Another Four-Year-Old Shoots Someone To Death .... Accidentally

I understand that we get busy and forget to do some important stuff; summer’s here and there’s a lot goin’ on. But, seriously, Congress, can’t we get back to that Gun thing? Can’t we set aside the NSA and the IRS and Benghazi for just a minute or two and maybe fix the problem of people killing people with guns, and people owning guns and treating them like toys; kids accidentally shooting their sisters, and young boys accidentally killing their fathers.

Justin Stanfield Thomas was visiting a friend’s home in Prescott Valley, Arizona, last week to pick up some things he’d left behind while living there. He brought along his four-year-old son for the day trip.

And, as kids like to do, being curious and all, the little boy wandered around the living room, looking at the coffee table and out the window. But on the TV stand, right where it didn’t belong, I’m guessing, he found a loaded handgun, picked it up, asked what it was, and accidentally pulled the trigger, shooting, and killing, his father.

"Daddy got blood on him," the boy told investigators.

The police say that it didn’t appear that James Williams, who lived in the house, knew that Thomas would be coming, and did not have time to secure the gun. Williams was asleep when Thomas sent him a text message to say he was coming over, but Williams didn't read it until after authorities showed up to investigate the shooting.

James Williams is heard in a 911 recording saying that a man in his 30s had been shot in the chest; another unidentified male in the room told police he heard the little boy ask, ‘What is this?’ before a shot was fired. Justin Thomas grabbed his chest and said to call 911, then collapsed; he died later at the hospital.

Williams, who says he kept the weapon for self-defense, was in a back bedroom when Thomas and his son arrived, and the gun went off within a minute.

Here we are again, with another child finding a gun, a legally registered gun, left lying about, and wondering what it was, and then accidentally shooting someone. You cannot really blame James Williams, though one can wonder why the gun needed to be just lying about a living room like a knick-knack when he went to nap. I mean, if you’re going to bed, going to lie down in another room, why leave a gun in the living room where anyone can find it; and a little boy can accidentally kill his father.

But, enough about that. We’ve got better things to talk about, like how the NSA has the information of who I call on my phone; like the IRS being all Big Brother and stuff; like who knew what about Benghazi and when. At least those conversations don’t end with a little boy wondering what happened to Daddy.

source