Archive

Two Rules for Talking Guns on the Internet

Violence

Two horrifying gun incidents yesterday and today involving young children.

Here's one from Decatur, Ohio, today:

Brown County sheriff's deputies expect to release more information about a Monday shooting that wounded a 9-year-old boy. Deputies said Sebastian Swartz was shot in the head at a home in Decatur, a village between West Union and Russellville on Ohio 125.

Brown County Sheriff Dwayne Wenninger said Swartz found the gun in a bedroom and was playing with it. When his 13-year-old sister tried to take the gun from the boy, it went off, Wenninger said.

And here's another, this one tragically fatal, from Hutchinson, Kansas on Friday.

Courie Cox, 12, was fatally wounded by a weapon discharged by a family member in the residence, Ness County Undersheriff Gavin Wilson stated in a news release. …

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation told The News that it appeared to have been an accidental shooting. An autopsy is being conducted, and the KBI is continuing the investigation.

Courie was the daughter of Darrin and Rebecca Foos Cox and was a sixth-grade student at the Ness City Elementary School.

As you consider these incidents, remember the two laws of Internet gun discussion:

1) It is always the accident victim's fault and

2) Any attempt to reduce the frequency of such tragedies is ghoulish "politicization" of human suffering.

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.