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Bless the Beasts and the Children.
I posted this graphic earlier in a piece about gun violence in America.
Today I see two articles in The Trace (a clearing house for gun related news and articles).
https://www.thetrace.org/2016/10/makayla-dyer-national-rifle-association-child-shooting/
MaKayla Dyer Lost Her Life Over a Puppy. Her Grieving Mother Lost to the NRA.
====
When Dyer stepped outside, the lot was still damp from rain. She found MaKayla lying in the mud, dying. She dropped to the ground and hugged the child to her chest.
Later, she learned what happened. An 11-year-old neighbor, Benjamin Tiller, had asked to see the child’s new puppies, Buddy and Spaz. When she said no, he went and grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun, aimed it out the window and pulled the trigger. He shot MaKayla in the chest, just above her heart.
====
In January, Dyer received an email from Beth Joslin Roth, the policy director of the Safe Tennessee Project, a new gun violence prevention group. Roth, a mother of two, had been consumed by MaKayla’s murder. She’d recently been in contact with legislators in Nashville looking to sponsor a bill that would put the onus on adults to safely store their weapons when kids were around. It was Roth’s idea to call the legislation MaKayla’s Law, and she asked Dyer for her blessing. She also wanted Dyer to appear at a committee hearing in Nashville to talk about her daughter’s death.
====
With MaKayla’s story still on Tennesseans’ minds, the NRA flew in a lobbyist from its Virginia headquarters to quash the legislation. The terrifying home invasion scenarios that the group conjures to rally zealous members may not directly discourage cautious gun storage habits — but they don’t leave much room to imagine unlocking the gun safe when the burglar creeps through the front door. The lobbyist also had another mission: to convince lawmakers to vote for a bill that would give some Tennessee residents another place to legally take their guns — the campuses of state colleges and universities.
====
When Dyer stepped outside, the lot was still damp from rain. She found MaKayla lying in the mud, dying. She dropped to the ground and hugged the child to her chest.
Later, she learned what happened. An 11-year-old neighbor, Benjamin Tiller, had asked to see the child’s new puppies, Buddy and Spaz. When she said no, he went and grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun, aimed it out the window and pulled the trigger. He shot MaKayla in the chest, just above her heart.
====
In January, Dyer received an email from Beth Joslin Roth, the policy director of the Safe Tennessee Project, a new gun violence prevention group. Roth, a mother of two, had been consumed by MaKayla’s murder. She’d recently been in contact with legislators in Nashville looking to sponsor a bill that would put the onus on adults to safely store their weapons when kids were around. It was Roth’s idea to call the legislation MaKayla’s Law, and she asked Dyer for her blessing. She also wanted Dyer to appear at a committee hearing in Nashville to talk about her daughter’s death.
====
With MaKayla’s story still on Tennesseans’ minds, the NRA flew in a lobbyist from its Virginia headquarters to quash the legislation. The terrifying home invasion scenarios that the group conjures to rally zealous members may not directly discourage cautious gun storage habits — but they don’t leave much room to imagine unlocking the gun safe when the burglar creeps through the front door. The lobbyist also had another mission: to convince lawmakers to vote for a bill that would give some Tennessee residents another place to legally take their guns — the campuses of state colleges and universities.
Then there is this article about children and guns.
https://www.thetrace.org/2016/10/when-kids-pull-the-trigger-interactive/
Loaded Guns, Little Hands
Christa Engles was shot in the head in November, 2014 by her 3-year-old son while changing her baby’s diaper in her Tulsa, Oklahoma home. The boy had found the 9mm semiautomatic handgun on a living room table.
====
It happens, on average, about every other day in the U.S. From September 2014 through September 2016, at least 295 young children shot someone, an analysis by The Trace of two years of shooting data collected by the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive shows. More than 100 of the victims died.
====
The examination (by the Gun Violence Archive) focused on cases in which the shooter was under the age of 13. That’s the age group that would have been covered under a safe storage law in Tennessee, proposed after an 8-year-old girl was fatally shot by her 11-year-old neighbor, who used his parents’ shotgun. The bill, defeated earlier this year after the National Rifle Association lobbied to quash it, would have given prosecutors explicit authority to bring criminal cases against adults if a child uses their unsecured gun in a shooting.
Loaded Guns, Little Hands
Christa Engles was shot in the head in November, 2014 by her 3-year-old son while changing her baby’s diaper in her Tulsa, Oklahoma home. The boy had found the 9mm semiautomatic handgun on a living room table.
====
It happens, on average, about every other day in the U.S. From September 2014 through September 2016, at least 295 young children shot someone, an analysis by The Trace of two years of shooting data collected by the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive shows. More than 100 of the victims died.
====
The examination (by the Gun Violence Archive) focused on cases in which the shooter was under the age of 13. That’s the age group that would have been covered under a safe storage law in Tennessee, proposed after an 8-year-old girl was fatally shot by her 11-year-old neighbor, who used his parents’ shotgun. The bill, defeated earlier this year after the National Rifle Association lobbied to quash it, would have given prosecutors explicit authority to bring criminal cases against adults if a child uses their unsecured gun in a shooting.
This article has a very informative interactive graph at the end.
I find it ironic that the NRA ads selling guns to women all show the gun secured in a pistol safe while they fight safe storage laws with an uncommon fervor.
So what can we do about children killing people with unsecured guns? It appears the only thing we can do is what Jacob Hall's mother did to protect his classmates from the trauma of losing a friend; dress them up as super heroes for the funeral.
https://www.thetrace.org/2016/10/townville-jacob-hall-school-shooting-superheroes/
The Little Superheroes of Townville
There would be no dark suits and somber dresses at the viewing and funeral of Jacob Hall. It’s how his mother wanted it. “There will be a lot of children there,” she had told a reporter. “I don’t want it to be scary for them.” Her son was six years old when he suffered a fatal injury in the attempted mass shooting at the Townville Elementary School playground, and she had decided that he would wear his Batman costume in his coffin. The mourners took her request and ran with it. By the night of the visitation, the local Walmart was all sold out of superhero outfits.
This is all the NRA leaves us with.
Go.
Vote.
Defeat the NRA.