Police: 10-Year-Old Boy Playing With Gun Kills 11-Year-Old

[billh58]

Police say a 10-year-old fatally shot an 11-year-old after the boys found a handgun in a home in Virginia.

Roanoke police said in a statement that the boys were playing with the gun about 12:20 p.m. Thursday when the younger boy shot the older. Police say the 10-year-old called 911.

Police spokesman Scott Leamon tells The Roanoke Times that the 11-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene. He says no one else was in the house when the shooting occurred and the boys were related.

The statement says no charges have been filed but detectives are consulting with the Roanoke commonwealth's attorney's office.

The Times reports that under Virginia law, leaving a loaded, unsecured firearm so that it endangers any child younger than 14 is a misdemeanor.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/police-10-year-boy-playing-gun-kills-11-39415793

A misdemeanor? Really? Causing a child's death only warrants a slap on the wrist? The right-wing gun lobby and it's supporters and apologists are directly responsible for a misapplication of justice like this. ALEC/NRA write most of the gun laws that allow people to be killed every day so that gun manufacturers and dealers can make blood money profits, and the corrupt politicians do their bidding by enacting those weak, ineffective laws.

Strict responsibility laws must be tied to the ownership of lethal weapons, and must be enacted through legislation, and then vigorously enforced in order to reduce the obscene amount of gun violence in this country.

[JonathanRackham]

1. Child neglect causing death overall is serious.

Locally we had a 3 year girl old drown in the bath tub. In another case twin boys age two burnt when they were left home alone by their parents. It's prom season, soon I'll be reading about parents hosting unage drinking parties. It's warming up outside, soon the locals will be leaving their kids in the locked cars while they go into the casinos because they're won't get a baby sitter.

Last winter a mother was drunk and passed out on the couch, the stove started on fire and her kids left the house without coats or shoes.

and we still have parents smoking in the same room as their kids.

I agree, parents shouldn't leave their guns out either.

[billh58]

2. Yes, like all gunners

you point out that people die from many different causes, but bath tubs, stoves, cars and alcohol are not designed to kill people -- guns are. Guns are lethal weapons and designed for the purpose of killing, and need to be regulated so that they do not achieve their designed purpose more often than necessary.

Now run along back to the Gungeon and tell your gun hugging buddies how clever you are, Bubba. Don't you have a Trump rally to attend?

[JonathanRackham]

3. The point was neglect and responsibility.

[billh58]

4. You and I both know

that was not your point. The real "point" of this thread is legislation aimed specifically at the responsibilities associated with the ownership of a lethal weapon.

Your point was to spout the ALEC/NRA half-truth that people are accidentally killed with items which are NOT specifically designed to kill and maim on an everyday basis. You can't kill someone from 25 feet away with a bath tub or an automobile, and it is highly unlikely that a 10-year old would "accidentally" kill an 11-year old with a bath tub or a swimming pool.

Now go ahead and have the last word Bubba, because I'm finished dealing with right-wingers who troll this Group.

[niyad]

5. how many children have to die before people get it?

[billh58]

6. If it were up to the

Second Amendment absolutist gun humpers, there is no limit to the number of deaths caused by irresponsible gun owners, as all deaths and injuries are just the "price of maintaining freedom and liberty."

For the rest of us, however, the number has already surpassed the "allowable" limits by many hundreds of thousands.

[niyad]

7. so very, very true.