Parent's Talk: Minneapolis Child Shooting Brings Up Questions
Child safety, supervision, guns in the household are all topics in the death of a Minneapolis 2-year-old boy shot by his 4-year-old sibling.
News that a 4-year-old boy shot his 2-year-old brother in Minneapolis can place a whirring amount of questions spinning through any parent's head.
What happened? How did the child get a loaded gun? What is the appropriate amount of supervision for young children when there are weapons in the home? What are the best ways to keep your family safe with any kind of weapons in the home?
The following information has been released by the Minneapolis PD:
Just after 12:45 this afternoon (Dec. 5) Minneapolis Police officers in the First Precinct responded to a shooting involving a child victim in the 1900 block of 7th Street South.
Officers found a two-year-old boy who had apparently been accidentally shot by his four-year-old brother. The four-year-old had apparently been playing with a handgun he had found in a bedroom in the home when the shooting occurred. The two year-old died in the ambulance at the scene.
The mother, father and three children, ages one, two and four were home at the time of the incident. The one year-old, the four year-old and a five year-old sibling, who was not home at the time of the incident, are in protective custody for the time being.
Minneapolis Police Department Homicide investigators have been assigned this case and no one has been arrested though the parents are being interviewed by investigators. The results of the Homicide Unit investigation will be presented to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for review of criminal charges against the parents. In Minnesota a four year-old cannot be charged with a crime.
The Minneapolis Police Department wants to remind everyone who has a firearm in their home that it is their responsibility to lock up firearms to prevent tragic accidents from occurring. Firearms should be stored unloaded, preferably in a gun safe, with the ammunition stored separately. It is a crime in Minnesota to store a loaded firearm in a manner where a child can gain access to it. (Negligent Storage of a Firearm 609.666, 2012 Minnesota Statutes)
As this investigation continues, questions remain for many.
This tragic incident is something that leave family and friends distraught, with implications that will linger for the rest of their lives.
For any parent, it stirs up a range of many different emotions.
What are your thoughts on what happened? What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
David F
8:37 am on Thursday, December 6, 2012
Somebody should do a survey of how many people use gun locks and in particular households with children. When people tell me they own guns I always ask them if they have gun locks and few do. I talked to a former MN police chief who told me how many police officers get shot at gun ranges because they think their weapons are not loaded. He invented a simple gun lock that goes in the barrel of a gun so you can easily see if the gun is locked.
Chris Black
9:06 am on Thursday, December 6, 2012
The main concern should be prosecuting the gun owner for violating the law, which resulted in a death.
Liberals are constantly squealing that we need more gun laws, yet they will be the first ones to say "leave the father alone, he has suffered enough!"
David F
9:32 am on Thursday, December 6, 2012
@Chris, you are rushing to judgement as to where the gun came from and who owned the gun. Wait until the police investigation finds out the details of why and how this happened. I have been on juries dealing with child protective custody issues and it is not pretty.
Terry Elliott
10:33 am on Thursday, December 6, 2012
David: it's been mandatory that all new guns come with gun locks for over 10 years now. So people have them (I have a pile of them). Remember though gun locks only work if the gun is unloaded. So if guns are loaded, they're not locked using a gun lock (although they can be locked in their original case). Gun locks are not a panacea.
James Sanna
10:46 am on Thursday, December 6, 2012
@Terry - What about trigger locks? I've seen some that appear as though they'd work regardless of whether the gun was loaded.
David F
10:49 am on Thursday, December 6, 2012
Evidently email notifications go faster than updating the comments section. There is/was another comment about gun locks that guns next to be empty to use a gun lock. In the case of the gun lock I mentioned the gun does not have to be empty and the lock is used by the US Secret Service and FBI. It is not a true gun lock more like a child proof mechanism for a gun since there is no locking mechanism. It is effective to make sure the gun cannot be fired.
Keira McMillen
2:04 pm on Thursday, December 6, 2012
@Chris What law did the gun owner break? I'm a liberal and I own guns. I'm a mother and I own guns. I shoot for recreation. I grew up with guns, my father was a ballistic engineer. Education for the owner of the guns could save far more lives then playing the blame game on liberals. Keep your guns in a place small children cant get too and educate them when they are old enough. Personally that 4 year old should know what that gun was capable of doing if you are going to keep it accessible. Oh and don't keep your ammunition with the gun either. It may not have been loaded. My 4 year old could figure out how to load a revolver. There are a lot of scenarios . My kids have no clue where we keep the guns and soon when they are old enough they will take a gun safety class. Oh and all my guns were purchased well over 15 years ago so no mandatory locks. My heart breaks for that family.
David F
2:14 pm on Thursday, December 6, 2012
for better or worst over 50% of the US households have guns and just like seat belts I am sure plenty don't take gun safety classes or use gun locks. The US is also the largest exporter of weapons in the world many of the weapons are now in the streets of Libya and Syria. The US DOD has promoted a strong weapons manufacturing capability and has promoted exports to help the manufacturers stay viable. Not sure the end result has made the world a safer place.