[Vision2020] For what it's worth........

[Saundra Lund]

May. 1, 2013 2:10 PM ET
5-year-old boy shoots 2-year-old sister in Ky.
By TRAVIS LOLLER, Associated Press

 

BURKESVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A 5-year-old boy accidentally shot his 2-year-old
sister to death in rural southern Kentucky with a rifle he had received as a
gift last year, authorities said.

 

The children's mother was home at the time of the shooting Tuesday afternoon
but had stepped out to the front porch for a few minutes and "she heard the
gun go off," Cumberland County Coroner Gary White said. He said the rifle
was kept in a corner and the family didn't realize a bullet was left inside
it.

 

White told the Lexington Herald-Leader the boy received the .22-caliber
rifle as a gift.

 

"It's a Crickett," White said, referring to a company that specifically
makes guns, clothes and books for children. "It's a little rifle for a kid.
... The little boy's used to shooting the little gun."

 

The shooting, while accidental, highlights a cultural divide in the gun
debate. While many suburban and urban areas work to keep guns out of the
hands of children, it's not uncommon for youths in rural areas to own guns
for target practice and hunting.

 

"Down in Kentucky where we're from, you know, guns are passed down from
generation to generation. You start at a young age with guns for hunting and
everything," White said Wednesday. What is more unusual than a child having
a gun, he said, is "that a kid would get shot with it."

 

"Accidents happen with guns. They thought the gun was actually unloaded, and
it wasn't," the coroner said.

 

White said the girl died of a single gunshot wound to the chest area.

 

In a brief news release, state police said the shooting occurred when the
boy was "playing" with the rifle, but did not elaborate. It is not clear
whether any charges will be filed, said Kentucky State Police spokesman
Trooper Billy Gregory.

 

"I think it's too early to say whether there will or won't be," Gregory
said.

 

The AP is not identifying the children because of their ages.

 

The company that made the gun, Milton, Pa.-based Keystone Sporting Arms,
produced 60,000 Crickett and Chipmunk rifles in 2008, according to its
website. It also makes guns for adults, but most of its products are geared
toward children. The smaller guns come in all sorts of colors, including
blue and pink.

 

The company's slogan is "my first rifle" and its website has a "Kids Corner"
section where pictures of young boys and girls are displayed, most of them
showing the children at shooting ranges and on bird and deer hunts. The
smaller rifles are sold with a mount to use at a shooting range.

 

"The goal of KSA is to instill gun safety in the minds of youth shooters and
encourage them to gain the knowledge and respect that hunting and shooting
activities require and deserve," the website said.

 

No one at the company answered the phone Wednesday.

 

According to its website, Bill McNeal and his son Steve McNeal decided to
make guns for young shooters in the mid-1990s and opened Keystone in 1996
with just four employees, producing 4,000 rifles that year. It now employs
about 70 people.

 

Burkesville sits near the Tennessee-Kentucky state line along the Cumberland
River, among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The small city is
about 90 miles northeast of Nashville, Tenn.

 

It is home to a Mennonite community that gained attention in 2010 when nine
of its members were killed in a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer.

 

 

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Wayne Price
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2013 12:59 PM
To: Moscow Vision2020
Subject: [Vision2020] For what it's worth........

 

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - A citizen with a gun stopped a knife wielding
man as he began stabbing people Thursday evening at the downtown Salt Lake
City Smith's store.

Police say the suspect purchased a knife inside the store and then turned it
into a weapon. Smith's employee Dorothy Espinoza says, "He pulled it out and
stood outside the Smiths in the foyer. And just started stabbing people and
yelling you killed my people. You killed my people."

Espinoza says, the knife wielding man seriously injured two people. "There
is blood all over. One got stabbed in the stomach and got stabbed in the
head and held his hands and got stabbed all over the arms."

Then, before the suspect could find another victim - a citizen with a gun
stopped the madness. "A guy pulled gun on him and told him to drop his
weapon or he would shoot him. So, he dropped his weapon and the people from
Smith's grabbed him."

By the time officers arrived the suspect had been subdued by employees and
shoppers. Police had high praise for gun carrying man who ended the
hysteria. Lt. Brian Purvis said, "This was a volatile situation that could
have gotten worse. We can only assume from what we saw it could have gotten
worse. He was definitely in the right place at the right time."

Dozens of other shoppers, who too could have become victims, are also
thankful for the gun carrying man. And many, like Danylle Julian, are still
in shock from the experience. "Scary actually. Really scary. Five minutes
before I walk out to my car. It could have been me."

Police say right now they have no idea what caused the suspect to go on the
dangerous rampage. 

So far, police have not released the names of the suspect, the victims or
the man who pulled the gun.

 

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