Michael Santiago, 25, is under arrest for felony child endangerment after his 6-year-old son accidentally shot and killed his 3-year-old brother. Santiago kept the .32-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver fully loaded on top of the refrigerator.
The boys were reportedly playing “cops and robbers” when the gun went off. Their grandfather was watching them but was upstairs at the time. Santiago is a former gang member who said that he had the gun (purchased illegally off the street) to protect himself after testifying against a fellow gang member. Santiago, a manager at a Papa Ray’s Pizza restaurant, is being held on $75,000 bond.
Santiago appears to have been working hard after leaving the gang — putting in six days a week at the pizza restaurant.
The combination of the illegal purchase and the endangerment allegation could result in serious time for Santiago. The question is whether a court should consider the loss of the child in reducing the sentence. Santiago is described as a loving father who did a terribly stupid and reckless thing. Given the loss of the child, do you think that serious jail time is warranted?
Source: CNN
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/mans-worst-enemy-6-negligent-gun-owners-who-were-shot-their-own-dogs
Man’s Worst Enemy: 6 Negligent Gun Owners Who Were Shot by Their Own Dogs
Guns don’t kill people. Dogs with guns kill people.
Guns don’t kill people; dogs with guns kill people—or so it would seem from the recent rash of gun owners who have been accidentally shot by their dogs.
This trend isn’t part of a canine uprising; it’s mostly due to gun-toting Americans who have neglected the simple rules of weapon safety. Usually these stories end up in the “Weird” or “Funny” sections of news sites with headlines like “Doggone,” “Bad Dog,” etc. After all, it’s “funny” when a dog accidently shoots its owner.
Toddlers can get their little hands on bleach, drain-o, rat poison, drugs and all sorts of lethal substances. Should we ban bleach because some parents are too stupid to lock those items away?
Toddlers have been known to put metal items in electrical sockets and be killed. Ban electricity?
Toddlers can eat dirt and fall off of stairs. Toddlers are inventive in how many ways they can harm themselves.
There is no way to legislate our way into 100% safety. The PARENTS and other adults such as Grandparents are the ones who are responsible for being vigilant and keeping their children safe and removing danger from their little grasping fingers.
It’s a scenario the pro-gun forces never talk about, perhaps because it can’t by any stretch be solved by still more guns.
So….Theresa…..how do you propose to legislate against stupidity since all of your examples are of people being stupid and careless about their weapons. Terrible but stupid. What about the rest of us who are not stupid or careless, we should be punished because of the idiots out there?
As someone famously said, it is hard to stop stupid.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f53/midtowng/toddler_zpselrcnh2g.jpg
You’d be surprised how often a toddler with a gun accidentally injures or kills someone.
This is flippant language to use about tragic situations, but the scenario of a small child finding a firearm, being curious about it and accidentally shooting someone, is staggeringly common—about once a week by the best count. It’s a scenario the pro-gun forces never talk about, perhaps because it can’t by any stretch be solved by still more guns.
When cases like these do get publicity, there’s a lot of talk about the need for people to practice increased gun safety, and sure, that’s a no-brainer. People should not leave guns lying around. But when there are more guns than people, and NRA-backed politicians calling for even more guns, especially in schools where there are loads and loads of kids, well, Jeb Bush is kind of right on this one, stuff happens.
Here are just six of the most horrifying and stupefying recent incidents where toddlers got hold of just one of the ubiquitous firearms in this country.
1. Three-year-old shoots both parents with a single bullet. The 3-year-old son of Justin Reynolds and Monique Villescas was looking for an iPod in his mom’s purse in their Albuquerque hotel room, when he found her gun instead. He accidentally fired a single shot which managed to strike both of his parents—dad in the buttock and pregnant mom in the shoulder—but missed his 2-year-old sister. Both parents survived their injuries. The kids were taken away from their parents, but not, presumably the guns. Because freedom.
2. Twenty-one-month-old fatally shoots self in torso. This tragedy happened in the St. Louis area in August at around 1 in the afternoon. The youngster was apparently at his grandmother’s house at the time. There was an arrest, so that’ll help.
3. Three-year-old shoots self in the head, dies. On a fine June day in Clinton, Michigan, Jonathan Kaufman found a loaded .40 caliber pistol in a closet while his dad and older brother were outside. He accidentally shot himself in the head. At 3, he probably should have known better.
4. Three-year-old shoots self in the head, dies. This is not a repeat, though it could be a toddler copycat. Damon Holbrook found a gun, also in a Michigan home, and shot himself in the head. Hours later, his dad, Brian Holbrook, went on Facebook to defend the right to bear arms. “I have nothing wrong with guns,” [sic] he wrote. “It’s with this country was built on.” [sic, again]
5. Six-year-old shoots 3-year-old in Chicago, but let’s face it, it could have been the reverse. Toddlers aren’t the only ones finding guns and accidentally killing people. Kindergartners and first graders also do this (as well as older kids.) The genius dad in this case was a former gang member who had bought the gun to protect his family, wrapped it in pajamas and put it on a shelf, and then very sensibly showed it to his son. The dad was arrested.
6. Two-year-old shoots and kills sleeping dad. In Hoover, Alabama in late August, a mother came home to find Divine Vaniah Chambliss dead of a gunshot wound. Prime suspect: their 2-year-old son. The semi-automatic handgun that killed Chambliss was his own. He always carried it. For protection, of course
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/toddlers-guns-shoot-someone-about-once-week-america-6-horrifying-recent-incidents
Annie
That’s good DBQ, you just want your toys and to be left alone, I get it. And when these children keep shooting themselves and others we should just all go tsk, tsk, tsk and shake our sorrowful heads.
So by this standard we can conclude you support stop and frisk policies, right? Since civil rights carry no weight when compared to saving lives?
http://youtu.be/WC8IGU2ZA28
“The sheriff said the child’s mother was in the bedroom and the toddler was in another room playing at a home in Rhine.
The mother was moving a television on a chested drawer with a gun was on the furniture.
According to Sheffield, the mother moved the weapon to the bed.
As she proceeded to move the television, she heard the gun go off.
The toddler then crawled onto the bed and accidentally fired the gun into her right leg, Sheffield said.
Sheffield called the shooting a “horrible accident.”
First, a gun should be legally acquired, and second, perhaps most important, it should be secured,
I agree with both points, however……if this guy as a former gang member who is trying to get his life straight has a felony of any kind, even a non violent felony, he will not be able to legally acquire a weapon with which to protect himself and his family. At some point, I believe, that even ex felons should be able to prove themselves to be good citizens and have their Constitutional rights restored.
As for the securing of the weapons, I could not agree more. We have guns in our house and when it is just the two of us we can be a bit more lax on those that are considered protection weapons. By this I mean not locked up away from our reach in an emergency. A gun locked away from us in an emergency is worth a bucket of warm spit.
Our hunting rifles and shotguns are locked in the gun safe until we need to use them. When we have guests in the house of any kind and especially children….ALL guns are locked up. And if we have small children, the cabinets that contain chemicals or prescriptions are also locked.
Children should be taught from an early age to not touch guns (or anything that does not belong them). Guns are not toys, neither are knives, and children should be taught this as well as boundaries on what they can and cannot do. Age 6 is well old enough to have learned this.
Just common sense precautions.
Or child services might take the kid away, which wouldn’t be fair either. Tough call. He kept his gun loaded. Well, it would be stupid to do otherwise. He kept it on top of the fridge, which is out of immediate reach but not determined reach to a six-year-old. Not sure about the safety.
It will be even more of a tragedy if the system throws this guy in jail. He’ll lose his job, his heartbroken son won’t see his dad. Don’t know if there’s a mom in the picture. If this judge has any empathy, he/she won’t let this happen. But that’s far from certain.
As for this guy whose illegal gun killed a child, I have no sympathy legally, but some for the tragedy he likely didn’t want. First, a gun should be legally acquired, and second, perhaps most important, it should be secured, whether in a home or on your hip…eg., in a decent holster, not tucked in a belt or a bra. The folks who shove pistols in their belt lines make me nervous…they are not secure. When I know there’s to be young kids in our house I make it impossible for them to “discover” a firearm…its locked up. Same thing if I leave the house for a while, all guns left home (most of them…and mostly target arms) are also locked up, and as inconspicuously as possible. With a right goes responsibility. It’s not that hard.
ninianpeckitt said …
Max-1…“It’s just another dead baby” This says it all about America.
Ninian…you are a smart and erudite individual. You could, if you would, add some positive contribution to threads here. However, when you consistently have to cite things like the above, you ruin it. Your rants vis a vis our Constitution are classic for some one who either doesn’t know much about it or chooses to be obtuse. When I think of the UK, especially England, I think of the positive things they’ve contributed to the world…last thing I consider is their form of parliamentary democracy and what it encourages or discourages. Try it sometime…you might like it. Sounding like a 18th century “Tory” isn’t exactly convincing…there of course are things in both systems, the Yankee and the UK, that could improve…but all you seem to be able to find is fault with the Yankee system while oblivious to the foibles of the UK system.
Idealism is the enemy of rationality.
That’s “no life”.
Annie,
There are gray areas in life but life is not a gray area; Life is an unalienable right. When society places the the security of Life as a gray area, then know life will be secure from the will of the majority.
I do see the mindless, ignorant Hillary is proposing gun buyback programs. Hell, it’s only the taxpayers money you’re flushing down the toilet. Hillary would propose ANYTHING to get elected. She has no core, like many liberals, just a quest for control.
DBQ, What is accomplished by a minimum sentence is a respect for gun laws. I am quite certain his attorney would fight for no punishment, but would be happy w/ the sentence I propose. Regarding revenge by gang members, he lives w/ that no matter where he resides.
Olly, perhaps you do not understand that in life there are gray areas. Things will not always easy be ideal. Maybe the gun dilemma is one of the those gray areas and maybe truthfully all we can say is “tsk, tsk tsk”.
@ Nick
I disagree with the jail time. He is in great danger of being killed by the gang members that he testified against. If you just want to have him killed…..put him in jail. Work detail. Community service. Maybe.
But again, what would be accomplished by incarceration.
That’s good DBQ, you just want your toys and to be left alone, I get it. And when these children keep shooting themselves and others we should just all go tsk, tsk, tsk and shake our sorrowful heads.