What punishment should he get ? - 4th episode

[Masklinn]

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December 4, 1995 Bronx, NY: Jose Pena found the gun lying among the weeds and trash at Claremont Park, where he'd gone to play handball with some friends. He picked it up and took it home, both for protection and because it seemed a
novelty. Four years later his 3-year-old son discovered it in a kitchen cabinet after climbing onto a chair. The gun went off, fatally blasting the toddler in the chest.
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I'd say no punishment. The tragic loss of his son should be hard enough to make him think a little.

Go ahead, give your opinions.

[ 02-20-2003, 06:43 AM: Message edited by: Masklinn ]

[Legolas]

I think it's the 1st he. The 4th in the series.

I don't think Jose could have anticipated his child shooting itself by accident 4 years after bringing the gun home. He could have anticipated someone shooting him/herself by accident after bringing the gun home. I don't know if it went off because of his lack of knowledge about firearms, the todler knowing how to load bullets and making it ready to fire, or the (lack of) quality of the weapon, but in all cases but the second it's definately Jose's fault for bringing it home and storing it someplace a child can reach, ready to fire and all.
He should be tickled to death [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Masklinn]

storing it someplace a child can reach

I can't think of a place unreachable by children. They can have a great imagination when it comes to reaching forbidden/unreachable places.

[Legolas]

Putting a big lock on it can really help. Although they'd still try, you're right about that. And it wouldn't help much in keeping you safe if the gun isn't readily availiable, which is probably why it was loaded in the first place.
Which is why he shouldn't have had the gun at all, whether he'd found it on the ground or bought one in a store. But it seems for most people in the USA that's a calculated risk.

[wellard]

Yes I agree with you Masklinn. the punishement has already been given. One that he has to live with for the rest of his life. The real culprit is the need in people to keep weapons of death in there homes... WHY?

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by wellard: Yes I agree with you Masklinn. the punishement has already been given. One that he has to live with for the rest of his life. The real culprit is the need in people to keep weapons of death in there homes... WHY?

Two reasons - Protection and Recreation.

When I was in college, I had come home for the weekend. We lived at the very end of a long dirt road and our driveway was built so that you couldn't see our house until you literally came around the last curve - then you were in our yard. One night, a truck came skidding to a stop in our driveway around 1am. I sat up in bed and looked out my window in time to see the driver climb out of the truck, look towards our house, reach behind his seat and pull out a rifle, and look back towards our house. Fortunately (for him and us both) he decided to run into the surrounding woods rather than towards the house. It was fortunate for us because we weren't actually confronted by this dangerous person. It was fortunate for him because my father would have shot him before he reached the front porch. So, the "protection" aspect IS a valid reason.

As for recreation....I just enjoy shooting guns. I love to target shoot, but sadly, I don't have much opportunity any more. [img]graemlins/verysad.gif[/img]

Personally, I have seriously debated the wisdom of keeping two loaded guns in my house. My oldest boy (6) knows I have the guns and he knows where they are kept. They are "out of reach" but I know that he could reach them if he really wanted to. If I take the bullets out of the gun, then I'm really defeating the purpose of having them in the house to begin with. While one is clip-fed...it would be next to impossible to retrieve the gun, take it out of it's case, find the clip, put it in the gun, and chamber the first round before any would be burglar/attacker got to me.

Still, the potential to lose one of my children in a terrible accident such as Masklinn mentioned far outweighs the risk I face of somebody "breaking in". Truth to tell, the incident at my parents house is the ONLY time in my life when I felt threatened enough in my own home to want a gun readily available. That's one incident in 39 years. The chances of one of my 3 boys having an accident with the gun are FAR greater. So the guns will be "disarmed".

{Besides, I also have a couple of knives in the top bureau draw - in case of emergency }

As for the punishment of the father....nothing could be done that is worse than what he has already suffered.

[Donut]

Spoiler removed.



[ 02-20-2003, 11:41 AM: Message edited by: Donut ]

[Masklinn]

Cerek :

look towards our house, reach behind his seat and pull out a rifle

So this guy was dangerous cause he had a gun...therefor you feel the need to have one yourself for protection, then the bad guys can't do bad stuff without guns cause all good guys have one, so they get themselves one etc...etc... This is a vicious circle. And that results in more domestic accidents like this one.

Now as Donut said (spoiled ) Jose Pena was sentenced to teach schoolchildren about gun safety.

[Donut]

Sorry Masklinn. I'll edit my post. You should do the same and leave it open for a while.

[andrewas]

Originally posted by Masklinn: Cerek : Quote: look towards our house, reach behind his seat and pull out a rifle

So this guy was dangerous cause he had a gun...therefor you feel the need to have one yourself for protection, then the bad guys can't do bad stuff without guns cause all good guys have one, so they get themselves one etc...etc... This is a vicious circle. And that results in more domestic accidents like this one.

[/QUOTE]OTOH, if you and all law abiding citizens destroyed their weapons, the only ones with guns would be the bad guys. And thats an even worse situation. The world would (probably) be a better place if science had never been turned towards weapons of destruction, but theres no way to return to that state now.

As far as this case goes, all the guy is guilty of is being incredibly stupid. His son paid the price for that. Keeping a loaded weapon where a child can easily get at it is insane. (Whether or not keeping an unloaded weapon where a child can only get at it with extreme effort is any better is another debate).

Keeping a weapon you dont know how to handle safely is also insane. I get the impression that the guy left the weapon loaded all that time. Not smart.

So for punishing him, I reckon the authorities got it right in this case. Cant think of a better punishment.