Police: 4-year-old girl accidentally killed by sibling

[jdege]

Police: 4-year-old girl accidentally killed by sibling
http://www.azcentral.com/community/westvalley/articles/2010/10/24/20101024arizona-wickenburg-girl-shot-killed-accident1025.html

A 4-year-old girl fatally wounded Saturday near Wickenburg was accidentally shot by her 8-year-old sister, authorities said.

Out in the desert, shooting with the family. The eight-year-old is shooting a .22 rifle, and the four-year-old dashes out in front of her.

What do you do to prevent this sort of thing from happening?

[gyrfalcon]

What do you do to prevent this sort of thing from happening?

Ummm... The answer is pretty obvious if you ask me.

[Stradawhovious]

How about this.........

Keep an eye on your damn children.

Pay attention to what they are doing, and keep them from getting themselves killed. I'm sure I will get the stink-eye from more than one person here for this, but just what the hell was a 4 year old doing on the range to begin with?

As a result of this, that poor little girl is going to have to live with that unfortunate incident the rest of her life.

I'm sure that some folks are going to blame the gun on this one, but in this case it could have just as easily been a car.

[Shipyard]

whatever Strad you bleeding heart - you've gotten soft in your old age...

spend the damn $20 to control your unruly children. you can't bring a TV with you everywhere you pathetic excuse for a parent.

childharness_ohak.jpg (5.67 KB) Viewed 3169 times

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[Shipyard]

What do you do to prevent this sort of thing from happening?

how about preventing people who shouldn't have kids from having them.

i gotta have a permit to put new siding on my garage but idiocy breeds like rabbits becuase they can't figure out how a freakin' rubber works.

rant off....

[macphisto]

whatever Strad you bleeding heart - you've gotten soft in your old age...

spend the damn $20 to control your unruly children. you can't bring a TV with you everywhere you pathetic excuse for a parent.

childharness_ohak.jpg

Best Selling Child Harness:
The Little Safety Harness by Natale

Sturdy and functional
Easy to use
Stores in convenient carrying case
Strong nylon straps and durable buckles
No metal parts (for airport security)
Strap loops around behind the child from one side of harness to the other (for maximum parental control)
Strap adjusts to maximum 65 inches long Harness adjusts to a growing child


Now on sale: $ 19.95 (Regular price: $24.95)

Heck yeah, we put a leash on our two-year-old when we're out in a crowd. It connects to a little pink backpack that she LOVES wearing. The disgusted looks we get assure me I'm doing the right thing.

[DeanC]

strap.gif (891.58 KB) Viewed 3166 times

[cmj685]

Best Selling Child Harness:
The Little Safety Harness by Natale

Sturdy and functional
Easy to use
Stores in convenient carrying case
Strong nylon straps and durable buckles
No metal parts (for airport security)
Strap loops around behind the child from one side of harness to the other (for maximum parental control)
Strap adjusts to maximum 65 inches long Harness adjusts to a growing child


Now on sale: $ 19.95 (Regular price: $24.95)

What?!? No bit and bridle for that price?!?

[Shipyard]

What?!? No bit and bridle Happy Meal for that price?!?

there - i fixed it for you. same thing.

[bensdad]

My thoughts and prayers go out to the little girls and the rest of the family. Every accidental death has a blame-game behind it. I'd rather not play. Most of the people I know have at least a moment or two that they'd like to take back and do over.

[jdege]

My thoughts and prayers go out to the little girls and the rest of the family. Every accidental death has a blame-game behind it. I'd rather not play. Most of the people I know have at least a moment or two that they'd like to take back and do over.

I'm not trying to blame the girl, or the family.

I was hoping for some discussion as to what precautions one might take to prevent these sorts of incidents.

On thing I can think of is to make sure that you pick a spot where you can see everyplace the bullets might hit. Public ranges are constructed so as to make it impossible for someone to end up down range, without your noticing it. The woods or fields are not. You can walk downrange, and check that there is no one behind every bush, but you can't guarantee that someone's four-year-old has wandered behind one while you're not looking.

So pick a spot that doesn't have any concealment.

Another - you can't trust four-year-olds not to go running into the range. So if you're shooting around young kids, make sure someone has them in hand, while anyone is on the range.

One more - eight seems a bit young, to me, for someone to be shooting without close supervision. That is, someone within arms reach, who can keep an eye on the safety situation, and tell her when it is safe, and when it is not. And, if necessary, to stop her from shooting when it isn't.

If you were out shooting with the family, what would you do?

[Stradawhovious]

If you were out shooting with the family, what would you do?

*MY OPINION...... YOUR'S MAY VARY*

Every child should go through some sort of safety training before handling a firearm or even being allowed to go to the range. The Eddie Eagle program is great, as are a number of other programs for kids.

There should be AT LEAST one adult for every child at the range in a non-classroom setting like this and with kids this young. Any less and it gets into a cat herding situation which could prove dangerous.

Each one of those adults (espically in the case of these kids being so young) needs to be within arms reach of each one of these kids ESPECIALLY when the line is hot. This does two things. It provides a "buddy system" of sorts, so none of the children are hiding behind bushes and the like, and it will allow the adults to keep the children from doing anything stupid with or around a loaded firearm.

*OPINION OVER*

I know that every time I post a response to a tragedy like this, someone gets butt-hurt about what a jerk I am for my perceived lack of compassion. The fact is, this (and most other shootings like it) could have been EASILY avoided.

I do feel terrible for the family, and espically the 8 year old behind the trigger. I feel worse because this accident could have been avoided. I'm sure that is something the parents will never let themselves forget.

[traveler]

Thirty years ago I was sighting in a rifle at a range that used to be located just off of what is Hwy 95 in Cottage Grove, just across the river from Hastings.

At any rate, my daughter, about seven years old at the time, was sitting in a lawn chair about 10 feet behind me. We were the only ones at the range at that time. As I was preparing for my next shot I noticed in the corner of my eye the daughter waving her arms about and moving past the firing line. She was being harassed by a bee, hornet, or wasp, and she was focused on that and paid no attention whatsoever to the firing line. That immediately ended the range session.

I never brought her back to the range until she was in her early teens. That may have been a good or bad thing.

The other thing was that, although I had thought I had pumped into her brain the rules to be abided by at the range, I realized a seven-year-old has their own set of priorities, and they do not think like a rationale being at all times. They certainly do not choose to think in an adult manner at most times.

If I had it to do over again I would have screwed into the ground one of those dog restraining things and tied her to it with a short rope.

[westberg]

The family is now paying with a life time of grief over any mistakes made that day.

As strad mentioned one adult supervising each of the kids and may need to leave the beer in the cooler until the guns are put away. I know nothing mentioned about beer.

[tullibee]

my heart goes out to the family. my mom had direct experience with a similar scenario - one of her brothers shot and killed another brother. tragedy in general, but it turned out even worse as the father blamed the younger brother and never got over the hurt so both of them were somewhat miserable the rest of their lives. hopefully the family can deal with this in a better way than moms!

sounds like another case where a seconds worth of inattention leads to a lifetime of regret!