[samsamsam]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/natio.../21062089/

Quote:

HAYDEN, Idaho — A mom died Tuesday after her toddler reached into her purse and accidentally discharged her handgun, authorities said.

Veronica J. Rutledge, 29, of Blackfoot, Idaho, was shopping at a Walmart in this Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, suburb with four children in tow. One of the children, a boy about 2 years old, was left in a shopping cart, reached into his mother's purse at about 10:20 a.m. MT, and the weapon went off once, said Lt. Stu Miller, Kootenai County Sheriff's Office spokesman.

"It appears to be a pretty tragic accident," Miller said. Rutledge was dead by the time deputies arrived.

Deputies weren't immediately aware of how all the children and Rutledge were related. She had traveled to Hayden, about 400 miles northwest of Blackfoot, to visit relatives for the holidays, Miller said.

The store closed after the shooting and won't reopen until Wednesday morning, according to Walmart management.

[Skye]

Is that town in Idaho frightening enough to justify concealed carry to walmart?

[JoyStick]

Wow that sucks. That kid is going to grow up fucked up in the head.

[alexdagr81]

(12-30-2014 07:51 PM)JoyStick Wrote:  

Wow that sucks. That kid is going to grow up fucked up in the head.

Well I was thinking he wouldn't remember, but my mom said dumb people will remind him when things are going rough that it was him who killed his mama.

[TheWastelander]

This is partly why you should carry on your person in a holster, not a fucking bag.

Bad things are way more likely to happen if you don't have direct control of your gun.

[Merenguero]

I stopped reading at Walmart.

[Suits]

(12-30-2014 08:00 PM)TheWastelander Wrote:  

This is partly why you should carry on your person in a holster, not a fucking bag.

Bad things are way more likely to happen if you don't have direct control of your gun.

The 2nd Amendment protects her right to have a fully locked and loaded handgun just bouncing around in her purse with all of the other stupid garbage that doesn't fit in the pockets of the impractical outfit that squeezes the fat out from between her pants and midriff baring shirt.

[Mujeriego]

(12-30-2014 07:50 PM)Skye Wrote:  

Is that town in Idaho frightening enough to justify concealed carry to walmart?

The point of carrying concealed is to be prepared. Some like to carry 24/7 while others pick and choose when/where they carry. The main point to take away from this story is safety, or lack thereof. This woman left a loaded gun within easy reach of a toddler. Keeping your gun in a safe place is in the top 3 of gun safety rules. Now her children are without a mother and the anti-gun camp has another story to further their cause.

[Shrodax]

(12-30-2014 07:50 PM)Skye Wrote:  

Is that town in Idaho frightening enough to justify concealed carry to walmart?

Have you ever actually been to a Wal-Mart? Every time I go to one and see the other "people" there, no matter what I'm carrying, I'm always thinking I should have brought something bigger with more ammo.

Shit, there's even a special name in gun-circles for carrying at Wal-Mart. It's called the "Wally Walk".

[TheWastelander]

(12-30-2014 08:31 PM)Suits Wrote:  

(12-30-2014 08:00 PM)TheWastelander Wrote:  

This is partly why you should carry on your person in a holster, not a fucking bag.

Bad things are way more likely to happen if you don't have direct control of your gun.

The 2nd Amendment protects her right to have a fully locked and loaded handgun just bouncing around in her purse with all of the other stupid garbage that doesn't fit in the pockets of the impractical outfit that squeezes the fat out from between her pants and midriff baring shirt.

And the first amendment protects the right of feminist typists to spew bile all over the internet.

What's your point?

[dicknixon72]

(12-30-2014 08:31 PM)Suits Wrote:  

The 2nd Amendment protects her right to have a fully locked and loaded handgun just bouncing around in her purse with all of the other stupid garbage that doesn't fit in the pockets of the impractical outfit that squeezes the fat out from between her pants and midriff baring shirt.

+1

These are the same people who put forty-seven baubles on their car's keychain and wonder why their ignition turns off or five carpeted mats and an all-weather mat on their floorboard and wonder why their accelerator pedal sticks.

[samsamsam]

I wonder if something bad had happened to her before, or just he mass paranoia of future race wars, rapists everywhere and thieves hiding behind every Dorito bag convinced her she needed a gun. A gun without the safety on.

I am not a gun expert here but with the safety on what are the odds this happen? Maybe the 2 year old gets lucky switches it off and then fires?

[TheWastelander]

There's not enough info to say. It could've been a revolver, which don't have safeties because they typically have heavier, longer trigger pulls or it could've been a Glock the moron just threw in her purse.

The main safety is common sense, which this woman was unsurprisingly lacking.

This kind of stupidity is more common than you'd think.

Treating a gun like a fashion accessory and throwing it in a purse with tons of other shit that can get in the trigger guard, or where it can slip around or be reached by people who shouldn't have access to it, is retarded.

[samsamsam]

Speaking off accessories, would have been funny if she had one of those little handbag shit dogs so many people have and the dog someone fired the gun and killed her.

[RoastBeefCurtains4Me]

Heard about this on NPR. They made it sound as horrible as possible, obviously hoping to stoke anti-gun sentiment. They'll never play a story about a successful home defense.

On the same episode, they had a story about how children are not swarming over the Mexican border any more, as they were this summer. They claimed the children were coming due to violence in Central America, and did not mention in any way that it was because Obama announced unaccompanied minors would be granted special handling as illegal immigrants, which attracted massive numbers of unaccompanied minors to cross the border.

I've got to stop listening to NPR. I wish there were some kind of red pill news radio.

[WanderingSoul]

This isn't a gun issue, it's an issue with a mother making a very bad mistake.

Leaving a gun in her purse, with the safety off, within reach or her child is the equivalent to leaving a pill bottle opened inside of her purse. The baby could have easily ingested some pills and died on the spot.

[weambulance]

I discourage off-body carry for many reasons, but one of the major ones is it allows others access to your gun much more easily, whether they mean to touch it or not. She could have caused the weapon to fire herself just as easily if all it took was a 2 year old screwing around in the purse.

* If that's what actually happened. She could be lying to save face. "I was cleaning it and it just went off!" is a very common refrain by inexperienced gun users who just had an accidental discharge. *

I'd guess it was a Glock or similar, some shit was stuck through the trigger guard, and as the weapon/stuff was moved around it got enough leverage at the right angle to pull the trigger. Which is why guns live in holsters, to protect the trigger, and also to keep lint and other crap from accumulating in the gun.

Still it's best to keep any firearms separated from other shit holster or not, for safety reasons and so you can actually get the damn thing out if you need it.

[weambulance]

On a side note, I'm pretty disappointed by how many people on this forum have clear authoritarian attitudes.

People bitch all the time about stuff the government is doing, then turn around in the next thread and start implying they want freedoms reduced by that very same government because oh no! there was an accident somewhere, or someone went crazy and shot a bunch of people.

How do you live with such cognitive dissonance?

Freedom also includes personal responsibility. Personal, not group responsibility. If some fucko goes crazy and shoots a bunch of kids at a college, my responsibility for that is zero. I had nothing to do with it. And I will not suffer for it.

Drunk driving causes over 10,000 deaths per year in the US. How would you like it if the government mandated that you had to blow .00% BAC before you could start your car, even if you had never driven drunk in your life, let alone been caught for it? If it saves just one life...

How would you feel when you had a beer while watching the football game after dinner, and you or your girlfriend/wife/kid/whatever cut themselves badly in the kitchen cleaning up, and... you can't drive, because you're not blowing .00 even though you're nowhere near drunk. Your car won't even start. The government, not entirely stupid, has designed the system so it's not possible for another person to blow for you so you can get going.

And now you're at the mercy of the system. Maybe the ambulance will turn up in time, maybe not. Maybe it's a busy night. Maybe it's a nicked artery and you don't have the extra 5-10 minutes to screw around waiting on an ambulance. Maybe you could save a life or a limb, possibly your own, if you could drive right then, but you can't. Because you gave up your capacity for action to the government.

Is that the world you want to live in?

[roberto]

(12-31-2014 02:17 AM)weambulance Wrote:  

On a side note, I'm pretty disappointed by how many people on this forum have clear authoritarian attitudes.

People bitch all the time about stuff the government is doing, then turn around in the next thread and start implying they want freedoms reduced by that very same government because oh no! there was an accident somewhere, or someone went crazy and shot a bunch of people.

How do you live with such cognitive dissonance?

Freedom also includes personal responsibility. Personal, not group responsibility. If some fucko goes crazy and shoots a bunch of kids at a college, my responsibility for that is zero. I had nothing to do with it. And I will not suffer for it.

Drunk driving causes over 10,000 deaths per year in the US. How would you like it if the government mandated that you had to blow .00% BAC before you could start your car, even if you had never driven drunk in your life, let alone been caught for it? If it saves just one life...

How would you feel when you had a beer while watching the football game after dinner, and you or your girlfriend/wife/kid/whatever cut themselves badly in the kitchen cleaning up, and... you can't drive, because you're not blowing .00 even though you're nowhere near drunk. Your car won't even start. The government, not entirely stupid, has designed the system so it's not possible for another person to blow for you so you can get going.

And now you're at the mercy of the system. Maybe the ambulance will turn up in time, maybe not. Maybe it's a busy night. Maybe it's a nicked artery and you don't have the extra 5-10 minutes to screw around waiting on an ambulance. Maybe you could save a life or a limb, possibly your own, if you could drive right then, but you can't. Because you gave up your capacity for action to the government.

Is that the world you want to live in?

Fuckin Amen. Well said.

Every time I hear the words 'if it saves just one life', especially from a dude, I see red and want to throttle the cunt.

In other news, sad as it is for the kids, Darwin's Law continues it's unfaltering course....

[weambulance]

Oops, regarding my first comment, didn't realize the woman was dead. So she is unlikely to be lying about anything.

[Parlay44]

Natural selection.

[Suits]

Come on guys, stop blaming the victim.

[CactusCat589]

That is a tough break. The kid is going to live his whole life knowing that he not only killed his mom, but stole her from his three siblings.

I don't even blame her for concealed carry at Wall-Mart around the Christmas and New Year's timeframe when things could suddenly go wrong. But she was doing it wrong. Where did she learn that it was fine to just carry the loaded gun in her handbag? And not only that, but not notice as her toddler got in there.

Every gunowner knows that it's impossible for a gun to just go off by itself, just they still do their utmost to minimize the possibility.

I feel bad for her too. Her last thoughts are that she killed herself with her own stupidity, not dying bravely in defense of her children.

[roberto]

(01-01-2015 12:40 AM)Suits Wrote:  

Come on guys, stop blaming the victim.

Well who the heck else is there to blame??

[VolandoVengoVolandoVoy]

I'm not anti-gun, I'm anti-ignorance.
I grew up around guns, used to compete at target shooting, and still occasionally hunt.
My father is an army vet, and he gave me a lot of talks and education, and examples and training before I was ever allowed to put my hands on a real weapon. Stuff like treat every weapon as if was loaded and be sure of your target/backstop is reflexive to me, since he literally drilled into my head by repetition when I was a little boy. Safety, safety, safety. Combined with practice and expertise was what he was all about.
When I got out into the world, and met some of the "average" gun owners that would show up with their new toy at gun clubs or run their mouths at the bar, I was appalled. I had no idea just how ignorant and irresponsible people could be.
It made me seriously question our gun laws, and also the NRA. Back in the day, when I was growing up, my perception was that the NRA was an organization dedicated to education, excellence, and responsible/safe gun ownership. At some point in the 90s, it got corrupted by the major gun manufacturers who wanted more sales, and it morphed into a political action committee that fought against all gun regulations everywhere.
I don't think it's realistic for everyone to have as much training and preparation as my Dad gave me, but I think owning a gun should be at least as difficult as getting a driver's license. There should be a training period that involves classroom hours, pratical training, and a final test. Perhaps there could be a way for people with previous firearms training to skip right to the final test and not have to sit through a 2 month course. Also screening for mental illness/criminal past would be a good idea.