If it's not a child being accidentally shot by a member of their family, it's a 12 year old being accidentally run over by a boat her father was driving. This year we've had some children shot and/or killed by a family member or friend/neighbor. One 30-somthing lady, a big gun advocate here, was shot in the back, thru the vehicle seat, by their young child. The child found the gun under the front seat of where his mom was sitting, and somehow, pulled the trigger and the bullet went thru the seat into the mom's back. The mom survived, but there was a tremendous amount of conversation about her and the gun she had in the truck. The boating accident happened on a lake in New Hampshire. The 12 year old was learning how to water ski. She had went down in the water and her father started to circle the boat to bring the boat up past her so she could grab the ski tow line. In the process of circling the boat, the father's hat blew off and, for the moment he was distracted, he ran over his daughter. The father's wife and 14 year old daughter were also in the boat. Now, since my wife and I both have boating experience going back to our teen years, why didn't the mother and/or sister keep an eye on the sister that was in the water. IOW, it's the law that when someone is water skiing or tubing, there has to be two people in the boat towing the skier or tuber. Obviously, one person is driving the boat, but the other is an "Observer". This "Observer" holds up a "Skier Down" Caution Flag and lets the driver know exactly where the skier is in the water. Wonder what happened in this case???? With the "gun" thing, children are finding loaded, unlocked guns and firing them at someone. Thoughts?
For me to comment on the boat incident, I'd have to read the story myself so if you have a link that would be nice. As for guns....shouldn't happen if you're responsible gun owners.
Actually, I put the entire story in my OP. But, you can put Newfound Lake news in you Search area and it will come up. Just wanted to know what forum members thought about the Thread title.
Ok, I found the story....basically says what you said. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/07/18/colorado-girl-run-over-killed-by-boat-driven-by-dad.html Guess it was the dads fault and I'm sure it will haunt him his whole life. All because of a hat! A split second and everything is over for you! Bad enough when your child dies because of cancer or a disease but when it's basically your carelessness....smh. Yes, lots of children dying needlessly these days. Most often it's because the parents aren't responsible people.
What we, as boaters ourselves, would like to know is WHY the dad's wife and older daughter, who were also on the boat, wasn't watching out.
I'm not a boater so I don't know what was going on when this happened. The story doesn't say or give too many details. I didn't even see that it was an older daughter. This is what I read... Anderson placed the boat in neutral as it went over his daughter at a slow speed. She suffered serious injuries to her torso and was immediately brought to shore. Officials administered CPR, but were unable to revive her. The girl's mom and sister were also aboard the boat that drove over her. The incident remained under investigation.
People shouldn't leave loaded guns where their children are likely to find them, or where they could get at them, just as they should be careful about their children's access to dangerous medications, razor blades, and other dangerous things. It's not that hard to do. I owned a handgun while my son was with me. Yes, even in gun-banning California, I owned a legal handgun. But my son never knew that I had it. As for the boating thing, ninety-nine percent of the time people would have been able to be careless while water skiing, and nothing would have come from it. When I water-skiied as a teenager, one of the goals of the driver of the boat was to ditch whoever was on the skis. This might involve sharp turns or making a wide turn that would put the water skier in the lily pads. I hated that one. It was all very careless, I'm sure, but no one was hurt. One of the worst accidents I have ever come across was a mother who dropped daughter off at elementary school. Her daughter was very young, maybe kindergarten or first-grade. Her mother dropped her off at the front door as she had many times before, said her goodbyes and drove off, unaware that the bottom of her daughter's dress had caught in the door when she closed it. Her daughter was dragged along the pavement, and was dead on the scene when we arrived. The mother was hysterical. She was not a careless mother, or a bad mother, or any of those things. She loved her daughter. She was maybe distracted for a moment, or maybe there was nothing that would have clued her in to the fact that her daughter was being dragged along the pavement until people began honking their horns. She wasn't charged with anything, but I have no doubt that the mother's life has been hell. People are human. Humans are not always on their best game. They miss things. They get distracted. They make mistakes. They might normally be very careful about everything but once in a while, something goes awry. Usually, no harm is done. But every once in a while, the consequences are severe.
@Cody Fousnaugh "With the "gun" thing, children are finding loaded, unlocked guns and firing them at someone. Thoughts?" Who, or what, do you feel is to blame for this accident? Frank
The mother was really critized for having the loaded gun in the truck that a child rides in. It was the mother's only vehicle. However, how a small child is able to pull the trigger back to shoot a handgun really puzzles me. The trigger spring must not be very strong inside the gun.
In boating, there are things that must be followed when on the water and pulling a skier or person in a tube. On the boat, there MUST BE an Observer who watches the skier or tuber being pulled behind the boat. The driver of the boats responsibility is to take glances behind them at the skier or tuber, but the main responsibility of the driver is to keep their eyes forward and drive the boat. This is what is called "rules of the water" for boaters.
@Cody Fousnaugh Regarding this: Imagine a firearm lying on a living room table. So long as catastrophic event does not intrude, that firearm, loaded or unloaded, round chambered or not, ready to fire or impossible to fire in it's latent state, that gun poses absolutely NO THREAT. Until it is moved from it's resting place. It might await disaster for a century, yet avoid it, until a human being intrudes upon the scene. Viewing it this way, can one realistically blame "the gun"? Transpose to some other "threatening contrivance", imagine instead a butcher knife, vial of drugs, club, or other implement of danger to humans. Is the danger lessened to any real degree if the "weapon" is not a gun? Frank
I agree with Ken, that it's human's that make a gun or knife dangerous. Why there are accidental shootings while a person is cleaning a gun is beyond me. Can people really be that stupid not to check the chamber for a bullet. They're smart enough to take the clip out, I think.
@Cody Fousnaugh You might be surprised how many accidents occur with firearms which involve highly trained people, including police officers. Some years back, for example, the German firm Walther, introduced a new handgun concept and incorporated it in a production weapon, urging police use. The gun was colloquially called a "squeeze-cocker". Walther touted is as the ultimate answer to a "safe-gun", superior, they said, to the Glock pistols. The gun's uniqueness consisted of a protruding lever on the front of the grip, where the fingers encircle it. The gun could not be fired unless that protruding surface was grasped by the hand. Turned out, squeezing the trigger BEFORE the squeeze-cocking mechanism allowed the gun to fire unintentionally. New Jersey State Police, I believe it was, adopted it as a service weapon. Soon, a number of cops had shot themselves in the line of duty when having had to draw their weapon. Most were shot in the leg, some were fortunately not hit. What happened was that in the scurry of drawing the weapon, they were squeezing the grip at the same time as placing their finger on the trigger, causing the weapon to discharge as it was drawn upwards. The force changed carry weapons soon after. Frank