Cheyenne McKeehan’s Circumstance
A toddler, a game, a gun…a dead child.
I don’t have a problem with owning a gun. I have a problem with owning a gun and not knowing how to use it properly. That includes understanding you don’t ever leave a gun unlocked in your home - especially if you have children.
I have a problem with toddlers “playing on the games console for days at a time” like Cheynne Alexis McKeehan was said to do by her mother. I have a problem with children being ignored and plopped in front of the television to occupy themselves.
Tragic accidents happen…like children being left to die in car seats because their parent forgot they had them in the car, or a baby smothering while sleeping in the same bed as a parent, or a child shooting herself or a sibling with a gun left out by a parent. They happen all too often. Except it’s my opinion they could have been prevented.
from Times Online -
Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan, three, shot herself in the stomach with the .380 caliber, semi-automatic weapon after finding it lying on a table in the living room.
Her mother was sitting at the computer just a few feet away while her three-month-old brother was also lying nearby.
Investigators today said that the child had probably mistaken the weapon for a Wii control
2 Responses so far
caughill
March 10th, 2010
7:33 am
I legally carried a gun for years.
When I had my first child, I sold all my weapons because I wasn’t sure I could be careful enough and I was sure I never wanted to come home to a dead loved-one.
I’m not saying that’s what everyone should do. But for me, it wasn’t worth the risk.
Righty
March 10th, 2010
8:07 pm
Well, a person buys a gun for protection. But a parent’s natural instinct is to protect their children (usually). So that makes perfect sense to me.