Check out this heart-warming holiday tale:
CORTEZ, Colo. — Authorities say a 12-year-old Colorado boy accidentally shot himself in the leg while playing with a loaded pistol his parents had hidden behind the family Christmas tree. Montezuma County Sheriff Gerald Wallace says the boy was shot in the calf on Monday morning but the injury wasn’t serious. Wallace says the parents had left for work but other family members took the boy to a hospital.
The sheriff says he won’t recommend charges because the parents had left the .22 pistol a reasonable distance from the child. It wasn’t clear why the weapon was hidden there. Wallace says the boy was “digging around” when he found it. His father had other weapons locked in a safe.
It's 2009, Ralphie. Grow a pair.
Few things are more annoying and inappropriate than telling someone else how to raise their children, but I’m gonna go ahead. A loaded .22? Did you want to give your kid the option of celebrating the gift by immediately firing a couple rounds into the ceiling?
And under the tree? Are you sure about this? Was it wrapped? Could you possibly foresee a child putting a wrapped package to his ear and shaking it?
I don’t know all the details, so I can’t fault the cops for not dropping a child endangerment charge on the parents. Although, I don’t see the fairness in allowing the kid to be the sole victim of his parents’ idiocy. He’s the one who suffered the gunshot wound. He’s the one who will have to stand with Tom Selleck for the NRA PR photo shoot. Also, he’s probably grounded for waking up the dog.
“Sometimes, at the height of our revelries, when our joy is at it’s zenith, when all is most right with the world, the most unthinkable disasters descend upon us.”
It makes me wonder what an “unreasonable distance” would be. Obviously if you tuck the .22 under the kid’s pillow that’s crossing the line, but what about under his bed, or even in the toilet tank, Godfather style? So many questions for the Montezuma Co. Sheriff Department.