A 6 year old girl lost her life in a tragic and completely preventable shooting. The anti gun crowd is already trying to blame guns, rather than the individual who is at fault:
A father reportedly arrested after his 6-year-old daughter was fatally shot in their Washington state home allegedly told authorities he had been drinking double shots of vodka while cleaning his guns. Court papers say Richard Peters told detectives he had asked his daughter, Stormy, to bring him the .45-caliber handgun Sunday. He reportedly said he must have pulled the trigger, and the girl fell to the floor. She was pronounced dead on Monday.
Assuming the facts reported in the news are true (remember, innocent until proven guilty), this father was horribly reckless and is responsible for the death of an innocent child. This is about as tragic as it gets, and shows the importance of gun safety and personal responsibility. My deepest sympathies go out to the family, and this young child who had her whole life ahead of her.
I also must say that despite this tragedy, it is just not reasonable to blame guns for the actions of a reckless person. When a drunk driver crashes their car, we don’t blame cars. When a drunk pilot crashes their airplane, we don’t blame airplanes. When a criminal stabs 5 people to death, we don’t blame knives. When a person misuses home improvement supplies, we don’t blame nail guns or lacquer. I could go on and on, but the point should be clear: Guns are inanimate objects, and can do neither good nor harm absent the actions of a human being. It is that human and their conduct which should be judged, not guns.
Remember, guns are used for self defense about 2.5 million times each year, and allow women to stop rapists. Guns allow the elderly to stop home invaders. They allow law abiding citizens to stop bank robbers, as well as to stop criminals who threaten young children. Guns stop terrorism and school shootings. They allow citizens to save the lives of cops, and allow school teachers to save their own lives. Guns save far more lives then they are used to take, and those lives lost would likely not be prevented by gun control laws, since criminals don’t obey laws anyway.