The 5-Year-Old Who Shot His Infant Brother In The Head Isn’t A Murderer, But His Parents Are

police-lineA 5-year-old boy in Elmo MIssouri found a loaded revolver stashed in a cupboard in his parent’s bed yesterday, took it out of its hiding place, and used it to shoot his infant brother in the head. The baby was in a crib next to the bed. Another loaded gun kept in a house full of children, unlocked. There were four children in the home at the time; the infant was the youngest and the five-year-old the eldest.

This comes on the heels of a story in the New York Times over the weekend that revealed pre-school aged children are killed by guns more often than cops are in this country. Let that sink in for a minute:

About 20 children and teenagers are shot daily in the United States, according to a study by the journal Pediatrics.

Indeed, more preschool-age children (about 80 a year) are killed by guns each year than police officers are killed by guns (about 50), according to the F.B.I. and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

We would have more accurate statistics if the CDC began researching gun violence, as was intended and ordered by President Obama after the massacre at Sandy Hook. Can you take a guess why the CDC stopped researching gun violence – such a major killer of children in this country? If you guessed the NRA, you’re right. From The Washington Post:

The CDC had not touched firearm research since 1996 ”” when the NRA accused the agency of promoting gun control and Congress threatened to strip the agency’s funding. The CDC’s self-imposed ban dried up a powerful funding source and had a chilling effect felt far beyond the agency: Almost no one wanted to pay for gun violence studies, researchers say. Young academics were warned that joining the field was a good way to kill their careers. And the odd gun study that got published went through linguistic gymnastics to hide any connection to firearms.

We talk about combatting bullying constantly. The NRA is the biggest bully in this country, and it has the blood of thousands of children on its hands.

In May of last year, a three-year-old Arizona boy shot his 1 1/2 year-old brother after the boys found a handgun in a neighbor’s apartment and took it to another room. That same month, a 5-year-old Kentucky boy fatally shot his two-year-old sister.

In June, a three-year-old child accidentally shot his twin brother using a gun left unattended in their home.

In November, a 12-year-old New Jersey boy accidentally shot his 9-year-old sister in the chest while playing with a handgun he found in the home. That same month, a 9-year-old Florida girl accidentally shot her 8-year-old brother in the head. And who can forget the mother who was shot dead at the end of that month by her toddler while she was changing her baby’s diaper. He found the gun under the couch.

In December, a toddler reached into his mother’s purse while they were shopping in a Walmart and found a loaded gun. He shot and killed her.

Should I go on? Or would you like some details about this current tragedy? I don’t really see the point in giving them, it will just be blah blah blah found gun, blah blah blah good family, blah blah blah police investigating blah blah blah pray for them. Children will not stop dying until we legislate gun safety and hold people responsible for these “accidents.”

“In 47 states, a parent can leave a loaded, unlocked gun on a dining room table or a nightstand and face no legal rebuke for leaving that gun within a child’s reach,” wrote Sajal H. Patel of the American Bar Association, in an article about kids and gun safety. Would the threat of prison make these parents more inclined to keep their children safe from the guns they own? Because apparently, the thought of their children dying is not enough. No, I don’t feel bad for these parents. These are not “tragedies” they are accidents waiting to happen. And any parent who owns a gun that is not properly secured is potentially a murderer.

(photo: igor slevanovic/ Shutterstock)

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