bang
No stories, but target verification is rule 1. I'd also make a point to find my kids, or know exactly where they were, before firing a gun in or near the house.
Sad, sad story. Makes me cry.
I have always preferred a 12 gauge with buck.
Effective and I think safer.
How could a 5-year-old girl wanting to be with mommy and daddy possibly simulate somebody trying to break in? Wouldn't people with half a brain expect a little girl coming in, before assuming a burglar?
This idiot needs to do some cell time - not confirming your target when you know there are family members in the house is beyond stupid.
Why was he aiming so low?? A 5 year old is what, about three feet tall? This story really smells bad.
Tragic, but how can you just shoot like that when you have kids in the house? It doesn't really make sense.
I grieve for this family and pray for their comfort in the midst of such tragedy. The greater tragedy is that they obviously live in a neighborhood where law and order is such that the first thing to consider wher hearing a strange noise is an intruder. It is amazing to me how much effort the US is putting into cleaning out the terrorists in Najaf when we bleat on and on about the civil rights of the terrorists who rule in cities like Philadelphia, Dallas, Los Angeles, Detroit, San Francisco, Oakland, and etc.
Free people cannot be free when they live in terror and this poor girl is just as much a victim of our criminal courts (notice I don't say 'justice') system as if a liberal judge had killed her himself.
He broke one of the four cardinal rules of gun handling - know your target and what's behind it.
If you live alone or with your spouse and you're in the room with your spouse, thinking someone coming through the door was a threat would make sense. But if you have children, you think someone opening your door is one of the children, not a burglar.
I have a five year old daughter who likes to come into our room in the middle of the night. Nothing sweeter than a ficve year old girl looking for love, comfort and security by crawling into her parents' bed at night.
I cannot stand that this happened. How could you shoot someone trying to open the bedroom door when you have a five year old in the house.
This story breaks my heart.
Truly horrific.
I would think that most parents are aware of the fact that little little kids enter bedrooms unannounced on a fairly frequent basis. I wonder if something else is going on here (besides gross negligence).
I don't think there is a good answer, to tell you the truth. Of course he should have verified his target, but keeping a handgun for home defense sometimes leads to poor decisions made when you're not even awake yet.
That said, how the heck did he shoot the little kid in the chest? His aim was way off if he was trying to shoot an intruder.
Keep in mind that the news media is going to be running these sorts of sob stories in the runup to the AWB expiration on September 13. They've always happened, but they will be considered "news worthy" for the next month or so.
5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires
Imagine that, a five year old girl wandering into her parents bedroom in the middle of the night.
Who'da thunk it.
This would have been a "one generation removed" darwin award except she was his step-daughter.
Teach your children to knock on closed doors before entering a room. It's common courtesy, and in this case would have saved the child's life. Intruders don't knock.
Knowing there were kids and others in the house, shooting through a door at an unknown sound is not excusable. I know that in a moment of panic people make bad decisions, that's why it's so important to visualize ahead what to do in every imaginable scenario.
I'll pile on.
Hitting the kid in the chest could have just been result of his jerking the trigger under stress, but something is very weird with his shooting, knowing he had daughter and a family friend on the other side of the door.
Lay off the guy... He feels.... "bad".
On second thought, rip into him. There must be an MRI or CAT scan test that we can use to weed out stupids who want to own guns.
I keep a Sure Fire flashlight next to the .45. That way I can blind an intruder as well as ID anyone else. Sad, sad story.
What is wrong with this picture?