Should Kids Have Guns? 5-year-old Kills Sister With His Rifle

Giving a 5-year-old child a .22-caliber rifle as a gift is ludicrous. Leaving that child alone with his 2-year-old sister is criminal. As a result of two idiotic parents taking the 2nd amendment way too far, their daughter is dead.

2-year-old Caroline Starks was shot dead by her 5-year-old brother. Yes, it was an accident. Yes, everyone is devastated, including the townfolk, but that's irrelevant.

Apparently, the boy had been given the gun last year for his fourth birthday, and was playing with it in the house when mom stupidly walked out of the house for a moment, leaving her son alone with his gun, and boom. One child gone.

The weapon was a Crickett rifle made for children, and called "My First Rifle", and had been sitting in the corner of their house (not locked up as it should have been) with a shell in the barrel, that the mum claims she had no idea was still there.  So maybe the son wasn't playing with the gun when she went out to the porch, but the fact that the gun was lying around the house is unconscionable.

Local coroner Gary White said of the incident, it was "just one of those crazy accidents".  No, it's crazy to give a 5-year-old a real gun.

The lucky parents will not be charged with negligence, although they should be.

Sources: L.A. Times, The Sun

Georgia Town To Require Families To Own Guns

A small town in Georgia, with just one police officer to its name, is set to force all heads of households to own a gun. The Family Protection Act will require families to "maintain a firearm, together with ammunition." Of course there will be exceptions: people who object on religious grounds and convicted felons.  This should be a 2nd Amendment and gun advocate's dream, but being forced to own one turns the issue into 'big government', as resident Lamar Kellett put it, after officials said they would not enforce it:

"Why have an ordinance if you're not going to enforce it? What's the point? This is big government at its worst. Government mandating what a free individual can and will have in his home."

Lamar has no problems with gun ownership, just being told he has to own one.

Since the town is situated in two counties and the one police officer only works his 8 hour day, the other 16 hours leave the town vulnerable. Per Councilman Duane Cronic:

"When he's not here we rely on county sheriffs--however it takes a while for them to get here."

Kennesaw, Georgia has had that law on the books since 1982, though it has not been enforced. According to Kennesaw police, around half the town owns guns. A gun ownership law was also passed in Virgin, Utah in 2000, again not enforced, although 95% of the population there were gun owners prior to the law passing.

It would be interesting to note what the crime statistics are in those towns, and how it will effect Nelson, Georgia.

H/T: Newser

Rapper Ice-T Defends Right To Bear Arms- "The Last Form Of Defense Against Tyranny"

You might think rapper/actor Ice-T (Law and Order: SVU) was a Republican, but is he?  Probably not, but his defense of gun ownership might make you think twice. In an interview with British Channel 4 News anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy, he defended the right to bear arms- which is not a very liberal stance.

 He was there to discuss a documentary he produced about rapping when the Aurora Batman massacre news emerged. Guru-Murthy decided to ask Ice-T why he is such a defender of gun rights, and this is a loose transcript of that conversation.

Ice-T: Well, I'd give up my gun when everybody else does. Doesn't that make sense? Doesn't that make sense. If there were guns here, would you want to be the only person without one?

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: So do you carry guns routinely at home? I mean, you have a gun at home?

Ice-T: Yeah, it's legal in the United States. It's part of our Constitution. You know, the right to bear arms is because that's the last form of defense against tyranny. Not to hunt. It's to protect yourself from the police.

Anchor: And do you see any link between that and these sorts of incidents?

Ice-T: No. Nah. Not really. You know what I'm saying, if somebody wants to kill people, you know, they don't need a gun to do it.

Anchor: It makes it easier though, doesn't it?

Ice-T: Not really. You can strap explosives on your body, they do that all the time.

Anchor: So when there's the inevitable backlash of the anti-gun lobby as a result of this incident, as there always is?

Ice-T: Well, that's not going to change anything.

Anchor: it's not going to change anything.

Ice-T: Nah. The United States is based on guns, you know. Like [inaudible] says, you''ll never have justice on stolen land. So, it's not gonna change.