Dad shoots, kills 8 year old son. Thought he was a Turkey.

[Alonzo]

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/04/21/dnt.dad.shoots.son.kare

An 8-year-old-boy who recently completed a school project on hunting with his father died Saturday after being shot by his father while hunting turkey in Minnesota.

Sibley County Sheriff Bruce Ponath said that Anthony Klaseus, of Belle Plaine, and his son Hunter were hunting turkey about three miles west of Belle Plaine Saturday evening when Klaseus shot his son in the chest with a 12-gauge shotgun.

Belle Plaine is about 45 miles southwest of Minneapolis.

Klaseus dialed 911 on his cell phone and carried the boy to a rendezvous with emergency responders, Ponath said. But the boy was pronounced dead at the scene.

"He was absolutely panicked. That would be an understatement," Ponath told The Associated Press.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Hunter, dressed in camouflage, was 20 to 30 yards away from his father when his father mistook him for a turkey and fired his gun.

The shooting remains under investigation, but the sheriff characterized it as a tragic accident.

"A lot of people are in shock. It just doesn't seem possible," Pat Pribyl, the principal at Raven Stream Elementary School in New Prague, where Hunter was a third-grader, told the Star Tribune.

Pribyl described the boy as a wrestler and an active and eager student who had recently written and illustrated a book for a class about hunting with his father.

http://www.wgal.com/news/15945439/detail.html?rss=lan&psp=nationalnews

Another reason why stupid people, and kids, should neither own guns or be around them.

[Pookie]

Good God. This breaks my heart!
You'd think the father would know where his son was AT ALL TIMES while hunting, and never let him get too far away. I'd have put an orange vest on myself and the child too, in case other hunters were in the area.
I'm sure the Dad's heart is broken, but he was careless. Completely unsafe and careless.
God! I don't have a problem with hunters; I have a problem with careless hunters.
Purrs,
Pookie

[micfranklin]

Sad....

[Truth_and_Power]

Another reason why stupid people, and kids, should neither own guns or be around them.

Just because this father did not do this properly does not mean it cannot be done properly. I hunted as a kid and there was never, NEVER any chance of me being hurt. I was not to leave my area until my grandfather came to pick me up. Either he would come in a truck, which you can hear, or he would whistle before he was in sight so I would know it was him. With just those simple precautions and basic gun safety instruction there is a 0% chance of getting hurt.

[Truth_and_Power]

You'd think the father would know where his son was AT ALL TIMES while hunting, and never let him get too far away. I'd have put an orange vest on myself and the child too, in case other hunters were in the area.

If I recall correctly, the orange vest thing will not work for turkeys, they can see color. Deer only see movement, so it does work in that case.

[Pookie]

If I recall correctly, the orange vest thing will not work for turkeys, they can see color. Deer only see movement, so it does work in that case.

Well, too bad. He was careless. Period. This was completely senseless.
Purrs,
Pookie

[Osborn F. Enready]

Its always sad to see something like this happen due to a lack of individual responsibility from those involved.

[potter]

Good God. This breaks my heart!
You'd think the father would know where his son was AT ALL TIMES while hunting, and never let him get too far away. I'd have put an orange vest on myself and the child too, in case other hunters were in the area.
I'm sure the Dad's heart is broken, but he was careless. Completely unsafe and careless.
God! I don't have a problem with hunters; I have a problem with careless hunters.
Purrs,
Pookie


I have to agree Pookie, dad was careless.

Poor guy is probably suicidal....

[brien]

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/04/21/dnt.dad.shoots.son.kare



http://www.wgal.com/news/15945439/detail.html?rss=lan&psp=nationalnews

Another reason why stupid people, and kids, should neither own guns or be around them.

Another reason? What are the others Alonzo?

I can't argue the father isn't careless and probably stupid, as well. That said, he will probably carry around the guilt of his carelessness and stupidity for his entire life. Try hauling that around all your life. This will be his punishment. He has to live with the consequences of his actions. His life is probably ruined as well.

As for kids being "around guns", this kind of blanket statement misses the mark of safety. Firearms are a part of US society, and when adults choose to involve their children with firearms, it is their utmost responsibility to keep their children safe, not the government's responsibility. We see the consequences of not practicing safety here in this tragic event, so it should be a hard and serious lesson for anyone who chooses to involve their children around firearms.

The state can't be everywhere, nor should it be expected to protect everyone, at all times, from events that are the result of accidents. It is merely impossible to protect people from their own careless and stupid actions. The best we can do is to educate both adults and children in firearms and hunting saftey. It is up to the particpants to keep themselves safe. The government just can't do it, nor should it even try to do it. Personal safety can't be legislated, it can only be practiced by individual(s).

[Osborn F. Enready]

Well said Brien, and as usual, I agree 100%.

[Truth_and_Power]

I know I'm glad Zo's government wasn't "keeping me safe" as a kid. Hunting provided me with experiences he probably cannot relate to, which i will always treasure.

[Alonzo]

Firearms are a part of US society,

It's a regional thing. I think gun ownership in MA is 12% of households have guns:

http://www.swivel.com/data_columns/spreadsheet/2045013

There's hunting out west. Growing up I didn't know a single person with a gun, and I'd guess the percentage is probably around 3-5% in northeastern MA. There's some hunting out west where I bet the vast majority of gun ownership is. There aren't any gun shops, that I'm aware of, around here.

So gun ownership is part of american society, in some areas. It's not an essential part.

I know I'm glad Zo's government wasn't "keeping me safe" as a kid. Hunting provided me with experiences he probably cannot relate to, which i will always treasure.

I don't want to have the experience killing an animal that wasn't threatening me. I have no concern for that "tradition".

[brien]

Alonzo wrote:

It's a regional thing. I think gun ownership in MA is 12% of households have guns

I ask: How many are illegally in the possession of people w/o permits? We really cant determine how many household own firearms.

http://www.gunsandcrime.org/numbers.html

"SUMMARY

The final conclusion, then, as to what portion of U.S. adults own guns is that nobody knows--although it is probable that the proportion is about one half and remains fairly stable over time. More importantly, however, is the fact that surveys cannot be trusted as being accurate, particularly when the survey is about possibly illegal or questionable acts or some topic that is controversial or could have controversial public policy ramifications. In other words, if the answer really matters, any answer obtained through survey is highly suspect.

Those who do surveys seem oblivious to the certainty that there will be false answers to surveys about guns or any other controversial topic. In the 1994 NSPOF study, for example, the principals/authors concluded (based on a telephone survey for a government agency) that only 25% of adults (35 +/- 1.3 percent of households) own guns, that some other recent surveys have had similar low results, and that "conventional wisdom" (about 50% ownership) therefore "appears out of date."

Medical people who have started doing research in attempts to discredit guns are just as stupid about the concept. The ones who recently did the "studies" that supposedly prove that a gun in the home increases the risk of homicide by 3 times and the risk of suicide by 5 times, in an attempt to claim that their survey method was valid, said "a pilot study of homes listed as the addresses of owners of registered handguns confirmed that respondents' answers to questions about gun ownership were generally valid."

In that pilot study, only 41.3% of the registered owners actually admitted to gun ownership. The reason that the figure was so low is that a 26.7% of the owners had given "erroneous" addresses (probably to confound the bureaucrats who wanted the handguns registered) and another equal percentage refused to cooperate with the survey.

Of those who did admit to owning a handgun, there was hardly anything else they could do since it was already a matter of official record that they did own a handgun! The difference between this situation and one in which random people are asked about gun ownership or possession would be obvious to anyone but a gun control advocate blinded by emotion.

People who talk about the surveys but don't actually do surveys are even worse. For example, surveys in which kids say they have guns or carry guns or can get guns easily are referenced by people who say that the surveys prove that kids do have guns, carry guns or can get them. The idea that what is actually known is only what people said is totally lost."

[Truth_and_Power]

It's a regional thing. I think gun ownership in MA is 12% of households have guns:

http://www.swivel.com/data_columns/spreadsheet/2045013

There's hunting out west. Growing up I didn't know a single person with a gun, and I'd guess the percentage is probably around 3-5% in northeastern MA. There's some hunting out west where I bet the vast majority of gun ownership is. There aren't any gun shops, that I'm aware of, around here.

So gun ownership is part of american society, in some areas. It's not an essential part.



I don't want to have the experience killing an animal that wasn't threatening me. I have no concern for that "tradition".

It is a big part of society in the south as well, where hunting is a tradition with many families. We use all of the edible meat from the animals we kill. We clean the animal at the camp, refridgerate it, the chop it up into the various pieces and take it to a butcher where it is cut into steaks, ground, or used in sausages depending on the piece. Unless you are a vegetarian, having someone else kill your meat for you is only seperating yourself from reality. Humans are omnivores and I, for one, feel my experience has been richer for being a part of the whole cycle.

[Alonzo]

Unless you are a vegetarian, having someone else kill your meat for you is only seperating yourself from reality.

I am. I don't want anyone killing your meat let alone mine.