Police unarm toddler with loaded gun

[seriousstan]

CHICAGO, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- After Chicago police unarmed a toddler holding a loaded gun, officers arrested the man who admitted leaving the child home alone with the gun.

"As we walked into the bedroom we observed the 2-year-old child holding a revolver. 358. It was loaded with two live rounds ready to shoot. If he would have pressed trigger, it was chambered ready to shoot," said Police Officer Frank Mack, of the Chicago Police Dept. "I went around the kid ... I put his arms down and my partner took the gun from his hand."

Police officers arrested the man, whose name had not been made public, for possession of marijuana and child endangerment as well as other charges, reported WLS-TV in Chicago.

http://interestalert.com/brand/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/01180000aaa0282c.upi&Sys=rmmiller&Fid=NATIONAL&Type=News&Filter=National%20News

[Spinzonner]

1. Does the widdle baby feel lucky ?

Well do ya, punky ?

[meisje]

2. What, they didn't Taser him?????

[soup]

7. That's exactly what I was afraid to find

when I opened this thread.

12 year old runaway, 6 year old with a piece of glass, toddler with a gun

[goddess40]

14. I was sure I'd find a taser involved too

Our local cops just got them, and with the recent increase in the city officials not liking our war protest I may be able to report what they feel like at some later date. I sure hope not but if they are going to ticket some one for the sign 'This War Is Bushit' what's next.

[Mizmoon]

3. Shouldn't that be "disarm"? eom

[Redstone]

9. yes, it should be "disarm"

"Unarming" makes it sound like they performed an amputation to get the gun away from the kid, doesn't it?

Oh well, I guess the use of a style manual at newspapers has gone the way of editing, fact-checking, and actual reporting...dead as the dodo.

Redstone

[Mizmoon]

10. There was a front page NYT story

a few months ago that had the plural of SUV written as "SUV's" about 12 times. I am not usually pedantic, but damn ... if the "paper of record" can't even use apostrophes correctly, what hope is there for the language?

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Not so fast

According to "Eats, Shoots & Leaves", using an apostrophe is the old-fashioned, and 'correct', usage, especially in the USA:

Only one significant task has been lifted from the apostrophe's workload in recent years: it no longer has to appear in the plurals of abbreviations ("MPs") or plural dates ("1980s"). Until quite recently, it was customary to write "MP's" and "1980's" - and in fact this convention still applies in America. British readers of The New Yorker who assume that this august publication is in constant ignorant error when it allows "1980's" evidently have no experience of how that famously punctilious periodical operates editorially.

[Redstone]

15. That's a great book, but...

The Associated Press Stylebook says to use an apostrophe for plurals of single letters only ("He got two B's on his report card.") and further specifically states, "DO NOT USE: For plurals of numerals of multiple-letter combinations."

"Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" is without question the funniest book about punctuation ever written (maybe the only funny book about punctuation?) and one of the most hilarious books of any kind I've ever read. My cheekbones hurt when I was reading it, I was laughing so hard. Can't wait for another book from her.

Redstone

[GCP]

4. I'm amazed the child could hold up a revolver

Aren't they pretty heavy for 2 year old arms? Also he probably wouldn't have had the power to pull the trigger - not that I'm condoning this in any way.

[knitter4democracy]

8. You'd be amazed what my 2 y.o. can lift and carry.

He regularly lifts items weighing over 15 pounds (he weighs 27) and carries them around (usually grunting about how heavy it is). A .358 wouldn't be too heavy for him. That's freakin' scary.

Gun control!

[Squatch]

16. .358?

[midnight armadillo]

24. It's amazing, isn't it?

My 15 month old can take a 5 lb hand weight and hold it overhead no sweat, at a weight of 25.5 lbs. Those toddlers are so strong...especially when they're resisting a clothing or diaper change ;-)

[knitter4democracy]

26. Amen to that!

Wow--the strength they have is amazing, especially when they want to fight you.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

17. Never heard of a "hair trigger"?

Some weapons will fire if you look at them funny. Doesn't have to take much strength at all.

[DoNotRefill]

22. Not on a double-action revolver....

Now on a single-action, the gun is manually cocked, so a hair trigger is possible. For a double action revolver (which most are)? No way in hell, because the trigger pull has a lot more to do than simply release the hammer.

[baldguy]

5. Age isn't mentioned in the 2nd Amendment!

A 2-yr old has just as much a right to arm himself as the next man!

[Spinzonner]

6. I don't know, is he eligible to join the militia ?

Do they have a Baby Brigade ?

(Might be the next demographic group the Bushistas want to activate.)

I can just hear the Drill Seargent: Left front, Left rear, right front, right rear ...

[DoNotRefill]

21. Nope, he doesn't become part of the well regulated milita until he's 17

eom

[Solly Mack]

12. So the police do know how to deal w/ children w/o tasers

Listen up, Florida!!!!

[Guns Aximbo]

13. at least they didn't

tase the child

[donsu]

18. remember when they tasered a 7 yr. old with a knife?

most mothers could have disarmed the kid without the use of a taser.

(I raised boys - a thankless task)

[maxsolomon]

19. mandatory jail time at an adult prison.

how will these little punks ever learn unless we come down hard on them?

[Renew Deal]

20. lol

[DoNotRefill]

23. It sounds like bullshit.

there are quite a few discrepancies in what the cop describes. It's kind of like hearing a cop describe a "455 cubic inch turbo charged racing motor" in a moped. What is stated simply doesn't comply with reality.

[Maat]

25. That was exactly how to handle it.

When I was a social worker, I found the 'gently go around behind the child, hug him, holding his arms down' technique to be very effective. Smart thinking. In my case, it was an effective way to help the doctor examining the child give a shot, etc.

I have seen this technique used by an officer to disarm a child that was holding a potential weapon (household object). What happened was that we were at the scene of a meth lab, in which a 'tall boy' (tank of hydrochloric acid?) had gone off, the police had come, and Mother and Father had been told to get down on the ground by the cops (and they were arrested). The tall boy could have literally destroyed the lungs of the children, but they got out in time. One was particularly mad about the whole situation and 'threatened to kill' the cop and I. We got her calmed down, and the kids were taken to Grandma's (the loving one). Happy ending (sort of).