Authorities Want to Charge Mom Shot By Her 4-Year-Old Son

[SpankMe]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by mcar (a host of the General Discussion forum).

The mother of a 4-year-old boy who shot her as they were riding in a pickup truck should face a misdemeanor charge, authorities said Tuesday as they released details of the shooting for the first time.

The boy had recently learned how to unbuckle himself, got out of his seat and picked up the gun. He fired through the front seat, hitting his mother in the back.

The bullet had exited through her chest and gone through the windshield. The child was uninjured.

Gilt was apparently a gun lover who made numerous social media postings about gun rights, including one about teaching her 4-year-old to shoot.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/authorities-want-charge-mom-shot-her-own-4-year-old-n543731

Well, she taught her 4-year-old how to shoot a gun, alright. But, she didn't teach him how to aim. This is actually a good thing, because if he knew how to aim, he'd have popped her in the back of the head instead.

I expect when she gets out of the hospital, she'll teach him how to use a gun to masturbate himself.

(Can you tell that this story irks me...just a little?)

[Oneironaut]

1. I agree. The boy could have shot himself.

Gun negligence like this ought to treated harshly

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Mom is a real jerk

She's lucky she's not making funeral arrangements for the kid.

[Warpy]

57. Or her family isn't making arrangements for her

It takes some kind of real stupid to leave a loaded gun near any kid, ever. She needs to lose the guns or lose the kids or maybe even both.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. I would have no problem with her being charged on child endangerment and not being allowed to own a

gun. She has proved that she is not a responsible person.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. I totally agree.

We all know the kid coulda shot himself.
I appreciate the karmic justice of him shooting her, but sadly it is usually the innocent kid who suffers for the dumb parents.

[pintobean]

4. What kind of mind

imagines a mother teaching her four year old son to masturbate with a gun?

[flamin lib]

9. Interesting, not outraged that a toddler is left with a gun but upset over a

masturbatory comment?

A little sensitive are we?

[pintobean]

12. I didn't comment about the toddler with the gun.

Why would you draw any conclusion about what I think about that.

You haven't weighed in on that either. You just jumped my ass for questioning what looks like a really strange pedo-insest "comment". What conclusions should we draw from that?

[flamin lib]

14. What conclusions should we draw from that?

That you are more concerned about a masturbatory comment than letting a toddler have access to a gun.

[pintobean]

15. Whoosh

[bighart]

16. Could be both

Pissed off about the woman letting a toddler have access to a gun AND concerned with a really bizarre comment about teaching a 4 year old to masturbate.

Not necessarily an either/or case here.
Just sayin'

[Gene Debs]

25. Actually, that jumped unpleasantly out at me, too. Am I a little sensitive?

[Crunchy Frog]

19. The kind that witnesses the gun insanity

going on in our culture.

[pintobean]

20. We all witness that.

My mind doesn't go there, does yours?

[Crunchy Frog]

41. My mind goes quite alot of places when it comes to our culture's gun insanity.

I'm surprised that there's more outrage about "where people's minds are going" than there is about an adult leaving a loaded firearm within reach of a toddler, while driving, and is not likely even to lose her "right" to own guns.

Actually, not surprised. It's part of the gun insanity after all. I do find it disturbing though. Much more so than anyplace someone's "mind is going" who also finds it disturbing.

[sarisataka]

24. People who are blinded

by bigotry and hate are able to self-justify that which they would typically find abhorrent. They will tell themselves that the lesser evil is worth a greater good; ignoring that they are choosing evil. What is overlooked is the idea that both can be condemned.

[cwydro]

38. I saw that too.

Ugly, weird comment that skeeved me off a bit. Ick.

[Eleanors38]

47. Well, it's Gun Discussion where strange sexual allusions are abundant and acceptable..

[cwydro]

52. Lol, well there ya go.

That was one of the creepiest I've seen however.

[Eleanors38]

60. It only intensifies. IMO, some progs want Their hate object as badly as the FR...

...and have settled on the GunCulture©. What disturbs me is the corrosive effect it has on those around them, esp. when at DU the language and tenor of this talk has become acceptable. And that kind of legitimacy, imo, starts at the top.

[Hekate]

50. True dat. Unneccessary and skeevy, and not needed for emphasis. nt

[Brickbat]

5. "I expect when she gets out of the hospital, she'll teach him how to use a gun to masturbate

himself."

What the fuck is this shit right here?

[flamin lib]

10. Ok, it's alright to let a four year old play with guns and leave one available

in the back of the vehicle for him to shoot her with but masturbation gets you all riled up?

Project much?

[Brickbat]

21. I'm not the one projecting here.

[Eleanors38]

48. On projection: Don't aim your camera at the mirror.

[Katashi_itto]

6. Obviously she is getting just a slap on the wrist. Would like to see her do hard time.

[pintobean]

8. And a bullet in the back.

[Katashi_itto]

27. It could have been the kid. She is supposedly the adult.

[pintobean]

31. No shit. But hard time is ridiculous.

She has to deal with the results of her stupidity. I don't think it's necessary to send her to prison, and separate her child from his mother. Taking her guns and putting her on probation should be sufficient.

[Katashi_itto]

32. I respectfully disagree. 5-15 years would be a good start. She is promoting a toxic environment for

the kid. What if some innocent bystander had been shot?

[pintobean]

36. If only we treated criminals,

who shoot illegal guns in an attempt to kill, that harshly.

[Katashi_itto]

37. She could be a great start. I don't think the kid had a license to pack heat.

I could be wrong. But if not the Kid whose fault is it?

[Skittles]

43. I am wondering if she has even learned a lesson

these gun humpers seem heavily influenced by NRA garbage and it has warped their minds

[SoCalMusicLover]

56. Nope, No Lesson Learned

Her mom gave an interview where she defended the daughter and said that it was simply an "accident." Could have happened to anyone, and that all the anti-gun folks should mind their own business, because their opinions of their guns have not changed one bit.

[SoCalMusicLover]

55. Taking Her Guns??? LOL!!!

They're not going to take her guns, they're probably not even going to charge her. And if they do, she'll get community service at worst.....or probation perhaps.

Jail time? Ha! Confiscate her guns? HA HA HA HA HA!!!

Her mother has already stated how they feel about their precious, and I'm not talking about the kid. NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING is going to change her belief system. If anything, this will embolden her.

[Crunchy Frog]

42. She put the bullet in her own back, through her own criminal negligence.

That's consequences, but it sure as fuck isn't punishment.

[jwirr]

7. As a social worker I think there is grounds for charging her

with neglect.

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. In Cal. she would lose the kid.

Mandatory reporting requirements extend to what you think COULD happen in the future.

When I moved to Cal. to work, I was not aware of that change in the law, and very unsettled to hear that Social Workers, as well as other mandatory reporters, had to predict the future behavior of clients in Cal.
Maybe also in other states????

So I took early retirement.

[jwirr]

23. Hmmm, I don't know about other states. Here in MN she

could lose her child at least for a while until she proves herself fit to take care of the child.

As to predicting the future - we have a law that talks about the reality of the child being endangered in the home it now lives in. So I guess that is kind of predicting the future. I never looked at it that way. Mainly because I never worked with a case that did not scream clear and present danger to the child. (You know like cigarette burns, broken bones, etc.)

[dixiegrrrrl]

29. I am really torn over the idea of futuring people.

Part of me says,yes, we know damn well by now the outcomes of abusive marital partners, of multiple DUI people, and esp. of any past/present sexual abuse, and of animal torture children, etc. We can predict with pretty good accuracy the path of escalation and eventually deadly outcomes.
Thousands of clients have taught us firsthand.

but....OTOH...I do not want the power to decide I know what is best for someone down the road.
I have a hard enough time with the power to commit someone for 72 hours, and use the police to back me up, even when I do it in a kind and supportive manner. In emergencies, it needs to be done, no argument with that.
But beyond that, going into weeks and months predictions, so therefore reporting them....that does not help the trust level at all.

[jwirr]

34. I understand that because I don't think many social workers

can go without feeling this way. I was lucky. I was not the one who had to make the decisions because I worked with developmentally disabled children and adults.

But my desk was right next to the woman who did have to make decisions. One of our friends had made the wrong decision and placed a child back in the home - within hours the child was dead. We all wondered how we could deal with that.

The lady at the desk next to me often showed me the photos of cases she was working on and listened to my joy in dealing with my clients - a month after the above child died she transferred to my unit because she no longer wanted to have that power in her hands.

For those who think that us social workers have such easy jobs - believe me you are totally wrong.

In the case of this mother and child we are talking about I think there should be intervention but I am not sure what kind or how long. It would help if she were no longer allowed to own a gun.

[dixiegrrrrl]

39. Given her history, which shows disregard for the law...

a ban on her owning a gun will not stop her from getting a gun.
sigh.

[jwirr]

40. And that deals with what we are dealing with in regard to

gun control. A law is only good if people are willing to follow it.

[giftedgirl77]

30. In FL we were flat out told a kid would have to be seriously injured or

killed for them to remove the kids from my BILs care.

[cry baby]

13. She should be charged with child endangerment and

her guns should have to be turned over with a ban of future gun purchases.

[Fritz Walter]

17. She already has a criminal record

From News4 Jax:

News4Jax learned Gilt was arrested two years ago in Jacksonville on a charge of grand theft. According to reports, she was detained on April 4, 2013, by security guards at the Dillard's department store at the Avenues, who reported seeing her stuffing $455 worth of children's clothes into her purse and hiding the bag in a child's stroller.

What a model parent we have here!

[pintobean]

18. Was she convicted?

A felony conviction would make it illegal for her to possess a firearm.

[2naSalit]

28. I can't recall exactly but

I think the charge of grand theft may automatically kick it into the federal court system thus making it illegal to own or carry firearms in many states. I wonder which it is in this case.

The woman certainly needs to get some re-groovin' before she should be allowed around children, her own or not.

[SoCalMusicLover]

58. Settled Out Of Court

She was supposedly sentenced to community service, which I'm not sure was even completed.

But since it ended up not being a felony, she got to keep her guns, as she will in this instance as well. NO WAY they take her guns or kid away.

This is Florida people, don't forget that important fact.

[randr]

33. Should be charged with child neglect/abuse

[Nye Bevan]

35. Any adult who leaves a loaded gun in reach of a child should be charged with a crime.

Having said that, your post would have been just fine without the masturbation paragraph.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

44. I would settle for no criminal charges,

but termination of parental rights and sterilization.

[sarisataka]

45. So in essence

you want to get medieval on her...

I think the Eighth Amendment might have some relevance to forced sterilization as punishment.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

46. Who said anything about punishment?

I'm willing to call it an accident, I'm also willing to say she is too stupid and reckless to have contact with children.

[sarisataka]

59. Your support of

eugenics is duly noted.

Have a nice day

[Hekate]

49. She left a loaded gun on the back seat next to a little child? He could be dead now.

If he had waved it out the window, someone else could be dead now. If his wounded mom had lost control of the car, they both could be dead now.

What kind of a moron.....

[Agnosticsherbet]

51. She endangered that child's life. If she wants to endanger herself, fine.

But her job is to protect her child.

[Warren DeMontague]

53. Well its just a gun. Its not like it was a pot brownie or something.

Had that been the case i am sure there would be all sorts of calls for tougher laws!

[DashOneBravo]

54. Good, she should be.

Child services should get involved and they should ban her from owning any firearms.

I think the last comment about the child and mother is sick. What kind of person thinks of shit like that?