5-year-old Kentucky boy fatally shoots 2-year-old sister

[puckstopshere]

(CNN) -- A Kentucky mother stepped outside of her home just for a few minutes, but it was long enough for her 5-year-old son to accidentally shoot and kill his 2-year-old sister with the .22-caliber rifle he got for his birthday, state officials said.

The shooting that took the life of Caroline Sparks in southern Kentucky has been ruled an accident, Kentucky State Police Trooper Billy Gregory said.

"It's just one of those nightmares," he said, "a quick thing that happens when you turn your back."

Young children in the area are often introduced to guns at an early age, Gregory said.

"In this part of the country, it's not uncommon for a 5-year-old to have a gun or for a parent to pass one down to their kid," he said.

Her family kept the Crickett rifle in what they considered to be a safe spot, Cumberland County Coroner Gary White told the CNN affiliate.

The boy was playing with it Tuesday when it accidentally went off and killed his sister, White said.

"The little Crickett rifle is a single-shot rifle, and it has a child safety," White told CNN. "It's just a tragic situation."

The Crickett website features three .22-caliber rifle models for kids, with shoulder stock colors ranging from pink to red, white and blue swirls. "My first rifle" is the company's slogan.

Family members Wednesday described the shooting as an accident.

"He just picked (the gun) up before he realized it," grandmother Linda Riddle told WLEX.

Riddle said her granddaughter enjoyed singing and playing outdoors, and she loved her brother.

"It's just tragic," uncle David Mann told the CNN affiliate. "It's something that you can't prepare ...

Riddle said she is devastated, but comforted knowing that her granddaughter is in a better place.

"It was God's will. It was her time to go, I guess," she told WLEX. "I just know she's in heaven rig...

Caroline Sparks' death comes after two other incidents in recent months involving young children sho...4-year-old boy in Tennessee shot and killed a 48-year-old woman, and just days later, 6-year-old Brandon Holt was killed in New Jersey after being shot in the head by his 4-year-old play...

Before the play date, the gun talk.

[cumos55]

Stupid... Stupid... Stupid

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

This is how the US markets lethal weapons to children........ http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/05/crickett-rifle-marketing-kids 

Indoctrinate them .......early.

[art-in-the-making]

It is utter insanity in the U.S. right now. I have seen dozens of comment threads on news stories and message boards where seemingly unrelated topics have degenerated out of the blue into pro / anti gun discussions.

They are coming right out and saying it now. The "people" of a given persuasion see it as arming themselves against the government. Point blank. The thousands of American gun violence victims who have paid with their lives since the Newtown massacre alone are seen as nothing more than unfortunate collateral damage in a greater cause. Yet the victims of the Boston Marathon bombers are endlessly eulogized and dramatized.

The line-ups of people buying assault weapons, the super-aggressive tone of gun advocates and everyone, really, laughable bogus claims that the "government" is buying up all the ammo (lol), the sudden transition of the pro-gun forces from bashful duck hunters into a would-be revolutionary force.

I think the next step may be that the U.S.A. is going to be wondering what happened to their tourism industry.

[puckstopshere]

I learned to hunt when I was a teen.  My uncle taught me - not to use a gun - but a bow and arrow.  I killed one animal, a deer.  We used it for meat.  I never went hunting again.  I really hated killing that animal. 

I can see the use of simple long guns to hunt.  People in rural areas should be able to control animal populations that harm crops.  They should be able to use the meat for their families. 

Beyond that, I see no need for guns. 

Protect yourself.  Maybe, but too many don't protect others while protecting themselves.  Gun storage is as important as how you use the gun.  A person who "allows" his or her improperly stored weapon to maim or kill another should be charged as an accessory.  They should be sentenced as if they, themselves, pulled the trigger.

Assault weapons?  Cool if you are building your own army.  Otherwise, ban them.

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

I hunted for many. many years, more than I care to remember. I always hunted alone, no matter where I was from Canada, to Texas. Thinking back, it was probably telling me something I didn't come to realize till much later.

Then one day, I just couldn't do it anymore......not to an innocent animal of any description. I regret and always will the innumerable lives of innocent creatures that I took. Simple creatures who just wanted to live in their own world and be happy in their own way. That was until humans came along and decided that they wanted more....and more.

So in short, I understand hunting and the mentality in spades.

I also carried a gun (illegally of course) for many years because of a lifestyle I had chosen. Kill or be killed. I kind of miss that S&W after selling it at a gun show, we were old friends. So I understand that world as well.

I also know the US well, especially the gun loving areas and the people. I did a lot of gun trading and buying and selling (all legally) in the US and got to know the people well and although the US had a gun mentality and always has had........things are getting a lot worse lately! Technically they are all well meaning people but they have one weakness (if one wants to call it that).......Fear. The US is like a mini version of the global arms race ...."I have to have guns because others do". There is a logic in that....but the payment for that is too expensive. You rarely ever hear of a person defending their homes or saving their family etc because they have a gun at home. In truth, many people who do own guns are still murdered because the murderer kills first and then steals all the guns of the home owner.

The US lives in a Catch 22 where people want to solve a problem but that creates another problem which inevitably leads to a bigger problem.

But back to the 'fear'. The US has always considered itself top dog in the world and mentality comes down from the military to the people. Guns, 'power' are what makes them top dog and that pride is something embedded in them from the day the US was invented.

Have I got anything against guns? No, they have their place, but like anything they need controls and that's where I part company with many gun people. Guns are a killing machine.......bottom line.....and in the US there are more restrictions and rules and regulations on vehicles and toasters than there are on a killing machine in many areas of the US.

Guns are a complicated situation, as is fear. You have to understand the history of them and the phycology behind them, from the 'hunters' to those who own for other reasons. Guns are a personal thing and a national/patriotic thing. But in the end it all boils down to two things....fear and power. I always remember the opening scene from the movie 2001 Space Odyssey where the cave man first picked up a stick and realized the power it had. Technically that was the first 'gun'. The rest is history. We're just making bigger more efficient sticks and less love, understanding and compassion.    

[whitmanpond]

A tragic accident. But how many kids are killed by siblings starting up a car or pushing them off a balcony.

As expected, the supporters of totalitarianism are using this as an excuse to ban guns.

To the other poster. Gun sales are at an all time high not because of an external threat but rather the internal threat led by Hussein Obama. Why is the DHS trying to buy 2 billion bullets? There are at least 300 million guns in private hands. Since 2008 people have been preparing to resist the traitor.

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

12:35am A bit early but still a good first laugh for the day.

[zee-chan]

"It's something that you can't prepare for."

Really? About stop giving kids guns for their birthday, idiots?

[art-in-the-making]

Wow, whitmanpond.

Your post is exhibit A of what I refer to in my earlier post.

Are you in Canada or the U.S.? If you're in Canada then I am really getting worried.

In our occasional discussions on gun control on this message board, even the most enthusiastic gun advocates have always presented themselves as laid back law abiding farmers, hunters and "guns don't kill, people do" types.

Only once a couple of years ago I remember a one-time poster kind of hinted at the whole idea of defending oneself against the great unknown conspiracy.

But what you write for example about "preparing to resist the traitor" etc. is what I'm talking about that I have seen coming out of the U.S. in recent months. People openly (albeit often anonymously) writing this stuff.

More than anything, it reminds me of my great uncle who, in his declining years after passing the age of 90, took a deep interest in watching the WWF (tv wrestling) and he decided it was all for real. Never missing a match and describing all the wrestling events of recent weeks with great gusto. But this Fox-News inspired "revolutionary" stuff takes it to the next level.

You seem sincere whitmanpond, you seem to be one of many of similar mind, and I don't mean you any disrespect, but this is extremely worrisome.

[whitmanpond]

laughable bogus claims that the "government" is buying up all the ammo

I think the next step may be that the U.S.A. is going to be wondering what happened to their tourism industry.

When a US government agency goes to buy something it is public record. They have to put out for bids. The ammo buys by the DHS are published. Big Sis has admitted they are true. As with the thousands of armored vehicles bought by DHS.

If you don't want to go to the US.. thank you. Keep dealintruth/kbry with you.

[rafael.xavier]

On the subject of US government buying lots of ammunition, they may be just preparing for social unrests. In Brazil, most folks prefer streets controlled by government soldiers with lots of ammunition than by thugs with guns.

Rest in peace, little one. The parents were punished for their lack of judgment by most cruel way possible for a parent. Pray for them and let them mourn in peace.

[whitmanpond]

On the subject of US government buying lots of ammunition, they may be just preparing for social unrests. In Brazil, most folks prefer streets controlled by government soldiers with lots of ammunition than by thugs with guns.

Rest in peace, little one. The parents were punished for their lack of judgment by most cruel way possible for a parent. Pray for them and let them mourn in peace.

In the US the thugs with guns are more and more becoming the government. Brazil, which doesn't have much of a democratic tradition is used to facists controlling the government. The Second Amendment was written so that the people could resist totalitarianism.

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

To begin with whitmanpond I'd like to point out that I am a gun owner.....lots of them...probably enough to start a small revolution. However with regards to the 2nd Amendment I wish the gun lobbyists would say the whole verse and not just part:

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed"

First of all that was written when a militia was a major part of US defense...which it no longer is. Also the militia often brought their own guns....which no longer happens. Those days are over, done, gone long ago like horse and buggy's and the US does not need the same type of concept. Seriously, do you think the US is going to be in a position to not have it's vast military and power? If that situation ever arose your only worry would be China and if that ever happened then your history anyhow and all the guns wouldn't help one iota. Neither do Americans need to own assault rifles. What are they for rabbit hunting? Won't be much left of that bunny! I obviously do not have anything against gun ownership but I think there has to be restrictions and heavier guidelines and stronger penalties.