Over the years, we have followed hunting accidents (here and here and here) — the subject of an earlier column on “buck fever.” We have a new and tragic such case in Virginia. Ferrum College senior Jessica Goode, 23, went out hiking with friends last week when Jason D. Cloutier, 31, mistook her for a deer. He shot and killed her in the chest with his .35-caliber, high-powered rifle. The bullet went through her chest and into the hand of her friend Regis Boudinot, 20.
Goode was studying the environmental science and loved the woods. She was wearing white at the time of the shooting. Cloutier’s rifle was equipped with a telescopic sight.
Cloutier is now charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless use of a firearm and trespass. The charges could bring a maximum of 12 years in jail and $5,000 in fines — if convicted. Rural juries are often very sympathetic to hunters in such cases.
Hunting season just began a few days earlier and each year in Franklin County 6,000 deer are killed.
These cases can produce troubling results such as the jury decision in favor of a hunter who shot a woman in her garden in Bangor, Maine. She was viewed as reckless for going out during deer season wearing white mittens and a dark coat, here.
Goode seems like a wonderful person who enjoyed the outdoors and had a promising life ahead of her. It is an unfathomable tragedy for this family and college.
For the full story, click here
Byron–
I had a nephew at Virginia Tech when the terrible shootings occurred. I would disagree about professors and students being allowed to carry guns on campus. I think there’s a good possibilty that more people might have be killed by accident if professors and students at VA Tech had guns in their possession. I wouldn’t want a child of mine attending a college where students were allowed to carry guns. As we know–lots of college students drink beyond a reasonable limit. Some people get aggressive and belligerent when they drink.
Another thing: Cars are not manufactured as weapons–but as a means of transportation. Guns are weapons. And ANYTHING–not just cars–can be used in an inappropriate way. Heck, I could probably knock my hubby unconscious with a candlestick…slash his face with a shard of glass from a broken vase…stick jellybeans or cottonballs up his nose while he’s sleeping so he can’t breathe. I could hit someone over the head with a shovel or stab someone in the chest with a pitchfork…I could go on and on. I happen to think that having a gun in one’s possession makes the committing of an act of violence easier.
Pete Moran:
Dont know who John Zerzan is. Maybe you don’t read enough John Locke? Jefferson is pretty good too and he thought the world of Mr. Locke.
“every Man has a Property in his own Person. This no Body has any Right to but himself. The Labour of his Body, and the Work of his Hands (and mind), we may say, are properly his.” He continues: “The great and chief end therefore, of Mens uniting into Commonwealths, and putting themselves under Government, is the Preservation of their Property.”
John Locke
You dig Pete?
Elaine:
I am not a rabid gun nut and I actually don’t have a problem with someone taking a hunter safety course to be able to hunt.
I personally would not take a weapon to a children’s soccer game nor would I take one to a political rally. But I would not have a problem with someone that did.
Had a few students or professors at VA Tech been armed fewer would have died. Same goes for almost every shooting by a crazy.
What about a car being used on a busy pedestrian byway or at a children’s soccer game or after a political rally? You could take out a bunch of people before the cops could even be in their cars, let alone on the seen.
Byron–
It’s hard to go on a violent rampage and kill and wound dozens of individuals from a distance with a knife or a sword. I think there are lots of people like me who don’t object to others owning guns for sport and hunting. What we worry about are all these high powered automatic weapons–or whatever they’re called–being so easy to purchase…especially by folks who may have more than a few screws loose. I am also troubled by folks bringing guns to political protests and children’s sporting events. (I know you don’t agree with me.)
Another thing: I wish more of these gun zealots–as well as other citizens–would fight as strongly for the First Amendment as they do for the Second.
@ Byron and @ Former Federal LEO
You’ve both been reading too much John Zerzan, start again with John Stuart Mill.
Bryon,
Guns do not kill people, stupid people kill people.
Pete Moran,
“For what it’s worth”…worthless, not a plug nickel’s worth…
Pete Moran:
is that really true? Go back to school and learn something about what our society was founded on . . . individual liberty. I cant whack someone in the head because I am taking his rights away. But then neither should he use the government to take my rights away. Force is force.
And you are right I am selfish and there is nothing wrong with wanting to take care of myself and my family before I have to take care of others. In the old days it was called charity and we weren’t forced to give. Now it is called welfare and we are forced to give or the full force of the Federal Government is upon us.
Some laws are necessary but most are about depriving someone of their liberty in some manor or fashion.
For what it’s worth, here’s my opinion of purely selfish people like Byron;
Unless YOU live on your very own Utopian island, your rights and freedoms intersect/interact with other people’s rights and freedoms.
We have to constantly work at the best possible balance of interaction, at which point we have what some call a “Community” or a “Society”.
You’ll be left the f… alone on your mythical island.
eLAINE:
if we sterilized everyone with IQ’s below 140 most of us would be sterile and you would still have a problem with firearms. Accidents happen, I don’t know why death from a firearm is any more tragic than death in a traffic accident or a construction accident.
Life is full of risks, if saving lives is the actual end game then get rid of cars and swimming pools. But it isn’t really about saving lives it is about forcing someone to give something up that someone else doesn’t think is good for them.
Like smoking or eating fatty foods or drinking alcohol or any number of things that people do, there will always be someone that thinks they know better than everyone else what is good for another person.
Gun control is about the usurpation of individual rights and nothing else, the tragic deaths of people at the hands of people who misuse or abuse guns is fuel for that fire. If they were truly worried about loss of life, cars would only go about 20 mph or we would all take the bus or train.
I am sick to death of people telling me what I can and cant do with my person and my property. Leave me the f . . . alone (not you obviously but government) and get off my back.
Byron–
I’ve met my share of idiots who received high scores on intelligence tests. Having a high IQ doesn’t ensure that a person will also possess common sense and good judgment, have a passion for learning, and be able to think outside the box.
Lots of folks think Dick Cheney is extremely intelligent (I don’t include myself among those people). Yet, he shot a good friend in the face when they went out hunting together. People with high IQ’s may imbibe too much alcohol before putting a gun in their hands–just like the folks that score in the average and below average intelligence categories.
As a former teacher, I taught a number of children who received different scores on different types of intelligence tests. One student I had was shown to be of limited intelligence on one test–and to be of high average intelligence on another.
I agree with what AY said about testing.
@ rcampbell and @ Flipkid
Thanks – there’s hope for the US yet.
AY:
just trying to make a point.
Byron,
Depending on which version of the test administered on which day depends a lot on the results. Two Nuts to No Nuts is what you suggest.
Maaarrghk!:
you are right, I probably should have been a little more delicate.
But I am pretty sure that is what happened. I heard about another incident similar to this one many years ago in Vermont. It turned out that that is exactly what happened in the VT case. Although in VT it was a head shot because the guy was trying to see who it was. The shooter confessed in that incident.
I think that everyone in the woods hunting should have taken a hunter safety course as a minimum for getting a hunting license. You have to take a test to get a license to drive. And anyway it was rather fun, I took my son and he and I learned something and had a good time.
Guns are not the problem, stupid people that use guns are the problem. I say sterilize people with IQ’s below 140 and the problem goes away.
Well maybe he too can Coach at Tech. Bobby and his legacy are doing quite well. Tech has become a heavy contender. Hell TCU is doing well for a school with only 8 thousand students. The key is as Billy Clements found out at SMU pay the players well just don;t let the school get caught. And if they do get caught, get elected Governor and it all kind of goes away, except for the nods and winks.
AY,
UT won something like 51-20. They’ve been a little rattled out at KU with the hubbub around Mangino.
flipkid,
Your argument neglects the other use firearms – one which is not a purposeful design function but rather reflects a flaw in the tool user: entertainment value. Monkeys like playing with the boomstick. I’m not saying your analysis is wrong. Just a little incomplete. Think of the term “attractive nuisance”. That could be just as big a problem as their primary design function.
Buddha,
Thanks. Hey did you catch that KU Texas Score by chance? If not I think the feathers got plucked off of the chicken hawks.
“Reply to rcampbell,
More trouble with *cars*? What a surprise Cars, cars, cars, cars, cars. Doesn’t really matter much how many or who dies needlessly as long as the small minded can have their big *cars* to play with.
On the other hand, you could substitute knives, alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, ad infinitum…”
One BIG problem with your (specious) arguement, LEO: Cars are not designed, manufactured, and marketed to kill things. Knives are not designed, manufactured, and marketed to kill things. Alcoholic beverages and cigarettes are not designed, manufactured and marketed to kill things (well, maybe cigarettes, but they’re only intended to kill the user).
Guns are designed, manufactured, and marketed to do one thing and one thing only: kill things.