Us and them

If this story gets national play, I guarantee that certain aspects of it will be glossed over, and instead of focusing on the important issues, it will instead become a “guns are evil” and “let’s ban them for the children” story.

The short version is that a 3 year old child found a loaded gun and accidentally shot a 6 year old child. Unfortunately, that’s the only part of this story that you’ll probably hear about on CNN. Luckily, the local news actually has some valuable information.

According to police, the adults in the house fled with the exception of the 32-year-old man (the owner – ed.), who was arrested on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and leaving a loaded firearm within the reach of a child.

This is actually important. Everyone fled the house. “The cops are coming, everyone out” does not imply a house full of choirboys getting ready for a mission trip to the Fuzzy-Wuzzies. Here’s another puzzling development.

The mother of the boy who was shot baby sits the 3-year-old. She told police she was out for a walk at the time of the shooting, police said.

So…uh…who exactly was watching these kids? You’ll pardon me for saying, but the tragedy here is that this woman is probably a terrible parent. I mean, come on. Even the mayor of Milwaukee agrees with me.

“It’s despicable. It’s sickening. A 6-year-old is lying in a hospital bed right now recovering from a gunshot wound he suffered at the hands of a 3-year-old. Why were these kids unattended at 10 at night? How did they have access to a gun, an illegal gun?

I have the same questions, Mr. Mayor. Of course, I don’t blame the gun – I blame the house full of adults that allowed this to happen. But that’s just me, I don’t like to blame inanimate objects when there are actual, you know, people that are responsible. Like the 32 year old convicted felon who let children get access to his gun. Or the mother/babysitter who was “out taking a walk” when she should have been watching the kids. Or the house full of adults who apparently fled the house when they realized the cops were coming.