Boy who killed girl over puppy got gun from unlocked closet, sheriff says
White Pine, Tennessee (CNN): As a Tennessee community prepares to bury a girl allegedly killed by an 11-year-old boy over a puppy, more details emerged about the gun used in the shooting. The preteen faces first-degree murder charges in the death of MaKayla “BooBah” Dyer, 8. He fired at her from his house Saturday, killing the girl who was in her yard, Jefferson County Sheriff Bud McCoig told The Washington Post. The boy used his father’s 12-gauge shotgun, which he got from an unlocked closet, the sheriff told the paper…. The incident started when the boy asked to see the girl’s puppy, McCoig said. When she said no, the boy got a gun and shot her dead Saturday, according to the sheriff.
I’m not here to make light of what clear is a tragedy in all respects…but neither am I here to limit my reaction and anger to the actions of an 11-year-old boy. Yes, what the boy did was wrong- the textbook definition of premeditated murder. Of that, there should be no doubt and even less debate; the child should be held accountable to the fullest extent of Tennessee law, and I hope he will be. The girl’s family deserves nothing less.
What angers me most about this profoundly sad and tragic story is that nowhere is there any mention of why the closet the boy obtained the gun from was unlocked. Why was a .12-gauge shotgun (and the ammunition required to fire it) in an unsecured place where the boy could easily access it? Most of all, why is there no mention of how the parents of the boy will be held accountable for their sloppiness and irresponsibility? Why is it that no one appears to be demanding the parents be prosecuted for failing to adequately secure their firearms? But for the callous disregard and irresponsibility of the boy’s parents, an eight-year-old girl in rural Tennessee would still be alive and worrying about nothing of greater import than where she left her dolls.
If Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes © truly believe that “Guns don’t kill people- PEOPLE kill people,” the boys parents should be facing felony charges for failing to properly secure their firearms…because their son killed an eight-year-old girl. Over a puppy.
The biggest problem with Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes © these days is that even as they demand their “gun rights” be respected completely and without question, they refuse to accept any of the corresponding responsibility. Having guns means being willing to handle them responsibly, including storing them in places (locked cabinets would be a GREAT start) where children can’t easily access them. It means storing ammunition securely and separately from guns, so that even if children do somehow gain access to a firearm, they won’t be able to do any damage.
In this case, the line of responsibility and criminality should be clear to anyone, including Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes ©. But for the family gun closet being unlocked, allowing the boy access to a shotgun AND its ammunition, an 8-year-old girl would be alive today. As gun owners, a family has above all else the responsibility to properly secure their weapons and ammunition. In this tragedy, the family failed to meet even that basic responsibility, with tragic results…and yet I’ve yet to hear calls for the parents of the boy to be prosecuted.
Oh, right…guns don’t kill people, PEOPLE kill people- so how could a parent be held legally responsible for the tragic death of a child? It was just a horrible, unimaginable accident: the boy accidentally got the shotgun out of its closet, accidentally ensured it was loaded, accidentally aimed it at the little girl, and accidentally pulled the trigger. How can the gun be held responsible for the actions of an 8-year-old boy? It was an ACCIDENT.
The boy may well be charged with murder and tried as an adult, which will be a miscarriage of justice…unless the parents are tried along side him.
Until parents are held accountable for their irresponsibility, these types of tragedies will continue to happen. Children should not have easy, unfettered access to guns. Period. Haven’t we buried enough of our children? When do we stop the madness…or is it that Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes © really DO value guns over the lives of children?
