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Four-year-old shoots siblings

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AP - A four-year-old boy has shot and killed his five-year-old sister and seriously wounded his seven-year-old brother in the US.

 

The children were home alone at the time, police spokeswoman Corporal Diane Richardson said.

 

"It's a terrible situation that probably could have been avoided," she said.

 

Neighbours called police and the girl was taken to a hospital, where she died. Her seven-year-old brother was in critical condition at another hospital.

 

Authorities said the parents were at one of the hospitals late on Saturday, but it was unclear which one.

 

The four-year-old boy was in police custody late on Saturday, Richardson said.

 

"We're still trying to determine where the parents were," at the time of the shooting, she said.

 

Richardson said the parents could be charged for leaving small children unattended and for leaving the gun where the children could find it.

 

 

Whos fault - parents for not being there, or government for the pathetic gun laws - or should i say lack their of.... :roll: :arrow:

 

 

 

Personally as soon as i heard the story on the news i thought its got to be in America... and low and behold....

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Guest MachineDoctor

Ruthless, I can't argue about your first thought! It's mine too and I live here.

 

I don't think that it's all the fault of the gun laws. If someone wants a gun, they will get it regardless of the means (legal/illegal).

 

I'm not sure what the laws of your country are regarding firearms, but I would be very curious to hear what they are (and also anyone from a different country).

 

When I was a little boy (many years ago), I remember reading an article on the number of handgun (murder(not that I think the case cited is murder (but then again, what is the letter of the law))) related deaths throughout the world.

 

The USA topped the list with a number like 13,000.

 

At the bottom of the list was Great Britain with 8.

 

This information astounded me and fascinated me for a while. As I gew up, I guess I became more tolerant or maybe even numb to the numbers.

 

But as I was saying, it's not all about the law. It's about drugs, it's about people's stability and a multitude of other things.

 

I'm not saying that the law has nothing to do with it either. You can buy a gun easier than you can adopt a stray animal from the animal shelter. There are no uniform laws throughout the states (something that I do think needs to be put in place). At an animal shelter, you must attend a few classes, with your prospective new pet, before you can take it home, but you can walk into a gun store, show your permit and walk out with any gun in the place. They don't even require a mandatory orientation session for new gun owners!

 

In some states there is a minimum waiting period and others none. I have a longarms permit and only had to apply at my local Police Station (I'm not aware of what they did as a background check) and have the Chief of Police sign off on it. I think I turned the application in and had the permit the next day!

 

They are more stringant when it comes to handguns. It's almost impossible to get a permit to carry a handgun yet they pretty much will give them out to anyone.

 

Regarding this incident, I believe the gun owners (parents) are totally at fault!

 

They had the responsibility to secure their weapons. And why were the kids left alone with a 7 year old watching them?

 

The sad part of this is that it's a tragedy all the way around, we have:

 

1 Dead Child

1 Seriously Wounded Child

2 Parents serving jail time and agonizing over this tragedy

1 Emotionally Scarred forever Child, without parents

 

Back to the laws, one thing you have to realize is that this country was founded based on freedoms. At the time the Constitution was written, these freedoms were what the people wanted.

 

Time changes things and while there have been Ammendments to the original Constitution not all of them make the Law state-of-the-art.

 

I believe that the only way to attack the problem is that there is an automatic Life Sentence imposed for anyone found to be in possession of an illegal gun or in possession of any gun while committing a crime. No second chances, one "shot" (no pun) and you're done.

 

As a US citizen, I find the nonchalant use of firearms, in this country embarrassing. We are truly the laughing stock of the world in this category.

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In NZ a firearms licence is required for all types of firearms (actual, and airguns, BB guns etc). Automatic and semi-automatic weapons are illegal.

 

To get a licence, you need:

 

  • Your old licence (if you have one)
  • Two recent passport style photos
  • Three documents that prove your identity (passport, birth certificate, drivers licence, Photo ID, credit card/bank card)
  • Contact details of two referees. One referee must be your spouse or next of kin, the other must be someone who is over 20 years and not related to you. You will need to provide their full name, address, date of birth and phone number.

    •  
      I have a firearms licence, cost me $124 or there abouts.
       
      My dad has 2 Silenced .22 rifles, and a .303
       
      Never kept loaded, bullets, bolt & rifle all kept seperately. Rifle itself locked in a gun lock thingy, bullets locked in a metal case with a padlock. Bolt hidden. All are easy to access in an emergency however.

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Guest MachineDoctor

Silencers of any kind are illegal in the US, I believe under Federal Law.

 

If you don't mind my asking, why would you need a silenced rifle?

 

I like target shooting with .22 rifles. My Daughter prefers a .22 pistol. next time we go, I'm going to try to get her to try shooting a rifle.

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Silencers of any kind are illegal in the US, I believe under Federal Law.

 

If you don't mind my asking, why would you need a silenced rifle?

 

I like target shooting with .22 rifles. My Daughter prefers a .22 pistol. next time we go, I'm going to try to get her to try shooting a rifle.

 

We............get a number of possums around the place. :roll: .

 

And the neighbours probably wouldn't like gunshots rocking the area in the middle of the night. Neither would the Armed Offenders Squad for that matter......... :?

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Guest MachineDoctor
We............get a number of possums around the place. :roll: .

 

And the neighbours probably wouldn't like gunshots rocking the area in the middle of the night. Neither would the Armed Offenders Squad for that matter......... :?

 

Interesting. Never even thought about that! I live in a fairly rural area but for the most part the critters keep to themselves. You do hear the occassional rifle report.

 

I did open my front door and there was a peacock staring at me once (and I live UPSTAIRS, never thought it could make it with that long tail).

 

I also found out that they fly as it ended up on my roof that day (even made the local nightly news!).

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Interesting. Never even thought about that! I live in a fairly rural area but for the most part the critters keep to themselves. You do hear the occassional rifle report.

 

I did open my front door and there was a peacock staring at me once (and I live UPSTAIRS, never thought it could make it with that long tail).

 

I also found out that they fly as it ended up on my roof that day (even made the local nightly news!).

 

Did you shoo it outside, or just think...'yup........hmmmmmm...' and close your door. :D

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Just makes me wonder. The older sister and brother did something to piss off the kid to shoot them in the first place.

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Just makes me wonder. The older sister and brother did something to piss off the kid to shoot them in the first place.

 

Right..a 4yr old got pissed off at his oldr siblings and decided to shoot them...............

 

I think not... perhaps he thought it was a toy gun or something=/

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yeah thats what i was thinking - you have to wonder if the kid was provoked and that if he knows the difference between right and wrong - because i htink legally he doesnt because of age but you have to wonder... :?:

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Guest MachineDoctor
Did you shoo it outside, or just think...'yup........hmmmmmm...' and close your door. :D

 

Naw, I'm not really into shooting animals. I just shook my head, shut the door, waited a while and the next time I opened the door he was gone (actually he was on my roof).

 

He had escaped from a peacock farm next to where I live.

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Did you shoo it outside, or just think...'yup........hmmmmmm...' and close your door. :D

 

Naw, I'm not really into shooting animals. I just shook my head, shut the door, waited a while and the next time I opened the door he was gone (actually he was on my roof).

 

He had escaped from a peacock farm next to where I live.

 

I didn't mean shoot it.I mean shoo - as in "Shoo Peackock! Shoo!"....... :o

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Guest MachineDoctor
I didn't mean shoot it.I mean shoo - as in "Shoo Peackock! Shoo!"....... :o

 

Sorry about that! I thought you left the T off!

 

No, I didn't shoot him OR shoo him. I was concerned that I would startle him and he would fall off the landing (about 15 feet off the ground).

 

I didn't want the next day's headlines to read "New Jersey man arrested in death of a Peacock".

 

It was one of those things you just had to see for yourself. We still joke about it.

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they can fly a bit you know... but granted you probly didnt know wthat...

 

 

where i used to live we used to go to this place called sugar world, lots of peacocks needless to say we used to chase them around and get the feathers out of thier tails.. :mrgreen: we were little and stuff...

 

nice feathers too....

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Guest MachineDoctor
they can fly a bit you know... but granted you probly didnt know wthat...

 

 

where i used to live we used to go to this place called sugar world, lots of peacocks needless to say we used to chase them around and get the feathers out of thier tails.. :mrgreen: we were little and stuff...

 

nice feathers too....

 

I didn't know that they flew until that night (when my apartment was on the news AND the Peacock was on the roof).

 

Did you know that there are Albino Peacocks? They are all white (I'm not sure if they have pink eyes though).

 

Hopefully the Peacocks don't talk among themselves or they forgive you for your childhood antics (pulling feathers :shock: )!

 

 

At the Cape May Zoo (in New Jersey, they have a bunch of them). That's something else I was unaware of until a few months ago (Albino Peacocks).

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A peacock? Thats interesting and a little strange... See there is one on the loose near where I live. The guy brought it because he was going ot move to a country house or something and the peacock could run around and stuff. But it got lose before they moved. And nobody can seem to catch the frickkin thing. Which I find very amusing.

 

I was just wondering, why is it that there are so many handguns and all that in America? And don't piss on about the 'protection' crap. Cause it doesn't hold.

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Guest MachineDoctor
I was just wondering, why is it that there are so many handguns and all that in America? And don't piss on about the 'protection' crap. Cause it doesn't hold.

 

You can break it down into many groups:

 

Drug Dealers they need the concealed power.

 

Wacko's who have no business owning a handgun.

 

People challenging the government under the guise of exerting their Constitutional rights.

 

I can go on and on, but when I was a kid, you kicked someone's butt and sent them on their way. Now petty arguments require putting a "cap" in someone to resolve it.

 

I really don't have a straight answer for you. I can only attest to my feelings on guns.

 

I have a permit but no longer own a gun. The gun I did own was a shotgun. I had it for protection of my Family home. I chose this for a specific reason, a shotgun is the safest of the guns because it does not fire a single projectile at high velocity.

 

If I were to discharge it within the house, any wall would have stopped the pellets whereas a rifle or hand gun could travel from room to room. The gun was inaccessible to anyone but me and never kept loaded. The ammo was also locked up separately. There are some of us who are/were responsible gun owners.

 

The only time I ever loaded it for use in the house was when a raccoon broke into the crawlspace in the middle of the night. I trapped him the next morning and released him into the woods.

 

Guns are crazy here. People think guns give them power. People think shooting someone is an acceptable solution to a problem. As I said before, we are the embarrassment of the world in the gun department.

 

I wish I had a better answer for your gun question. I can only speak for myself. :bang:

 

 

 

 

BTW, Peacocks also serve another purpose, they are very good "Watch Dogs". At night, if approached or startled, they make a noisy racket. I would hear them every so often (before I even knew that they were on the farm behind where I live) and I would run outside because it sounded like one of the neighborhood kids was torturing a cat).

 

Check the Movie "Midnight Express" out. Billy Hayes (arrested for smuggling hashish) was kept in a Turkish prison. At night the guard staff was reduced greatly and Peacocks were the primrary guards.

 

Just an odd piece of trivia.

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Here goes a good quote. Only in America.

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Guest MachineDoctor
Here goes a good quote. Only in America.

 

Keep in mind that no Country, Society, Culture or person is perfect!

 

Don't judge all American's by the actions of a few!

 

When I was in Germany in 1990 (to see Roger Water's perform The Wall), I met a bunch of people from Norway. They offered me all kind of drugs and alcohol and when I turned them down they said "what kind of American are you".

 

It turned out that the international media sensationalizes much of what goes on here (not that we are without our sensational headlines!). They thought EVERYONE in America did drugs.

 

I'd like to think that I'm a normal American and I don't shoot people or make headlines. So please don't judge us all based on what you read in your papers.

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So I suppose you're going to tell me next that half of your population isn't on prozac? :twisted:

 

Naa... Jokes, jokes... :P

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Guest MachineDoctor
So I suppose you're going to tell me next that half of your population isn't on prozac? :twisted:

 

Naa... Jokes, jokes... :P

 

Didn't think about that.......... :?

 

Maybe not Prozac but something. I'd bet more than 1/2 of the US Population takes some sort of medicine today.

 

Nowadays, there is a pill for just about anything.

 

There was a medicine called Halcyon years ago. It was a sleep aid. It had very weird affects throughout a wide range of people. One case was where a daughter walked into a room, gave her Mother a birthday card and then shot her.

 

Back in the days of the BBS's (Bulletin Board Systems), I used to run a BBS and during that time was prescribed Halcyon to sleep. One night, I alledgely went into the computer room, saw my friend from Oregon was online and proceeded to pretty much flame him.

 

The next night he asked me if I was still mad at him and I had no recollection of it whatsoever. Last time I took that stuff!!!!

 

Doctor's in the US tend to prescribe drugs for everything. Shoot some people would RATHER take a pill to control their cholesterol rather than change their diet.

 

What's it like in your country? Do Doctor's tend to prescribe a lot?

 

Do you have National Health Insurance?

 

If so do you like it?

 

I'd like to see our governement subsidize the small business so more can offer health insurance. People without health insurance is a big problem here!

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My mums on a fair bit o' pills for this, that and the other thing.

 

I've taken hayfever & cold pills before, as well as antibiotics, but my doc doesn't prescribe heavy stuff unless she has to

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Guest MachineDoctor

I take the Purple Pill every night. It is all it's cracked up to be.

 

My Family is anti-medicine. My Mom never took anything, even when the Doctor prescribed it. My Dad just starting taking something because he's getting older but he's a man who refuses Novocaine when going to the Dentist!!!

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My Dad just starting taking something because he's getting older but he's a man who refuses Novocaine when going to the Dentist!!!

 

Ouch!

 

I for one, do NOT like going to the dentist!

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BTW, Peacocks also serve another purpose, they are very good "Watch Dogs". At night, if approached or startled, they make a noisy racket. I would hear them every so often (before I even knew that they were on the farm behind where I live) and I would run outside because it sounded like one of the neighborhood kids was torturing a cat).

 

Check the Movie "Midnight Express" out. Billy Hayes (arrested for smuggling hashish) was kept in a Turkish prison. At night the guard staff was reduced greatly and Peacocks were the primrary guards.

 

Just an odd piece of trivia.

 

WHen my father fought in this war in Africa he said, cicadas, frogs, and crickets are the best sentrys because they stop making nouise when any one approaches them...

 

nah drugs are bad mmmmmmmkay

 

ITs a bit sad australia is one of the dfastest growing countries with the use of Extacy...i think thats sad... :roll:

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