The GOP's "Handguns in Yellowstone" Amendment Claims a 3-Year Old Victim

[NYC_SKP]

First, I think most would agree that an idiot who brings his family from Idaho into Yellowstone with a loaded and unsecured handgun, and leaves it laying around for his child to find, is not really the type who would care one way or another about whether or not the law allows him to bring it into the park.

What a bullshit headline, here's this fresh piece of shit reporting hot off the press:

The GOP's "Handguns in Yellowstone" Amendment Claims a 3-Year Old Victim

When Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) attached an amendment permitting tourists to carry loaded handguns in the nation’s national parks onto the 2009 Credit Card Holders’ Bill of Rights, it was an accident waiting to happen. On the morning of Saturday September 7th, in Yellowstone National Park’s Grant Village Campground that accident happened with tragic results for a young girl who fatally shot herself with a loaded handgun. The girl was just three years old.

The national parks had been virtually gun free zones for decades until Coburn, with heavy NRA backing, attached an amendment to the 2009 Credit Card Holders’ bill to have the prohibition on loaded firearms lifted. His poisoned pill amendment was approved by Congress and signed by President Obama into law. Had Obama not signed the bill, credit card reform would have been scuttled and the big banks would have emerged the victor. However, by signing the bill, the NRA benefited from the provision that permitted loaded guns to be carried into the national parks.

Although Coburn touts the bill as having reducing violent crime, once falsely boasting on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that "rapes, murders, robberies and assaults are down about 85 percent since we did that", the reality is that allowing loaded guns in the parks has not made them safer and it has increased the risk of fatal accidents like the one that claimed the little girl’s life on Saturday. While violent crimes have never been a serious problem inside the national parks, the first year loaded handguns were allowed (beginning in February of 2010) the number of violent crimes rose from 307 to 369 violent crimes or a twenty percent increase. In 2011, the number declined back down to 323 violent crimes, a total that still exceeded the 2009 total.

Perhaps more importantly, the number of homicides rose from just three in 2009 to fifteen in 2010, a five fold increase. Clearly the claim that loaded guns in the parks has made them safer does not stand up to the evidence which suggests otherwise. Rapes and aggravated assaults also rose from 2009 and 2010 after loaded guns were permitted. Of the four types of violent crime, only robberies decreased and they declined only slightly.

Read More: http://www.politicususa.com/2013/09/08/gops-handguns-yellowstone-amendment-claims-3-year-victim.html

I'm calling bullshit that they blame the amendment and not the fucking idiot parent, which means that real solutions won't be discussed.

It was reported that the handgun was in the control of the father, Per Christian Post:

Girl Shot in Yellowstone Died From Bullet Fired From Father's Gun

By Myles Collier, Christian Post Contributor
September 9, 2013|8:46 am

Authorities investigating the death of a young girl in Yellowstone National Park have stated that the child died from a bullet fired from a pistol operated by her father.

The death was the first such incident in Yellowstone National Park since 1978 and occurred at the Grant Village campground on the shores of Yellowstone Lake.

Information has been slow to be released as investigators continue with their investigation, but reports did indicate that the girl's mother called emergency dispatchers on Saturday to report that her daughter had shot herself at the popular lakeside campsite.

Emergency personnel were unable to revive the toddler whose name is being withheld until Monday at the request of the family, who are from Idaho, park spokesman Al Nash said.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/girl-shot-in-yellowstone-died-from-bullet-fired-from-fathers-gun-104053/

Again: I think most would agree that an idiot who brings his family from Idaho into Yellowstone with a loaded and unsecured handgun, and leaves it laying around for his child to find, is not really the type who would care one way or another about whether or not the law allows him to bring it into the park.

According to the author, an Amendment killed a child.

So it's not guns or people who kill people, Amendments kill people. (and the father is blameless)

[Common Sense Party]

2. I took my handgun into Yellowstone. I was surprised--shocked--when it didn't shoot anyone.

Not even a bear or an endangered eagle.

[NYC_SKP]

10. It must be broken. Did you remember to have it loaded and out where children can get it?

Or maybe the amendment uses guns to kill even if they're locked up and unloaded.

It's confusing.

[Demit]

3. Your conclusion rests on a very big assumption.

You have no way of knowing whether someone would have brought a gun to a park even if there were still a law against it. You are surmising, guessing, so that you can make your point.

If you want to talk common sense, I'd say that "fucking idiots" are the very ones in a society who need there to be laws.

[NYC_SKP]

4. Naturally, there's no way of knowing. To be sure, laws do not stop idiotic acts.

I think I'm on solid ground making the argument that the existence of the law, or lack of the law, is not a guaranteed preventative to idiotic parenting.

And to blame the amendment for the death, well that's just even more idiotic.

[Eleanors38]

5. Meet the "new" media. Same as the "old" media.

[NYC_SKP]

6. I wouldn't mind so much except that this bullshit detracts from REAL SOLUTIONS!

Last edited Mon Sep 9, 2013, 11:38 AM - Edit history (1)

While the media and over-zealous gun control activists are busy blaming legislators and looking for ridiculous policies as solutions, the real discussions that might lead to life-saving solutions never take place.

EDIT: replaced "gun-grabbers" with "over-zealous gun control activists" because that's more civil.

[Eleanors38]

9. They are hard-line extremist prohibitionists, so seeing

the results of these outbursts and ignoring the consequences does not surprise me; their priorities are much more self-centered & self-serving.

Sometimes I believe they wish to secede from the rest of society mire than some odd county in Colorado.

[sarisataka]

7. Someone correct me if I am wrong...

but isn't the usual reply to an article of a successful DGU is something like "one incident does not justify...", yet one death (no matter how tragic) in nearly four years would seem to be parallel logic.

The increases in crime are an interesting aside. Since none of the increased homicides were gun related, they can be discounted from this debate but it would be of interest to see how often a gun was used in the other crimes. Then for comparison any reports of crimes stopped by a person carrying a weapon.

[NYC_SKP]

8. I think it's just evidence of the desperation of those who think laws solve all problems.

There's so much nuttiness and hypocrisy around gun discussions that it boggles the mind.

And it also explains why nothing gets done, there's no willingness to find common ground.

For example, I would be fine with rescinding the 2010 law- let people bring in starter's pistols or other bear protection items, I don't care if we can bring guns in parks or not.

But for pointing out the obvious, for calling bullshit on bullshit, I could be labeled a gun nut NRA mouthpiece.

It's just so sad and unproductive.

Ah well, at least I'm on the side of sanity.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

11. I've said it before and I'll say it again...

...gun-control laws are not about guns but more about people and they do nothing to "control" crime, negligence or stupidity.

Control is a myth.


Prohibition didn't eliminate alcohol. The AWB did not control most assault weapons. The war on drugs hasn't eradicated drugs. All any these measures accomplished is raising prices.

[NYC_SKP]

12. Her name was Ella Marie Tucker.

Ella Marie Tucker - Obituary

Ella Marie Tucker, 3

Chubbuck, ID-Ella Marie Tucker, passed away following a tragic accident on Sat. Sept. 7, 2013. A full obituary will appear in a future edition of the Journal. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Thur. Sept. 12, 2013 at the Whitaker Ward LDS Chapel at 4890 Whitaker Rd. A viewing will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Wed. Sept. 11, 2013 at Wilks Funeral Home 211 W. Chubbuck Rd. and one hour prior to services at the church. Condolences may be sent to the family online at www.wilksfuneralhome.com. [phone]

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/idahostatejournal/obituary.aspx?n=ella-marie-tucker&pid=166885847&fhid=8077

http://trib.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/officials-identify-girl-fatally-shot-at-yellowstone/article_7e90c046-3bdf-5e59-9a8e-1060da6af5f2.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Family may be from Chubbuck, Idaho.

No further details at this time.