I’m no friend of the NRA, and I believe in very strict regulation for firearms. But tragic as this is, I don’t see any criminal conduct here. Suppose the father were driving home from the range, a bee flew down his shirt, the car hit a tree as he tried to get it out, and his son was killed. Would you think charges should be filed then?
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With 30,000 gun deaths a year, even figuring that half or more are suicides, I’m doing a little calculation.
FIRST: total gun deaths including suicides at 30,000 a year…24 hours in a day, 365 days a year,
A normal year = 8760 hours
A Leap Year = 8784 hours
We have 2 NRA gun deaths an hour on average. One an hour if we say 50% are suicides, the others murders, “accidental” or intentional.
NRA Shooter of the Week is really NRA Shooter of the HOUR, on average.
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NRA: “Won’t someone think of the gun and the trauma it endured. Please send your thoughts and prayers and, if possible, have a moment of silence in support of the gun. If only the 14 year old had a gun perhaps he could have returned fire! Please go home today and give your guns a hug. Thank You!”
If the NRA ran the tobacco industry, the answer to lung cancer would be “more cigarettes.”
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Negligent gun use. The automatic pistol reloads and cocks its own hammer, ready to fire with a trigger pull, inherently dangerous. He knew this and was negligent in controlling his gun, so it should be controlled for him. A conviction would strip him of his gun rights.
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The Sarasota Herald Tribune has a gun columnist.Just sayin’
http://thegunwriter.blogs.heraldtribune.com/20402/armalite-clears-the-record-on-ars/
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I think that view neglects to acknowledge a gun is a dangerous object with the potential for lethal effect. If a parent left rat poison out on the kitchen counter and a child ate it that parent would most deservedly be guilty of at minimum child neglect. Parents in this country are under edict of the laws to shield their children from negative bodily and psychological damage, whatever the source. Society has grown very complacent about firearms in the home and around children. A child dies and we’re supposed to all say in unison, “Oh well, that’s tragic, but shit happens, whatcha gonna do?” Would that be a person’s response reading about the dead child that ate the rat poison off the kitchen table? Or would you say, “What kind of fricking idiot leaves unlocked, unattended rat poison on a table in a house full of small children?!”
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I have to agree that there is no way for anyone who hasn’t had hot brass fall down into his or her shirt to understand the surprise and sudden pain of the “non-harmful” ricochet. People do a lot to get that hot case out of their clothing.
That said, I would suspect the father hadn’t had hot brass fall down his shirt before. He panicked and violated what is often called the 180 rule. A shooter’s primary responsibility is to not sweep anyone, especially anyone behind him. I have seen women SASS shooters in dance hall girl costumes have hot rifle brass fall down their open bodices and burn their breasts. Although in pain all have kept the rifle aimed down range.
The shooter is probably not going to be charged with a crime, but he shot his son. He will never get over that. Neither will his family. Shooting can be safe fun, but it sounds like this range put too much emphasis on fun and not enough on safe.
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Totally agree with that thinking. On the other hand, the father has inadvertently prevented a future gun-toting nut job from possibly killing an innocent person. Let’s all try to keep this stuff in the family, guys.
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The gun didn’t kill him I did? This sad man is defending guns while his child is still warm. Because that is important to him now. Wow.
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Maybe he was just admitting his responsibility. He screwed up big time.
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Yes. I’ve gone shooting at a range with my wife and daughter, and had a great time. After the first time that a hot casing went down their shirt, they learned fast what not to wear in the future. Even .22 casings can burn. One should always wear a close-fitting t-shirt. Wear what you want over that. Our range has a watcher who intently watches every single person for anything like that, and possibly might have prevented that tragedy, but I’m sure it happened really fast. Very sad.
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There is absolutely a case to be made ammosexuality is a contagion, and accidents such as these limit future tragedies. Thinning the herd, if you will. However evolution chooses to snuff out a defective familial gene lineage is fine with me.
Am I reading this correctly? The casing goes down the back of his shirt, and he uses HIS GUN to fish it out? Surely that cannot be right, because if it is, that is something you would see on “The Simpsons.” You certainly couldn’t make that stuff up.
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Is it just me or does the father’s response to accidentally killing his son seem like a, “Shrug, shit happens” kind of thing?
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For a long time, it was - cigarettes were touted as being good for your health for a number of decades. Don’t think this behavior is unique to the gun industry. This is capitalism: protect your cash flow however you can, and hope you can ride it out until retirement.
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“He told CNN that he taught all seven of his children to use guns, and routinely took them to High Noon for target shooting.”
Six children.
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The problem is he doesn’t follow through on his own logic. He killed his son through parental fault. That fault was insisting his children be put at risk by being frequently exposed to loaded guns (which he now knows are deadly). Continuing to do that with his other children is wilful endangerment.
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Like I said above, “Oh well, that’s tragic, but shit happens, whatcha gonna do?”
“The gun didn’t kill my boy. I did,” 64-year-old William Clayton Brumby told CNN in an interview published Tuesday.
“Every round in the gun is your responsibility,” he added. “When it fires you need to stand to account for it it. That’s what I’ve spent the last two days doing, accounting for my operating error.”
From what we’re getting here, this does sound like an actual, real freak accident. I cannot imagine what he must b going through in his mind. Tortured, I’m sure. I’m sorry for him and his family. It sounds like he truly wanted his son to be comfortable and knowledgeable when handling firearms – absolutely can’t fault him for that. We’re always scolding the gun-humpers to promote safety, safety, safety and that in today’s world, they really should be primarily for sport. Well, in that respect, Mr. Brumby was trying to be a responsible parent. Kudos to him for that. My condolences to him. This was a freak accident and I am sorry for his loss.
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