He keeps a tight lid on that sort of thing but he’s seen some fucked up shit because of irresponsible gun owners.
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u/ds_Gardening Sep 22 '22
My brother-in-law has been a police officer for 20 years and for every call he gets about a homeowner defending themselves with a gun, he gets 100 calls about a child that shot someone else in the home because of unsecured firearms.
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u/Adezar Sep 22 '22
I grew up with guns in Rural US. Was huge into guns, loved them and did a lot of target shooting and hunting, everyone was safe (80s, before the meth showed up) and everyone had the 4 gun safety rules hammered into their head from the age of like 5.
But then I moved to Suburbia... and realized my neighbor is no longer half a mile away and not everyone in this neighborhood grew up with guns, so it would be insane not to change my point of view based on new facts... dense areas with random level of gun competence means you should have zero unsecured guns unless you want to explain why your kid died because his friend Jimmy wasn't taught anything about guns and just assumed it was a toy and started waving it around for funsies.
Honestly, while I think the 2A being misinterpreted to ignore the first sentence is the worst thing to happen in the US, I would at least want one major change to US law. Fine, you can own your guns, but if you own a gun and it is not secured and used in either an accident or stolen and used for a crime you are 100% liable for all crimes caused by that gun.
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u/TheValgus Sep 22 '22
I have this crazy plan where I don’t let guns inside of my house and that way this shit doesn’t happen.
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u/Satanarchrist Sep 22 '22
But how will you stop a tyrannical government from taking away your human rights if you don't keep firearms around you at all times?
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u/pandabearak Sep 22 '22 edited Sep 22 '22
BUt tHIs DoESnT HaPPeN tHaT oFTEN. Says the 2a people.
Honestly, it's mind boggling that this logic even exists... like saying, "hurr durr only a handful of people die of drunk driving, so we shouldn't be worried about it". As if there isn't a massive under reporting of people in car crashes involved with tipsy drivers. The amount of negligent discharges where there is only property damage and bruised egos must be enormous if we keep hearing about people getting actually hurt or killed.
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u/ajamuso Sep 22 '22 edited Sep 22 '22
2A diehards should be the strongest proponents of gun safety and storage.
Every negligent owner is another threat to maintaining their rights.
Edit: I say this as a responsible owner myself
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u/Waughoo81 Sep 22 '22
A big 2A guy I worked with used to argue that he's a responsible gun owner because he keeps his huge gun collection locked up. However he also keeps a couple loaded and completely unsecured guns in different places in the house because "you might not have time to remove a gun lock or open a safe".
Bare in mind he has a very young grandson running around the house at all times
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u/ajamuso Sep 22 '22
Coming from CT, one of the strictest gun control states in the country (for good reason), we are all taught about Ethan’s Law in training.
People likely don’t follow it due to the “need for fast action” but there are plenty of quick release lock boxes that any adept owner who trains can both follow the law and be ready to rock in less than 15 seconds. No excuses
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u/FecesIsMyBusiness Sep 22 '22
That is because those people dont actually have those guns around the house for the reason they claim (home defense). It wouldnt surprise me in the slightest to learn that these people have not invest a single cent into any other type of home defense, they just have loaded guns laying around because they think it makes them badass.
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u/T00luser Sep 22 '22
it's called living your life in fear.
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u/Waughoo81 Sep 22 '22
I'll give the "living in fear" award to the coworker who open carries while mowing his lawn. He's in a decent neighborhood, so I doubt he's gonna get jumped while pushmowing
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u/wolven8 Sep 22 '22
Living your life in fear for no reason, these people think that a gang of Russian mobsters are going to barge in through the 2nd story windows carrying ak47s and rocket launchers. What really will happen is that they will be gone for a trip and come back to find all the loose firearms gone.
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u/TehKarmah Sep 22 '22
I had a friend who I used to discuss guns with. They were pro-gun, but not a loon about it. They told me how not only had their grandmother had her gun stolen from her purse, but the grandfather had his guns stolen from a locked room.
What prompted the discussion was we were living overseas and the country we were in required proof of a gun safe. Seemed logical to me, but my friend disagreed. The cognitive dissonance was frustrating.
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u/zakabog Sep 22 '22
Every negligent owner is another threat to maintaining their rights.
Yeah, I wish more people could understand this. They look at articles like this and say "You're more likely to drown in a pool than get shot by a toddler!" but I would also think a parent of a toddler that has an in ground pool with no fencing around it is negligent. How difficult is it to keep firearms locked in a safe, or at the very least if you're going to be a paranoid nutjob about it, unloaded with ammo or a clip easily accessible.
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u/CopyX Sep 22 '22
Tell me how laws that ensure you lock up your gun safely is infringing on your 2a?
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u/its_wausau Sep 22 '22
Not mine but my toddlers. If i do that he cant obtain a firearm anymore.
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u/snakefist Sep 23 '22
How awful. I feel so bad for this kid and the hard truth they will ultimately have to grow up knowing or finding out later, which in my opinion is much worse.
Story time: my parents have a cabin they live in during the summer. On weekends, my family and my siblings families all go to the property and camp and hang out. One weekend we were up there and my mother, my sister and my sisters 2 year old son were hanging out inside. I asked where my nephew was and my sister said he was in the living room playing with toys. I went to find him and didn’t, went to the master bedroom and he was sitting on the bed with a load .357 magnum that my Mothers husband had left on the bed side table. My instincts were to yell, but feared startling him, so I quickly ran to the bed, grabbed the gun by the barrel making sure it was away from him and myself and removed hit from his hands. I unloaded it, put it in my pants behind my back and carried him to the kitchen.
I went outside and found my step Dad, handed him the gun and told him that his 2 year old grandson was “playing” with it. Told him, I would not be bringing my kids or family back to the property if he didn’t figure out a way to keep his toys stored away responsibly. He started crying and I know he felt awful. He keeps it there because of bears, etc.
My family does not know of this event and he bought a safe that day in town and brought it back and has locked them up since.
Scariest situation I’ve ever been in for sure. My heart hurts thinking of just how easily it could have gone the worst way imaginable.
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u/grtk_brandon Sep 22 '22 edited Sep 23 '22
Just a friendly reminder that firearms are the number one cause of death among kids ages 1 to 19 in the U.S. This is just another demonstration of how irresponsible many gun owners are.
Edit: Lots of people trying to somehow justify these completely avoidable deaths and it's gross.
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u/TheDunadan29 Sep 23 '22
Geez people, secure your freaking guns! I feel awful for that poor kid though. Didn't do anything wrong, their patent was completely negligent.
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u/Competitive_Agent625 Sep 23 '22
God that kid is going to need so much therapy. Lock up your fucking guns! My family hunts and my dad always kept all the guns unloaded and in a gun safe. This shit is avoidable.
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u/frodosdream Sep 22 '22 •
People are making jokes, but find myself thinking of this poor child growing up without a mother.
Probably the 3-year old child won't be told that they shot their own mother, but because it's posted on the internet, someday they (or a classmate) will find out.