Authorities Say Vodka-Drinking Father Accidently Shoots, Kills Daughter

[Swarner793]

Authorities Say Vodka-Drinking Father Accidently Shoots, Kills Daughter

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,454465,00.html
MARYSVILLE, Wash. — A father arrested after his 6-year-old daughter was shot to death in their Washington state home allegedly told police he had been drinking double shots of vodka while cleaning his guns.

Court papers say Richard Peters told detectives he had asked his daughter, Stormy, to bring him the .45-caliber handgun Sunday. He said he must have pulled the trigger, and the girl fell to the floor. She was pronounced dead Monday.

Bail for Richard Peters, 42, was set Monday at $250,000. He has been arrested for investigation of first-degree manslaughter.

His attorney, Annika Carlsten, requested that Peters be released from jail, The Herald newspaper of Everett reported. She argued that Peters isn't a flight risk, or a danger to himself or the community.

A phone message for Carlsten was not immediately returned Tuesday.

The Snohomish County sheriff's office said two other children were removed from the home by Child Protective Services.



Be safe.

Scott

[tobyking8773]

be safe. AND SOBER AROUND GUNS....!


Or @ the very least, SINGLE shots!

[adymond]

That is such a shame. Why would he have a 6 year old handle a loaded firearm while he is drinking? I don't know that I would allow a 6 year old to handle a loaded firearm at all (maybe a .22 rifle in a range setting, maybe). How do you then take said firearm and pull the trigger. God this is a sad story.

[Robert Kayland]

This story just doesn't jibe on so many levels...

Heavy drinking and "cleaning" firearms?

No safety switch on a .45? Or not used?

Grabs a gun by the trigger?

After a child has handed it to him?

And, at the risk of opening old wounds, even all of the above stupid moves (and a fine laundry list of them, at that!) would not have resulted in tragedy had there not been (ahem) "one in the pipe"?

[d90king]

Hmm booze is legal, yet every day you read articles about it's effects killing people......... Pot is illegal yet you never read a story about someone smoking a joint and doing anything other than eating to many Doritos etc..... That tax revenue must be the reason for the blind eye. That guy should go to jail forever in my book, what a total idiot.

[Longshot]

What a stupid thing to do! Damn these storys piss me off.

The only thing that I hope for is that this makes everyone think before they mix drinking and firearms. My kids are the greatest gift I have ever been given and I would never put them in harms way. This man will have to live with this the rest of his life and hopefully others will learn from his stupidity.

[adymond]

Originally Posted by Robert Kayland

This story just doesn't jibe on so many levels...

Heavy drinking and "cleaning" firearms?

No safety switch on a .45? Or not used?

Grabs a gun by the trigger?

After a child has handed it to him?

And, at the risk of opening old wounds, even all of the above stupid moves (and a fine laundry list of them, at that!) would not have resulted in tragedy had there not been (ahem) "one in the pipe"?

What if it had been a revolver? Should the first chamber be empty? Proper safety would have presented this regardless of one in the pipe or not.

[Frenchy]

Like many news paper stories, this is skimpy on the details, and probably only a fraction of the truth.

Like most shot while cleaning.. I think there many be a whole different story behind this.

[Robert Kayland]

Originally Posted by adymond

What if it had been a revolver? Should the first chamber be empty? Proper safety would have presented this regardless of one in the pipe or not.

Immaterial... we're talking about what actually happened, not the apologist "what-ifs".

The point was/is/remains, EVEN WITH ALL THE OTHER MISTAKES, not having one in the chamber would have prevented this.

And until someone can guarantee that all of the usual common sense rules of safe firearm handling are obeyed, the point is not having one in the chamber is one more level of safety.

This isn't meant to reopen the whole +1 can of worms, it's merely an illustration of one additional safety measure that would have been a good idea... because during those previous threads, the 1+ proponents pooh-pooh'ed the probability of accidents happening if the firearm owner became incapacitated... in those previous threads, we spoke of accidents and losing consciousness, and not specifically about getting drunk and doing something stupid.

But the result is the same nevertheless.

[PocketProtector]

It is amazing that in almost every gun "accident" the basic rules of gun handling are flagrantly disregarded. Some people obviously think they are immune to the laws of probability. Even one time can cause devastating consequences. Do it consistently and an "accident" is inevitable.
I think we can all agree, these are NOT accidents.