Today in America

[Uncle Sparky]

I think all Americans should be allowed to shoot at least one other American - we can call it 'having a Cheney moment'.

[SlowwHand]

Millions of law abiding gun owners did not shoot anybody.

Just another day in the life.

[Uncle Sparky]

BURKESVILLE, Ky. - In southern Kentucky, where some children get their first guns even before they start first grade, Stephanie Sparks was cleaning the kitchen as her 5-year-old son played with the small rifle he was given last year. Then, as she stepped onto the front porch, "she heard the gun go off," a coroner said.

In a horrific accident Tuesday that shocked a rural area far removed from the U.S. debate over gun control, her son, Kristian, had fatally shot his 2-year-old sister, Caroline, in the chest, authorities said.

Kristian's rifle was kept in a corner of the mobile home, and the family didn't realize a bullet had been left in it, Cumberland County Coroner Gary White said.

"Down in Kentucky where we're from, you know, guns are passed down from generation to generation," White said. "You start at a young age with guns for hunting and everything."

What is more unusual than a child having a gun, he said, is "that a kid would get shot with it."

In this case, the rifle was made by a company that sells guns specifically for children — "My first rifle" is the slogan — in colours ranging from plain brown to hot pink to orange to royal blue to multi-colour swirls.

"It's a normal way of life, and it's not just rural Kentucky, it's rural America — hunting and shooting and sport fishing. It starts at an early age," said Cumberland County Judge Executive John Phelps. "There's probably not a household in this county that doesn't have a gun."

In Cumberland County, as elsewhere in Kentucky, local newspapers feature photos of children proudly displaying their kills, including turkey and deer.

Phelps, who is much like a mayor in these parts, said it had been four or five years since there had been a shooting death in the county, which lies along the Cumberland River near the Tennessee state line.

Phelps said he knew the family well. He said the father, Chris Sparks, works as a logger at a mill and also shoes horses.

The family lives in a grey mobile home on a long, winding road, surrounded by rolling hills and farmland that's been in the family since the 1930s. Toys, including a small truck and a basketball goal, were on the front porch, but no one was home Wednesday.

There's a house across the street, but the next closest neighbour lives over a hill.

Family friend Logan Wells said he received a frantic call telling him that the little girl was in an accident and to come quickly.

When he got to the hospital, Caroline was already dead. "She passed just when I got there," Wells said.

White said the shooting had been ruled accidental, though a police spokesman said it was unclear whether any charges will be filed.

"I think it's too early to say whether there will or won't be," Trooper Billy Gregory said.

White said the boy received the .22-calibre rifle as a gift, but it wasn't clear who gave him the gun, which is known as a Crickett.

"It's a little rifle for a kid. ... The little boy's used to shooting the little gun," White said.

The company that makes the rifle, Pennsylvania-based Keystone Sporting Arms, has a "Kids Corner" on its website with pictures of young boys and girls at shooting ranges and on bird and deer hunts. It says the company produced 60,000 Crickett and Chipmunk rifles for kids in 2008. The smaller rifles are sold with a mount to use at a shooting range.

Keystone also makes guns for adults, but most of its products are geared toward children, including books and bright orange vests and hats.

"The goal of KSA is to instil gun safety in the minds of youth shooters and encourage them to gain the knowledge and respect that hunting and shooting activities require and deserve," the website said.

No one at the company answered the phone Wednesday.

According to the website, company founders Bill McNeal and his son Steve McNeal decided to make guns for young shooters in the mid-1990s and opened Keystone in 1996 with just four employees, producing 4,000 rifles that year. It now employs about 70 people.

It also has a long list of testimonials from parents who talk about how grateful they are to be able to go shooting with their children.

Sharon Rengers, a longtime child advocate at Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, said making and marketing weapons specifically for children was "mind-boggling."

"It's like, oh, my God," she said, "we're having a big national debate whether we want to check somebody's background, but we're going to offer a 4-year-old a gun and expect something good from that?"

What a cute story.

[SlowwHand]

I doubt that you'll find anyone else saying it's a cute story. I also don't think you'll find that anyone has said that terrible things don't happen.
What you will find is people singling out guns as the problem in the world, which is pretty stupid.

[Skanky Burns]

If you have guns around, it should go without saying that you need to enforce gun safety. Check your ****ing weapon before handing it to someone else! ****ing idiots.

[SlowwHand]

Exactly.
If you run over your foot with a lawnmower, where should the blame go? Sawed off your leg with a chainsaw? BAD chainsaw.

[dannubis]

Should we put more regulations on alcohol because a few prefer to break the law for drinking and driving?

If by doing so you avoid traffic deaths and wounded, by all means...

[dannubis]

Exactly.
If you run over your foot with a lawnmower, where should the blame go? Sawed off your leg with a chainsaw? BAD chainsaw.

Yes, because lawnmowers and chainsaws are build to hurl projectiles at very high speed on a target of your choosing.

[MikeH]

If you have guns around, it should go without saying that you need to enforce gun safety. Check your ****ing weapon before handing it to someone else! ****ing idiots.

Yeah, so regulate gun safety and only allow people who can demonstrate they can handle and store guns safely and responsibly to own them.

We do that through a process of licencing.

[Docfeelgood]

What kind of an idiot gives a loaded gun to a five year old as a gift?

[Skanky Burns]

Yeah, so regulate gun safety and only allow people who can demonstrate they can handle and store guns safely and responsibly to own them.

We do that through a process of licencing.

No arguements there.

[Uncle Sparky]

Wait a tic... how come no-one has suggested the obvious - all 2 year olds should be given guns. Obviously the firing mechanism should be changed to compensate for their lack of strength and coordination.



Adorable!!!

[Sava]

What kind of an idiot gives a loaded gun to a five year old as a gift?

A FREEDOM LOVING AMERICAN

YOU ****FACE

[MrFun]

Exactly.
If you run over your foot with a lawnmower, where should the blame go? Sawed off your leg with a chainsaw? BAD chainsaw.

A person drinks and drives and kills someone. The person who drank and drove is to be blamed and is responsible.

But do you think alcohol had any part in the drinking and driving?

[Sava]

I don't understand why gun idiots think guns are being blamed. They're not. Of course people are to blame. And those people... shouldn't have guns!