The Guardian reports that the woman who was accidentally shot dead by her two-year-old son in an Idaho Walmart is described by those who knew her as a gun lover, a motivated academic and a successful nuclear research scientist who worked for Battelle’s Idaho National Laboratory and wrote several papers there including one on using glass ceramic to store nuclear waste (PDF). Rutledge was raised in north-east Idaho and always excelled at school, former high school classmate Kathleen Phelps said, recalling her as “extremely smart. … valedictorian of our class, very motivated and the smartest person I know. … Getting good grades was always very important to her.”
Veronica Rutledge and her husband loved everything about guns. They practiced at shooting ranges. They hunted. And both of them, relatives and friends say, had permits to carry concealed firearms. “They are painting Veronica as irresponsible, and that is not the case,” says Terry Rutledge, her husband’s father. “… I brought my son up around guns, and he has extensive experience shooting it. And Veronica had had hand gun classes; they’re both licensed to carry, and this wasn’t just some purse she had thrown her gun into.” Many locals don't discern anything odd with a 29-year-old woman carrying a loaded gun into a Wal-Mart during the holiday season. “It’s pretty common around here,” says Stu Miller. “A lot of people carry loaded guns.” More than 85,000 people, 7 percent of Idaho's population, are licensed to carry concealed weapons (PDF), “In Idaho, we don’t have to worry about a lot of crime and things like that,” says Sheri Sandow. “And to see someone with a gun isn’t bizarre. [Veronica] wasn’t carrying a gun because she felt unsafe. She was carrying a gun because she was raised around guns. This was just a horrible accident.”
(Score: 1) by DNied on Saturday January 03 2015, @04:24PM
And that's why the US Government never declared any silly "War on drugs". Hmm...
(Score: 2) by tathra on Saturday January 03 2015, @05:25PM
whenever i see somebody who's pro-gun but anti-drug, i always use their exact same, word-for-word pro-gun arguments back to them as pro-drug arguments. its fun to watch them quickly tear apart their own points as to why guns should be legal. they never, ever have a justification as to why guns should be ok but not drugs, except for bullshit like, "oh well that's different", meaning it always boils down to the bullshit, "guns are ok because I say so".
(Score: 1) by tftp on Saturday January 03 2015, @08:31PM
I would have set up street kiosks with heroin-loaded syringes. Anyone who hears a short lecture about suicide by drugs and signs on a dotted line will be given a dose for free. Darwin will take care of the rest.
Elsewhere on SN I also proposed setting up a secure area (a city block, or a small town) for use of drugs. Anyone can come in, but he can leave only after the drugs' effect wears off. Drugs are available inside, along with modern "opium houses" for their use.
The modern society is obsessed with value of human life - but that is valid only if the human in question also values his own life and life of others. If he does not - well, humans are nowhere close to extinction. The society will probably manage without drug users. Treatment has to be offered, of course. But the decision has to belong to the person in question. We may lose a few geniuses this way, but the society will be far healthier.
(Score: 1) by DNied on Sunday January 04 2015, @09:38AM
That's almost all kind of fine and dandy, but - back to the point - my counterexample was meant to show you how "not being tasked by the constitution" and "being against personal freedom" are two factors that never prevented the US gov't from doing things.
Sooo... You probably can't use those factors as convincing arguments for why the gov't never restricted weapons. There must be something else...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 04 2015, @01:02PM
Its a version of the no true scotsman fallacy.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by tftp on Sunday January 04 2015, @04:55PM
Yes, there is. It's called physical inability, so far, to violate 2A without massive repercussions. Not to say that they aren't trying.