Police: Boy playing with gun shoots friend, 13, in the face

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Police: Boy playing with gun shoots friend, 13, in the face

Updated 3:28 pm, Monday, March 21, 2016

MOUNT PLEASANT, Pa. (AP) — A 14-year-old boy was charged Monday with killing a 13-year-old boy after shooting him in the face while they were playing with a gun at a Pennsylvania home, police said.

The 14-year-old, of Mount Pleasant, was arraigned after being charged as an adult with criminal homicide and illegal possession of a firearm by a minor.

The shooting Sunday night didn't appear to be intentional, but police were continuing to investigate and trying to determine who owned the weapon, said Jerry Lucia, Mount Pleasant's mayor and fire chief.

The dead boy, James Gustafson, is the son of a borough firefighter and had planned to become a junior firefighter when he turned 14 in June, Lucia said at a news conference.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Police-Boy-playing-with-gun-shoots-friend-13-6927579.php

[MariaThinks]

1. so sad and tragic. the nra and their supporters are drowning in innocent blood

it is impossible to educate people enough to stop gun tragedies when there is such a strong gun culture and so many guns.

[Kelvin Mace]

2. A 14 year old is being "charged as an adult"? Why?

[Crunchy Frog]

40. Because God forbid the actual adult gun owner should be charged with anything.

[NutmegYankee]

3. I can't believe the child was charged with criminal homicide for an accident.

I mean, yes it can be considered negligent homicide, but I don't consider a child to be as culpable as an adult. This is why people should keep guns out of their hands in the first place.

[enough]

4. It's the owner of the gun who should be charged. (nt)

[maxsolomon]

7. yup

the article failed to mention the charges filed against the owner of the firearm. I'm sure they're coming.

[saturnsring]

10. police were continuing to investigate and trying to determine who owned the weapon,

[840high]

22. Of course.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

28. A-FUCKING-men n/t

[Zira]

5. Same thing happened in my family only he was 15 and at his friends house and his friend was

showing him his dads gun and it went off and into his heart.
I have to go throw up now. This happens all the time. At least this kid was charged.

And, I had to delete the rest of my post for fear of getting sued from the kid's dad for saying his son is a murder.

[saturnsring]

11. can that happen?

[Zira]

12. Oh, excuse me. I thought I had you on ignore from witnessing some of your posts.

Let me fix that right now.

[saturnsring]

14. yea words are a terrible thing i can understand why you'd want to protect yourself from them

[vkkv]

17. Especially after offering words for discussion...crazy. eom

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

29. I'm so sorry. Shit like that should not happen!! FUCKING GUNS!

[Crunchy Frog]

41. One "responsible adult gun owner". Two kids lives destroyed.

Hoooray for responsible gun owners.

[Zira]

6. This is why there were actually charges in this case:

"The dead boy, James Gustafson, is the son of a borough firefighter and had planned to become a junior firefighter when he turned 14 in June, Lucia said at a news conference."

[yodermon]

8. "illegal possession of a firearm by a MINOR" but "charged as an ADULT". ok.

[vkkv]

9. The NRA approves this article. A-OK with them obviously because if news like this

upset the NRA - they might help to alleviate such sad occurances.

But the NRA doesn't help and doesn't care.

[lark]

13. Ahem, for the people that keep repeating that gun accidents are rare - here's another.

There's at least one a week posted here. Guns kill/injure way more people than they protect.

[EX500rider]

15. Once a week in a country with over 300 million is rare.

By comparison, "........ car accidents kill a child every 3 minutes."

http://www.usacoverage.com/auto-insurance/how-many-driving-accidents-occur-each-year.html

[Skittles]

16. that's just what is posted on DU

nice NRA talking point

[vkkv]

18. That would equal 175,200 car deaths of children every year. But there are ~33k TOTAL auto deaths

each year... Your data is flawed.

There were 29,989 fatal motor vehicle crashes in the United States in 2014 in which 32,675 deaths occurred. http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/general-statistics/fatalityfacts/state-by-state-overview


""Car crashes killed 33,561 people in 2012, the most recent year for which data is available, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Firearms killed 32,251 people in the United States in 2011, the most recent year for which the Centers for Disease Control has data.""" http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/01/americas-top-killing-machine/384440/

[EX500rider]

19. A: not my data B: I imagine they mean worldwide on review of the numbers.

[vkkv]

21. Imagining is not what one does when one attaches a link as you did to prove a point... eom

[shawn703]

20. That's a mighty fine editing job you did there.

Here, let me provide the rest of that paragraph for you, pal.


According to the National Highway Traffic Administration, car accidents happen every minute of the day. Motor vehicle accidents occur in any part of the world every 60 seconds. And if it’s all summed up in a yearly basis,there are 5.25 million driving accidents that take place per year. Statistics show that each year,43,000 or more of the United States’ population die due to vehicular accidents and around 2.9 million people end up suffering light or severe injuries. In a certain five year period, there had been recorded a 25% of the driving population who encountered or were involved in car accidents. It is also affirmed that car accidents kill a child every 3 minutes.Statistics on the number of car accidents taking place in every state or country is normally based on medical or insurance records filed.


They can't even count the number of people killed worldwide with guns each year.

[vkkv]

23. Do the math.

Ex500 wrote:: """15. Once a week in a country with over 300 million is rare.""
The subject is deaths in the U.S. " a country of 300 million" ( 319 million to be more accurate - not worldwide.

Ex500 also wrote::"........ car accidents kill a child every 3 minutes." I call that BS.

Do the math:

60 minutes per hour
divided by 3 ("car accidents kill a child every 3 minutes." ) = 20 child deaths PER HOUR, according to Ex500Rider.
20 deaths per hour
x 24 hours per day
= 480 child deaths per day.
x 365 days per year = 175,200 child deaths per year!!
Wow, that's a lot!!

Ah, but the total of all auto deaths is approx. 40,000 per year...

Believe what you want, go ahead and make up your reality, pal.

[skepticscott]

24. Actual accidents with guns are VERY rare

But this was almost certainly not one of them, nor are most of the incidents that the media and law enforcement treat as gun "accidents". Virtually all of them are actually cases of recklessness, negligence and stupidity, involving gross disregard for basic rules of gun safety.

[Angel Martin]

25. the actual data, rather than self-serving speculation

accidental/unintentional gun deaths are rare, compared to drowning, falls, poisoning, even bicycle accidents

CDC data, See Table 18

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_02.pdf


unintentional gun deaths in 2013 (latest year available): 505



also in 2013:

unintentional drowning: 3391

unintentional falls: 30,208

unintentional poisoning: 38,851

cyclists killed by cars: 623

other cycling deaths: 302


Accidental deaths from bicycles is twice that of guns.

Register all bicycles !

[Gormy Cuss]

31. Cyclists killed by cars aren't "deaths from bicycles"

"Other cycling deaths" may be and that estimate is considerably lower than the unintentional gun death count.

[Angel Martin]

36. Cyclists killed by cars aren't "deaths from bicycles"

in what universe ?

if they had taken the bus, instead of riding their bikes, they wouldn't have been killed.



Bicycles kill !

Register all bicycles !

[rockfordfile]

26. A gun culture pushed by the republican party and nra.

[Crunchy Frog]

42. Have you seen some of the posters here on DU?

[polly7]

27. It seems so unfair that he was charged, especially as an adult.

Gun accidents happen so often. My friend at school (actually, my 'husband' I 'married' in grade 4) was shot by his brother. The older brother was never the same and today is not doing well, at all, dealing with alcoholism and a lot of issues. He was about 14 also.

[christx30]

32. He shouldn't have been touching the gun.

That was a crime. And any death that occurs as the result of a crime is, itself, a crime, even if it was accidental.
I'm fully ok with this kid being charged. His irresponsibility and stupidity lead directly to the death of his friend.

[polly7]

33. No. 'Accidents' shouldn't be criminal if they are proven accidents - especially for a child.

Even those that take a life. And I hate guns, I've seen what they do up close and personal, many many times.

The irresponsibility and stupidity lies with the adults who get them and leave them accessible.

[christx30]

34. So if I run a stop sign and accidently kill

an old lady out walking her dog, that's not criminal? I think it sure as heck is.
And I absolutely think the adults that owned the gun should be charged. They shouldn't get off scott free.
But the kid should be charged with the death of his friend. He was the one holding the gun, when he shouldn't have been.

[polly7]

35. I care about this gun/accident issue. Not a stop sign. This is a child. Period.

[christx30]

37. People that act carelessly/illegally and kill people

are charged with crimes all the time. Its not a new concept. Manslaughter. Negligent homocide.
Gives good incentive to be careful. Not only because you don't want to harm others , but because you don't want to go to prison.

[polly7]

38. I've never seen any child up here charged for an accidental gun crime.

Living with it is punishment enough. Don't your prisons have enough children without adding in those who've been devastated themselves with such a horrible loss - accidentally?

[Crunchy Frog]

43. He shouldn't have been in a position to touch the gun.

The ADULT whose fault that was should be the one charged. The ADULT was the one who was stupid and irresponsible. God forbid that an adult gun owner should ever be held to account, though.

[leftynyc]

30. Charged as an adult?

Why? Criminal homicide?

[Crunchy Frog]

39. The owner of the gun should be charged.

That's never going to happen though, because Heaven forbid that an adult gun owner should ever actually be held responsible for anything.