Mother, 42, killed by police after shooting dead her two daughters, aged 22 and 17 in family dispute

[Ghost in the Machine]

44. Also notice that the post by Madison was from Oct. 2010.. almost 6 years ago, so she would have been

what... 11 years old, and her dad telling here that she was a "regular Annie Oakley", and she could "have his back in a gunfight anytime"???

I was an expert marksman with a BB gun and a .22 rifle when I was 11 years old, having gotten my first BB gun at the age of 5, and first .22 rifle at 7, but I was not allowed to TOUCH them without my father, mother or grandmother around.... only with my father around with the .22, but my mom, or grandmother who lived with us, could sit out in the back yard with me while I shot at targets with my BB gun. I could hit a bottle cap dead center from 30 yards, or hit an empty .22 shell casing at the same distance. However, MY father would never, EVER, say that I could "have his back in a gunfight"!

My dad was ex-Navy, and a Trades Union member. My grandfather, who died when my dad was 17, was a founding member of the Local Union, and was a retired Navy Veteran who was injured during a Japanese bombing raid at Guadal Canal. The blast blew him against a tree, breaking his back, and also caught a piece of shrapnel about 6 to 8 inches long and 2 inches thick. He spent over a month on a hospital ship, then 8 months in a hospital in the Phillipines before being shipped back to the States, where he was later diagnosed with Lymphoma, and didn't last barely 2 months after the diagnosis. That's when my dad joined the Navy, so he could take care of his mother, and keep the house that my grandfather had built. He served 8 years and got out just before Vietnam, then joined the Union. The Union gave him credit for his 8 years of Service, and that's how he just got his 60 year Membership Pin last November, at the age of 77.

I, personally, think that EVERY PARENT, whether you own guns or not, should teach their children gun safety so they at least know what, and what NOT, to do should they ever encounter one laying out in the open, no matter if it's at their own house, a friends house, on the street, in a park, or at school. DO NOT TOUCH IT! GO GET AN ADULT! TOUCHING IT COULD CAUSE YOU TO HURT OR KILL YOURSELF, OR ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS! *Educating* your child/ren doesn't mean that you have to like, or condone guns, but it COULD save their life, or the lives of others, by taking away their 'natural curiosity' and wanting to touch the 'forbidden fruit'* (*for lack of a better term right now).

It wouldn't have prevented this latest tragedy, but could have affected many others, where a child finds a gun laying around, picks it up out of curiosity/fascination, and winds up shooting themselves or someone else. MANY of those wouldn't have happened if the child had been taught to NOT TOUCH IT, and GO GET AN ADULT...

Peace,

Ghost