This happened near my area. I understand mistakes happen, but a police officer really should know about gun safety when they have young children. How they got a hold of a gun, a loaded one at that, is surprising. My heart goes out to their family.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/crime-law/police-officers-3-year-old-son-dies-gilroy-shootin/nPnb8/

Accidents happen. It would suck to be in the officer's shoes and have to deal with the pain and guilt for the rest of his life.

Ugh.

Very, very sad news.

Man,it's hard to come down on a guy in the midst of this sort of painful tragedy, but if anyone should know about gun safety it should be an officer. I may be premature in my opinion/suspicion because he may have done exactly what he was supposed to for gun safety, but I can't help wonder. The article and investigation are still early. My heart goes out to the family. I can't imagine the pain they feel right now.

Not to be an ass, but if he'd done everything he was supposed to this wouldn't have happened. A gun was left where children could access it. A tragedy, moreso because it was totally preventable.

Very sad to hear, my thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.



Bullet

You would think but police officers become complacent, just like all the rest.

My father was an Illinois State Trooper, spent 27 years. He used to 'hide' his gun but I found it when I was about 9 or 10. He caught me playing with it.

It was loaded, with a round in the chamber. S&W 9mm.

He knew better but unfortunately sometimes doing something day after day after day makes you less inclined to fear what may happen.

Awful ....Tom, there was an article in the Telegraph about the number of children accidentally shot and killed in the US per year (supposed to be around the 500 mark with many thousands more severely injured); interestingly, the "familiarity" thing possibly leading to complacency was mentioned as a contributing factor in a lot of cases (it also mentioned 3 or four other quite recent incidents where the parent was a police officer).

Heres a tragic story of another 3 year old girl who shot herself in the chest, after apparently thinking the gun was a "wii" controller which looked similar. I think this will always happen really.....and the parents do not necessarily have to be grossly irresponsible or idiots for it to happen (though there are lots of people who are unfortunately...like in this case it would seem).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnew...l-accident.html

Kids are smarter than a lot of people give them credit for, and no matter how careful the parent is they can 'find a way'. I remember when I was a bairn, my dad was a martial artist in his youth and trained with weapons like rice flails (nunchakus) and also collected things like halberds and other ceremonial type weapons. I found out where the key to where he stored them was by watching him unawares (which was under lock and key in a metal chest itself)and when he was out decided to do a 'Bruce lee' routine with the nunchakus after watching one of his films (kids, eh?). As you may know, nunchakus can be extremely lethal.....and the size of myself at the time (and the speed I was whirling them around) I could have easily done myself in, or been badly injured. I didn't even touch the Halberds.

As you'll all know, if a kid has a 'rebel streak' in them, no amount of good advice and stern warnings from a parent will change that....when they are told not to do something, or that it is forbidden, it often makes them want to do it all the more. Maybe you were that kid yourself. I know I was.

My dad found out I had been into the storage that very night (probably I didn't put them back the way they were) and I got the fecking hiding of my life (and rightly so....really). I remember it like it was yesterday, Wouldn't be doing that again in a hurry....but he ended up removing them from the house entirely after that anyway.

Speedo, I do agree with you 100% though I was trying to be delicate considering the huge loss and the timing of my critique. I can't think of any way a 3 year old would be able to get at a properly stored fire arm, but since we don't know the full story I wanted to give some lee way until the full story comes out.

edit: I'm sure the recriminations this officer feels will weigh on him like a ton of bricks for the rest of his life. Vehement comments at such an early time would be crass.... no matter how accurate they may be. So I was trying to be diplomatic and delicate.