Today's bad parenting award...

[rcarichter]

BURKESVILLE, Ky. May 1, 2013 (AP)

Authorities in southern Kentucky say a 2-year-old girl has been accidentally shot and killed by her 5-year-old brother, who was playing with a .22-caliber rifle he received as a gift.

Kentucky State Police said the toddler was shot just after 1 p.m. CDT Tuesday in Cumberland County and was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

Cumberland County Coroner Gary White told the Lexington Herald-Leader that the children's mother was at home at the time.

White told the newspaper that the boy received the rifle made for youths last year and is used to shooting it. He said the gun was kept in a corner and the family didn't realize a shell was left inside it.

White said the shooting will be ruled accidental.

An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.
More From ABC News

 

[Dennis Hultman]

It's a horrible tragedy that shouldn't have happened. I'm sure the family is in horrible pain knowing their carelessness has taken their child away.

Christine, what I going to say isn't directed at you but just in general.

If you take any date (I haven't with this story but in the past) hundreds of kids die every single day of tragedies that could have been prevented.

On any given day you can pull dozens of these types of articles.
If you are a parent you know or should know that you shouldn't leave a child in the bathtub alone at this age. Yet, accidental deaths occur all the time.

Not securing a pool. Not buckling your child or improperly buckling your child in a car seat and sending them 65 miles in hour to their death in a car.

Running your own child over with a car in the driveway.
Not locking up poisons and cleaning supplies.
Farming accidents happen all the time involving children.

Cords on the blind. ***

I know someone this happened to a couple of years ago. As a parent you should know of those dangers. Heck, I have read about accidents involving blinds. The child was in the living room and you walk to the kitchen for a second and that is all it takes. They lost their child over a stupid accident.

All really horrible and avoidable things happen every single day. Tractors, lawn movers, animals and tools of all kinds cause the deaths of children every year.

It was a week or two ago a read a horrible story about a man who ran over his child with a lawn mover.

More than 17,000 children are injured by lawn mowers each year

Several cases of children seriously injured in mowing incidents have made the news in the past two weeks:

-- A 2-year-old girl in Florida lost both of her feet when her father backed over her with a riding lawn mower on April 10, the Associated Press reported.

-- A 4-year-old boy in Tennessee had severe cuts on his arms and legs after a lawn mower ran over him, the Tennessean reported on April 17.

-- A 2-year-old Maryland boy was in critical condition after a lawn mower he was riding with his grandfather overturned into a creek, the Baltimore Sun reported Sunday.

Such accidents are not unusual: In 2011, 3,780 kids 14 or under were among 83,291 people treated in U.S. hospital emergency

What I'm trying to say is that no words can probably describe how these parents feel. Their child is dead and it was a preventable accident. I's a tragedy.

Bad parent award of the day? OK, that helps. Lets give one to the parent that stuck their child on the horse, didn't buckle correctly, didn't know where their child was when they were operating heavy machinery.

For many, guns are no different than any of the other tool that is potentially dangerous.

It was stupid mistake, a accident that will scar both the parents and the five year old forever. Like so many other stupid mistakes people make.

I will save my bad parenting awards for those that purposefully hurt, torture, abuse and kill their children. People who lose their children through accidents are already in a living hell.

My pick for today's bad parenting award

May 01:

Father and stepmother of a seven year-old-girl, who died at the Medical College Hospital after allegedly being tortured by her stepmother, were arrested, police said on Wednesday.

 

[rcarichter]

Dennis, I agree with you 100% about the accidents. I'm sure I'm guilty of countless acts of carelessness, which, thank God, my children lived through. I was more referring to the fact that they gave a small child a gift of a .22 caliber rifle. Yes, my kids had bikes, snorkeled in the ocean (within arms reach of me), swam in pools, even had cords on their blinds. By age 7 or 8, they had cap guns, and by 12, paintball guns. But, does a rifle fall within the 'normal' category. Maybe it does. I know very little about guns, so I could be wrong.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

Dennis, I agree with you 100% about the accidents. I'm sure I'm guilty of countless acts of carelessness, which, thank God, my children lived through. I was more referring to the fact that they gave a small child a gift of a .22 caliber rifle. Yes, my kids had bikes, snorkeled in the ocean (within arms reach of me), swam in pools, even had cords on their blinds. By age 7 or 8, they had cap guns, and by 12, paintball guns. But, does a rifle fall within the 'normal' category. Maybe it does. I know very little about guns, so I could be wrong.

In many parts of this country a .22 is just as common a birthday present as a new bike. Not necessarily at five but as a preteen and teen. With that comes responsibility of the parents and child. No doubt the ball was dropped here by the parents and they are paying for it.

A little different but I bought a bb gun for my son at seven. I'm in control of it though. He isn't allowed to touch it without my permission or be in his possession without myself presence.

Hypothetically, I suppose though it is possible that he could have taken it at one point and shot someone with it by accident. Kids do stupid things.

I have faith that my child will follow the rules but I still keep it out of reach and laid down the consequences if the rules aren't followed.

He did make the mistake once of pointing a old broken bb gun at a someone once when he was about that age as well, while playing. I didn't take that lightly and neither does he after my reaction, explanation and consequences.

I had bb guns and fired .22's and shotguns as a preteen. It is very much part of culture and family life throughout this country. Has been since the founding to the present. Not so much if you have lived all your life on concrete.

These articles (when they are sensationalized) only go that way with a motive. I think a child dieing is the bottom-line. Terrible accidents happen everyday. Murders happen every day. Still the outcome is the same whatever the cause. A child has died.

The said situation with the school shootings is also horrific. The calls for something to be done in the wake of 20 children dieing is understandable from a emotional standpoint but it also ignores a large amount of deaths that are just as horrific. Any child dieing is horrific regardless of murder, accidents or heath.

The deaths of children that happen from accidents and murders absolutely dwarf the deaths of children in this world that die from preventable diseases and malnutrition.

In 2011, 6.9 million children under five died,[1] down from 7.6 million in 2010,[2] 8.1 million in 2009,[3] and 12.4 million in 1990

People will sit there and get angry about the deaths of children from guns, accidents all types, murders of all means but if they really want to make a difference, make a dent on children dieing, they need to feed them, give medical attention, cloth and house them. Not some knee jerk reaction to small problems to the total number.

These are all just as preventable as gun deaths and toll is much larger.

That would be 180 children, 11 years of age or younger, who were killed by a firearm in 2010, according to the most recent report on violent deaths from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says Jonathan Lowy, director of the Legal Action Project for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

The CDC breakdown: 41 deaths were classified as unintentional, 127 as homicide, four as suicide, and eight from an undetermined intent.

And overwhelmingly, they died one by one at home.

"In 2009, among 16 participating states in the National Violent Death Reporting System, over 86% of all firearm deaths of children 11 or younger took place in or around a home," Lowy says in an e-mail to USA TODAY.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

Just like this article from USA today that is supportable on gun control talking about

" Scores of kids killed at home, out of national spotlight"

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ol-children-newtown-school-schooting/1775469/



Really it is a tragedy but it is nothing percentage wise of the tragedies to children everyday.


“People tend not to be wound up by the things that are chronic crises."

 

[Dennis Hultman]

My last comment (In general)

To all those that look at children dieing and are upset and feel the need to do something.

Why look to the senseless deaths of twenty at a time or a few hundred a year. Their deaths are tragic but no less tragic then millions. If you want to make a dent in senseless preventable deaths of children, Take up a issue that will significantly put a dent in those numbers.

Every child dieing is a tragedy.

" In 2011, 6.9 million children under five died"
According to UNICEF, most child deaths result from one the following five causes or a combination thereof.

acute respiratory infections
diarrhea
measles
malaria
malnutrition

 

[Shadera]

I killed my first deer at 7, was pretty normal for the area I was in at the time. My brother got his at about the same age.

The only fault they have is leaving it unsecured, and with a round they didn't know was in it no less. There are children out there who are mature enough to be taught about gun handling and safety at a young age, supervised always, of course. It depends on the family.

 

[LauraB]

My pick for today's bad parenting award
May 01:
Father and stepmother of a seven year-old-girl, who died at the Medical College Hospital after allegedly being tortured by her stepmother, were arrested, police said on Wednesday.

 

[Focal]

This made me sick the other day:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/0...year-old-daughter-to-get-pregnant-with-donor/

 

[rcarichter]

This made me sick the other day:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/0...year-old-daughter-to-get-pregnant-with-donor/

She only got 5 years for this???

 

[Focal]

Yup that was very disappointing. She destroyed a child that already had a rough start in life.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

The guy on Piers Morgan last night must have read my post. Joking

This story discussed at 5:10 in the video.

 

[Metachrosis]