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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGirl, 15, Accidentally Kills Boyfriend Playing With Gun: Deputies
A teenage girl was arrested on Sunday night after accidentally shooting and killing her boyfriend while the two were playing with a gun.
Deputies with the Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office in South Carolina confirmed the incident to WPDE. As they explained, the shooting took place at a residence in Mount Croghan, South Carolina, and involved a handgun that the young couple was handling.
"Looked like they were playing with a gun, handgun, and the gun went off, the safety somehow went off and fired," Captain Wayne Jorden explained. "A round hit the 15-year-old male in the chest."
The boy's mother was home at the time that the gun went off and promptly called 911. Unfortunately, the son did not survive.
The teen girl was taken into police custody following the tragic incident, according to officials, and now faces a charge of involuntary manslaughter. As a minor, details about her identity beyond her age have not been disclosed to the public.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/girl-15-accidentally-kills-boyfriend-playing-with-gun-deputies/ar-AAYbrvP?bk=1&bk=1&ocid=msedgntp&cvid=a895bb6958d44358977389b4f1702526
Always remember... When children are playing with guns, everyone gets one so fire can be returned
Aristus
(66,316 posts)gratuitous
(82,849 posts)Gee, of all the vectors a bullet fired from the handgun could have taken, it just so happened to accidentally go into the boyfriend's chest! I mean, what are the odds? And didn't the gun know that the young people were just playing? Not that we should blame the gun, you understand. Or its owner, who couldn't possibly have foreseen that a couple of high-spirited teen-agers might take it out and play with it.
kairos12
(12,852 posts)the bullet.
Jerry2144
(2,096 posts)With negligence or negligent manslaughter?
Until the gun owners who recklessly leave their guns around so that children can pick them up and kill with them are prosecuted, this shit will never end.
Deuxcents
(16,173 posts)So.. guns DO kill people.
onethatcares
(16,165 posts)amazing what these guns can do.
If only someone would have told the kids about not playing with guns.
LizBeth
(9,952 posts)visiting a home that knows little to nothing about guns.
leftyladyfrommo
(18,868 posts)friends and they were messing with a 44. It went off and just blew his leg apart. He started heavy drinking because he was miserable and died of liver failure.
Even the people who survive have their lives completely disrupted.
Ohio Joe
(21,748 posts)I expect this poor girl had no intention of killing her boyfriend but... Her life will be ruined just the same. And the right will blame everything but the gun. It is so very fucked up.
dchill
(38,468 posts)MagickMuffin
(15,933 posts)They deserve FULL responsibly for having the gun within reach of children. Until parents are charged with providing guns then nothing will ever change.
Kaleva
(36,294 posts)magicarpet
(14,144 posts)That way she could have shot the girlfriend before she killed the son ?
It would also have saved the sheriff from having to make a house call to arrest the girlfriend. Just bury the dead girlfriend out in the back yard.
oioioi
(1,127 posts)a good girl with a gun.
SYFROYH
(34,165 posts)Because deaths from ARs are worse than deaths from handguns.
maxsolomon
(33,290 posts)I wouldn't know, but I presume a rifle can deliver a larger bullet with more velocity and therefore cause more damage.
SYFROYH
(34,165 posts)The relationship between terminal ballistics is the size of the bullet and speed of the bullet.
AR15s shoot a small slender bullet at high speed which causes more tissue damage than typical handgun bullets.
Solly Mack
(90,762 posts)Kind of like classes in safe sex but without the demand for abstinence as the only option, of course.
Initech
(100,062 posts)sarisataka
(18,578 posts)Just going off after the safety somehow went off.
We should not automatically assume the parents owned the gun
asa4ever
(66 posts)Basically what is the amount of pressure to pull the trigger.
Kaleva
(36,294 posts)Edit: I'd have to say that a majority of unintentional discharges I read about in the news occur because the pistol had a round in the chamber. No way to fire a pistol unless one first manually feeds a round in the chamber usually by racking back the slide. A revolver is different.
asa4ever
(66 posts)Kaleva
(36,294 posts)Cocking a revolver makes it a single action and the trigger is easier to pull
hunter
(38,310 posts)BlackSkimmer
(51,308 posts)Wish I had a dollar for how many times Ive read such ridiculous stories.
Kaleva
(36,294 posts)hunter
(38,310 posts)This schooling didn't keep me out of trouble, but maybe kept me alive.
If you can't run, be mostly harmless, or at least put up appearances of that.
All in all, this six decades of life would have been better without the fucking guns.
Kaleva
(36,294 posts)hunter
(38,310 posts)... and other sorts of religious heretics.
Doesn't mean we are nice.
My great grandmas, in our matriarchal family, were all terrifying property owning women of the Wild West.
My wife's family is very similar. We stumbled upon one another by happy accident. Jesus Christ she had a danger-to-herself-and-others grandma just like I did. Fire in the eyes.
My parents are artists. There were always strangers in their house. If the dogs accepted them that was okay. If not, they were expelled. I can't claim our own house was any different or unprotected. When our kids were teens I'd go downstairs and there would be these strangers standing in front of our refrigerator.
Hi! Who are you?
Just like when I was a kid waiting in line for the bathroom.
I'll ignore the half-digested guns in the dragon poop. And the PTSD.
ZonkerHarris
(24,220 posts)negligence
Midwestern Democrat
(806 posts)orders from his parents: "Don't even think of playing with the gun". Honestly, there's not much point to owning a gun for self-protection if it's going to always be unloaded and locked away in a safe - if you're the victim of a home invasion, you need to be able to get to the gun a lot quicker than that. I'd have to know more before I would automatically say his parents should be criminally liable.
I knew as young as seven that playing with guns was dangerous - one time an older neighbor boy showed me and some other boys his father's massive gun collection and for laughs he pointed one of the guns at me and pulled the trigger - even at 7, I had heard enough about deadly accidents involving boys playing with guns that I was scared enough to try to run away before he pulled the trigger (as if I could have outrun a speeding bullet).
Kaleva
(36,294 posts)Your comment:
"if you're the victim of a home invasion, you need to be able to get to the gun a lot quicker than that."
If you are worried about a home invasion, then the gun needs to be in your direct possession. Either openly carried or concealed carried.
And better yet, if one is worried about home invasion, then the exterior doors need to be reinforced and locked. Don't bother with a gun until that is done first.
hunter
(38,310 posts)...and I've come to the conclusion that guns are fairly useless for "self defense."
I deal with those issues the same way I drive my cars. Be not where the trouble is. Avoid the spaces in the time/space continuum where someone might hit you or you might hit them. Zen driving, one hand clapping.
Questions of tactical nukes and dragons are still unresolved.
Kaleva
(36,294 posts)I try to be aware of the situation around me. I know where the exits are in the stores and other places I go to. I spent $230 on my revolver but much more then that on reinforcing the doors, exterior lighting, Ring surveillance door bells and better quality locks and deadbolts . The master bedroom door is reinforced and has a deadbolt. I practice on what to do if there is a break in of which retreating to the master bedroom which is the saferoom. I will not confront a home invader unless I have no way to get to the safe room and cannot retreat otherwise.
For a long time I open carried in my own home mainly for training. So I'd get used to it and practice daily on how to safely handle it. However, I only did that when it was just me and my wife at home. I secured the gun in a safe in the bedroom located near my side of the bed when going to bed or when the grandkids or other people came over. With more and more grandkids, I finally decided not to carry anymore. I never carried outside my property unless going to the local shooting range.
We keep the exterior doors locked at night. If there's an intruder, my wife will get out of bed, grab her cell phone and go to the entrance of the master bathroom, lie down on the floor and call 911. I'll roll out of bed, retrieve my gun, go and lock the bedroom door and then get back to my side of the bed to kneel beside it using it as cover. I'll yell out I'm armed and the police have been called. Only if they attempt to kick in our bedroom door will I use the gun.
The response will be different if there are grandkids staying over night. I'll retrieve my gun and go and cover the top of the stairs which is near our bedroom door while my wife will grab her cell phone and go to the spare bedrooms down the hall where the grandkids will be and call the police from there. I'll yell out I'm armed and the police have been called. If the intruder(s) attempt to come up the stairs, I'll use the gun.
hunter
(38,310 posts)I've got a wicked scar on my arm to remember that by.
Could've gone any way. I'm still here.
Crazy me figures it all turned out for the best.
Wouldn't have been any different with guns. Got some experience with those too.
We live in the best of all possible worlds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_of_all_possible_worlds
That guy Leibniz invented the Calculus, you know.
PTWB
(4,131 posts)It isnt exactly rare for children and younger to have acquired their own firearms (not legally acquired, of course).
Sancho
(9,067 posts)This is my generic response to gun threads where people are shot and killed by the dumb or criminal possession of guns. For the record, I grew up in the South and on military bases. I was taught about firearms as a child, and I grew up hunting, was a member of the NRA, and I still own guns. In the 70s, I dropped out of the NRA because they become more radical and less interested in safety and training. Some personal experiences where people I know were involved in shootings caused me to realize that anyone could obtain and posses a gun no matter how illogical it was for them to have a gun. Also, easy access to more powerful guns, guns in the hands of children, and guns that werent secured are out of control in our society. As such, heres what I now think ought to be the requirements to possess a gun. Im not debating the legal language, I just think its the reasonable way to stop the shootings. Notice, none of this restricts the type of guns sold. This is aimed at the people who shoot others, because its clear that they should never have had a gun.
1.) Anyone in possession of a gun (whether they own it or not) should have a regularly renewed license. If you want to call it a permit, certificate, or something else that's fine.
2.) To get a license, you should have a background check, and be examined by a professional for emotional and mental stability appropriate for gun possession. It might be appropriate to require that examination to be accompanied by references from family, friends, employers, etc. This check is not to subject you to a mental health diagnosis, just check on your superficial and apparent gun-worthyness.
3.) To get the license, you should be required to take a safety course and pass a test appropriate to the type of gun you want to use.
4.) To get a license, you should be over 21. Under 21, you could only use a gun under direct supervision of a licensed person and after obtaining a learners license. Your license might be restricted if you have children or criminals or other unsafe people living in your home. (If you want to argue 18 or 25 or some other age, fine. 21 makes sense to me.)
5.) If you possess a gun, you would have to carry a liability insurance policy specifically for gun ownership - and likely you would have to provide proof of appropriate storage, security, and whatever statistical reasons that emerge that would drive the costs and ability to get insurance.
6.) You could not purchase a gun or ammunition without a license, and purchases would have a waiting period.
7.) If you possess a gun without a license, you go to jail, the gun is impounded, and a judge will have to let you go (just like a DUI).
8.) No one should carry an unsecured gun (except in a locked case, unloaded) when outside of home. Guns should be secure when transporting to a shooting event without demonstrating a special need. Their license should indicate training and special carry circumstances beyond recreational shooting (security guard, etc.). If you are carrying your gun while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, you lose your gun and license.
9.) If you buy, sell, give away, or inherit a gun, your license information should be recorded.
10.) If you accidentally discharge your gun, commit a crime, get referred by a mental health professional, are served a restraining order, etc., you should lose your license and guns until reinstated by a serious relicensing process.
Most of you know that a license is no big deal. Besides a drivers license you need a license to fish, operate a boat, or many other activities. I realize these differ by state, but that is not a reason to let anyone without a bit of sense pack a semiautomatic weapon in public, on the roads, and in schools. I think we need to make it much harder for some people to have guns.
bif
(22,697 posts)For Pete's sake!
jmowreader
(50,552 posts)"Teenage girl accidentally shoots boyfriend in the chest with a gun they were playing with" and "Teenage girl blows boyfriend's shit away after catching him kissing another girl" look an awful lot alike.