Man who gave gun to friend sentenced

[fascisthunter]

Source: The Boston Globe

PITTSFIELD - A man who gave a loaded gun to his suicidal friend to "snap her out of it" and then watched in shock as she killed herself has been sentenced to up to five years in prison for his role in her death.

Christopher Burda, 46, was ordered Friday to serve between four and five years in prison after being convicted Tuesday of involuntary manslaughter for the November 2005 suicide of Nancy Choquette of Stamford, Vt.

Burda, a lighting company owner with no previous criminal record, wiped away tears throughout his sentencing, then apologized to Choquette's family and his own.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/03/16/ma... /

[fightthegoodfightnow]

1. Guns are Nothing to Joke About

........ and certainly not with someone in distress.

Poor judgment. It's unfortunate and sad that he had this experience and that he lost his friend. Let it be a lesson to anyone who thinks owning a gun is something anyone should be glib about.

[SecularMotion]

2. Alcohol was also involved

Here's a more detailed account from the local paper

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/headlines/ci_8542165

[fightthegoodfightnow]

14. Yet Another Reason Why the Law Should Ban Guns in Bars

Exhibit A.

[zanne]

3. Good. He deserves it. nt

[SquireJons]

5. What?

If he deserves five years in jail for poor judgment, you deserve ten for lack of empathy. He didn't want her to die, he hoped it would pull her out of it, and he was wrong. She pulled the trigger, not him. He just didn't know how to deal with a suicidal person, and for that he has his life destroyed.

DU just drips with compassion. If I didn’t know what republicans were all about and I came to this site first, I would disavow the Democratic Party forever. Fortunately, DU isn’t really representative of Democrats elsewhere. It’s more like kindergarten than anything else. That’s why I don’t contribute to DU any more. It would be like giving a loaded gun to someone who was suicidal.

How ironic.

[zanne]

7. It's called "accepting the consequences"...

If gun lovers want less gun control, they have to learn to control themselves. The fact that you think that gun carelessness resulting in death should be treated leniently is "ironic".

[fightthegoodfightnow]

12. Bravo

Why would any gun owner give a loaded gun to someone suicidal?

And this is helping intelligent and smart gun owners who know better how?

[apocalypsehow]

19. Yep - but our resident "guns for everyone anywhere all the time" crowd is more likely to piss & moan

about how the incident is being portrayed, rather than forthrightly accept the fact that a good many guns don't belong in a good many of the hands that now hold them.

Somehow, it all gets around to being the fault of the scanty gun control laws on the books now, or a "lack of training," or an "isolated" incident (there's about 20,000 of these "isolated incidents" a year, but they're still "relatively rare," doncha know?), and so on and so forth.

Yet here will be the constant refrain I'm sure we will soon witness in this thread:

Guns good. More guns better!

Or some slightly more literate version of the same.

[beevul]

20. "guns for everyone anywhere all the time"

Who might they be?

Could you perhaps just show ONE post by any long time poster here on DU that advocates such a thing?

Of course you wont.

[tachyon]

22. Crickets. Lots and lots of crickets.

[apocalypsehow]

23. You're right, it should be: "guns for everyone anywhere all the time under any circumstances"

There, that's better. I ran out of room on the subject line the first time.

[beevul]

27. "guns for everyone anywhere all the time under any circumstances" - Cite please

Else your claim is nothing more than unsubstantiated hogwash.

[RedCappedBandit]

24. Yes

If you're vapid enough to give a suicidal person a loaded gun, you obviously shouldn't own one. He got what he deserved.

[fightthegoodfightnow]

11. Compassion?

Is that how you characterize someone giving a loaded gun to someone suicidal?

Talk about NUTS!!!!

[depakid]

15. Look at the facts

The gun misfired once- and yet he unjammed and reloaded it- then handed it back to her!

So she pulled the trigger not once, but twice.

Under the circumstances, his actions were reckless (at the very least), and while one can argue about the sentence, legally (and morally) he's responsible for the consequences.

[bossy22]

4. some people

just don't use their head

[Pavulon]

6. Depraved Indifference

it is against the law. Stupidity should be illegal. But we have no where to put all the idiots in this country.

His intent should be examined, I doubt he meant for her to die.

[Paladin]

8. Further Proof......

....that any action by a private citizen wielding a gun, no matter how thoughtless or destructive, will be defended by one or more of our resident gun obsessives.

[Pavulon]

9. You Misread..I fully support his sentence

for depraved indifference murder. Same as an asshole talking on a cell running a stop sign. EXACTLY the same.

He is responsible at least partially for the chain of events he started.

[bossy22]

10. i dont think any

"gun obsessive" would say that this guy did something very stupid....but the guy made a mistake....a terrible mistake...but its still a mistake and he should have to spend the rest of his life in prison for it- as some "anti-gun obsessives" would like.

We are humans- we make mistakes- and sadly some of those mistakes cost others their lives- and the individual has to take responsibility for those mistakes- but the fact that it was a mistake should be taken into account.

He was wrong- but im not willing to chastize him and compare him to Hitler

[fightthegoodfightnow]

13. He Made a Mistake

........ indeed a terrible mistake.

But let it be a warning to others rather than a defense for manslaughter.

[Popol Vuh]

16. This caught my attention.

sentenced to up to five years in prison for his role in her death.

So if this guy gets five years because the gun he gave her caused her death (which I think he should receive some punishment for). What about people who knew their products would cause a certain number of deaths but produced and sold them anyway? And I am not talking about products which could kill if an accident occurs. No, I am talking about products such as certain pharmaceuticals where they knew it would kill a certain number of people. What about these folks? Shouldn't they be punished for their role in those deaths? Or do we live in a society of different standards based upon class?

[jzodda]

17. What a story

Well he certainly deserved to be punished. Pushing a suicidal person by handing them a gun and doing the WORST thing you can do, dare them to do it is almost as bad as doing it yourself. I can't believe that anybody would be so damn stupid!

[aikoaiko]

18. This may be the only time I agree with Zanne, the charge, conviction, and sentence are just.

There are a lot of circumstances where I could give someone the benefit of the doubt if someone committed suicide with a loaned gun, but this case is not one of them.

[benEzra]

31. I agree as well. The sentence was just.

He loaded her late father's gun for her, the gun failed to go off (old ammunition?), and then he reloaded it for her KNOWING she had already pulled the trigger and fully intended to kill herself.

I wonder if he actually intended to help her commit suicide, and then had second thoughts after the fact? Otherwise his actions make little sense--unless by "alcohol was involved," one can infer that he was out-of-his-head drunk.

[tachyon]

21. A large contingent of DUers have defended Jack Kevorkian.

I've noticed that. Some of them obviously care more about the method than the intent.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

25. I don't think Jack K would hand a loaded gun

to someone who was suicidal.

Helping someone with a terminal painful illness is a different matter.

[tachyon]

26. I am not omniscient enough to judge the rationale of suicidal people.

I leave that to the critics.

[Guaranteed]

29. Zing. Good point.

But, I do think circumstances matter.

[Lex Talionis]

28. He got what he deserved, and according to this..

"Burda added to his culpability by reloading the gun with three fresh bullets when it failed to fire on Choquette's first try."

And maybe not enough. He's a dumbass,with a mean streak, drunk or not. Well I'll be... Pros and Antis, agreeing on something. Strange times we live in, strange times indeed.

[Guaranteed]

30. Ouch. nt