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TWO TODDLERS ARE in critical condition after a playmate accidentally shot them with a loaded gun at a daycare in the US state of Michigan.
Police in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn said the child managed to get a hold of a loaded gun yesterday inside a private home that functioned as a daycare.
The toddler fired either one or two shots that struck two children – both three years old, according to US media which also reported that there were multiple guns inside the home.
“I’m not going to guess on what occurred in there, but obviously there were weapons in proximity to where kids are, and that’s totally unacceptable to me,” Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad told reporters.
As many as 1.7 million American children live in homes with an unlocked, loaded gun, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun violence, and the incident was the latest case of children being injured by unsecured firearms.
Nearly 1,300 children die and 5,790 are treated for gunshot wounds each year in the United States, according to a recent study published in the medical journal Pediatrics.
Michigan state law does not prohibit guns at child care facilities, television station WXYZ reported, but requires them to be unloaded and stored in a locked location away from children.
The home daycare was run by Samantha Eubanks, herself a mother of six who regularly took care of other children according to neighbours and family members.
Eubanks did not permit her husband Tim to keep weapons in their home, according to a woman identified by US media as her sister.
“She would always say don’t you ever bring a gun in this house, it’s not going to happen,” Ashley Escobedo told assembled reporters at the scene.
The police chief told US media that the investigation was ongoing and charges were possible.
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If all the toddlers had guns they could protect themselves
@Padraic O Sullivan: ahahahahahahahahaha!
Not funny
Whilst making a omelette, one expects a few eggs to get cracked
@MaryLoonyMcDonald: you know what else isn’t funny? The fact that if Trumplethinskin tweeted that, not one of us would be surprised.
@Padraic O Sullivan: yea they prob say the best thing to stop a bad toddles with a gun is a good toddler with a gun,the country is a discrace for gun control and da yanks don’t see it
Only an average 8 children a day die from gun killing in the USA.
@MaryLoonyMcDonald: No not funny but still a brilliant post highlighting the absurdity of the NRA approach to gun control. In the aftermath of numerous school shootings they recommended that teachers be armed in lieu of sane gun control. The post to which you refer was carrying this logic to its logical conclusion.
@Padraic O Sullivan: Reporting a story about gun deaths in the USA is like reporting on it raining in Ireland, it’s a daily event.
Dotard needs to ban todlers entering the US with immediate effect!
@Reg: didn’t take long to drag Trump into the conversation
@Reg: Trump comes up on a story like this! You’re obsessed!
@Captain kirk: You should play the Trump lotto! Its basically when there is a story on the Journal that has absolutely nothing to do with Trump but somehow someone will mention his name in a comment! It’s unbelievable! Like the covfefe tweet. People going on like it was the end of the world!
@Reg: They need to do something serious about guns the lobby has to much power ? But then there is money in guns and war for the yanks ?
@Robbie Farquharson: eh didn’t Trump loosen gun control laws? It’s pretty relevant. He’s in charge of a country that has a toddler involved shooting at least once a week on average. He’s tight with the NRA so it won’t change
@Dave O Keeffe: Eh! What did Obama ever do? Look at all the gun related incidents when he was President? Sandy Hook comes to mind. I agree it won’t change. It’s a culture. Just like many other countries around the world. We all remember Charton Heston waxing lyrical in Michael Moores documentary about the NRA. That why Trump was clearly playing up to the NRA for votes. It worked too. But honestly. What can he do? What could anyone before have done? The NRA are like a cult in the U.S
@Dave O Keeffe: a how did he loosen them? The NRA were in control during last president as well? Or where did they lose out? You seem to be very knowledgeable about US matters. Are you a citizen?
@lavbeer: he got rid of an Obama era law about mental illness and gun ownership. Fact, that covers your question and what’shisfaces too
@lavbeer: also, being a citizen doesn’t make one know more or less
@Robbie Farquharson: after sandy hook he tried to do something. Every idea was destroyed by the paranoid gun nuts. Difference here is will tiny trump try to do anything?
‘Member when…. https://youtu.be/ijFPMrptrwE
People have a weird notion that the Donald is President of the USA.
@Fiona deFreyne: weird notion that he resembles a human being, an odd looking one mind.
Trumpista’s point to Obama and say he did nothing to improve gun controls. Baloney, he did what little he could in a GOP controlled house. At least he had the balls to stand up and speak directly to the issues.
Trump will look at Gun Sales Controls as just bad business that will hurt his billionaires boys club, so will never speak out in the same way. In fact that applies to any humanitarian changes desperately required in the US….
Wait for the NRA to release a statement on 5his one…….
@D H:
If we had more guns this would never have happened….
Guns don’t kill toddlers.. Toddlers kill toddlers.
@Avina Laaf: Wouldn’t surprise me that they’ll say if the toddlers had guns they could’ve protected themselves, They’re that gun mad
It’s there constitutional right to bear arms we will be told again & again & again & again:and so on.
@Gavin Redmond: they’ll leave out the “well regulated” part too
@Gavin Redmond:
It’s illegal in that state to keep guns loaded close to children, so no the second amendment does not apply.
@Thought for Food: shouldn’t that be illegal in all states?
@Dave O Keeffe:
Every state is free to make its own rules to a certain extent. I agree though that in this environment a loaded gun is a recipe for disaster.
@Thought for Food: and should be illegal in every state?
Omg prayers from Ireland .
@Henry Clapham: that’ll help.
What’s the excuse this time. GUNS DON’T KILL PEOPLE .
@dangermouse: I’d have a hard time killing somebody with a slice of bread though.
@dangermouse: it’s usually the bullets that do the damage.
@dangermouse: So don’t give guns to people. Easy. Let the guns exist peacefully without humans giving them a bad reputation
@Anne Marie Devlin:
Sure, because that will work.
There’s been a number of cases in the last few weeks of illegal guns being seized that were made in small workshops illegally.
It’s not that hard to make a functioning firearm. Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of metalwork can make one. Firearms are impossible to control and fully remove from the equation.
@Thought for Food: so essentially you’re saying they can’t 100% eradicate it so they shouldn’t bother doing anything? Sound logic
It is taking a while for the alt-sound, selective free-speech, trump loving crew to arrive at this party. How can they blame this on leftist liberals? who knows, but it ain’t going to make sense, that’s for sure.
@WinSomeLoseSome: Why has everything in this world seem to have to do with Trump? Tragic shooting at daycare involving toddlers. The first thought for some people is Trump!
@Robbie Farquharson: because people have become dumb fux and immune to all shocking news so it seems. Regarding a lot of ill people who comment on this anyway.
@Robbie Farquharson: Maybe because Dump is the president of the country in question.
Dont be getting your knickers in a twist because someone has taken your Lord’s name in vain now broflake.
@White Rabbit: My Lord’s name!! haha. You have no idea of my political leaning. Now how about a real profile pic instead of something you can act all tough from behind. Who are you? You wouldn’t be so condescending and insulting if you had a real profile! All I was saying was why is everything an attack on Trump or his supporters regardless of the story.
Two little kids shot and all people can think about is Trump! I for one hope they pull through and can be a real debate on gun culture. I honestly don’t think anything will ever change.
@Robbie Farquharson: I thought my post was explanatory. I mentioned him in relation to the absence of his supporters posting on this article. It is an easy way for people to know the type of a$$h01es I am talking about, so I used it. A bit of a mistake in hindsight, seeing you are using it as a strawman.
@WinSomeLoseSome: Strawman!! You wish. I’m more built inside and out like an Ironman!!! ;) P.S I’m pretty open minded to go with the flow. If someone is indeed a Trump supporter it’s unfair to tar them all as a€€ho!es as you put it.
@Robbie Farquharson: It is great to know how you are built….you don’t know what I mean by Strawman, do you? It is a way of arguing.To be honest I didn’t use it in the correct context.
I actually don’t think all trump supporters are a€€ho!es. The ones on this site are though. but their support for trump isn’t why I think that. It is because of their personalities.
@WinSomeLoseSome: Of course I know what a Strawman. I just find it highly insulting to throw around when you’re talking/debating with someone. You lose all credibility to me.
@Robbie Farquharson: A strawman about a strawman. nice. I am a profile on stupid news site. I would be worried if I was given any credibility.
@WinSomeLoseSome: Fair enough!
@Robbie Farquharson: you lost all credibility when you questioned what Trump had to do with America.
Surprisingly enough the number of police shot and killed in the line of duty each year is lower than the number of people shot by toddlers (including self inflicted injuries)
@Dave O Keeffe:
I’m sure you wouldn’t mind providing a link to your source for that.
@Thought for Food: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/29/461402091/number-of-police-officers-killed-by-gunfire-fell-14-percent-in-2015-study-says link for officers shot and killed
@Dave O Keeffe: shot by toddlers in the same year http://www.snopes.com/toddlers-killed-americans-terrorists/
@Dave O Keeffe: Sweet baby Jesus, and that’s just the under 3s.
@Ron North: Yup. It’s frightening. Also brings up another question, why do cops think everyone is going to kill them?
Guns don’t kill people, day care centres kill people
@Joe Bloggs: you need to correct yourself before I send the hood
Where was the good toddler with a gun to save the day?
@Larry Smierciak: sick
@A H: but true.
I think the real sick part is the actual shooting and killing of kids.
Kids these days.
Sick
And still Americans defend their right to own and hold a gun! In the Wrong hands…it’s lethal !!
@Karrie:
What the carer did was illegal and she’ll more than likely spend a lot of time in a state prison for this.
@Thought for Food: yay, problem solved! Did you know that they got rid of the gun safety questionnaire as a requirement to get a handgun in Michigan? Also that there is no aptitude test of any kind. There’s just a criminal and mental health history check.
Seriously… how is this possible?
This is so awful….poor families. Hope kids will recover. Jesus.
@A H: Perhaps they bore some responsibility
As bad as these stories are. There are way more good ones woman getting attacked attacker gets shot, OAP getting broken into robber gets shot etc… Ireland woman gets attacked attacker gets away, OAP gets batter robber gets away etc…
How many shot babies is ir worth? 53 people were shot by toddlers in 2015. To put it in perspective, 33 police officers were shot and killed in the line of duty. In 2015 more Americans were killed by toddlers than by Islamic terrorism
@: sure you have links to all these stories then?
No!? I’m shocked. Got a nice handy bar chart to show the correlation between “accidental”/murdering gun deaths Vs. @Responsible gun owner kills criminal” gun deaths?
No?! Again…I am shocked. Almost like you just spouted some Breitbart nonsense you read online as absolute fact while not knowing what in the ever loving you’re talking about eh?
With so many guns about, I guess those toddlers should have been armed to defend themselves!!!
@Kevin Farrell: sick
@A H: but true.
Clearly the toddlers should have been armed themselves
‘Murica !
@Pauline Geraghty: Very Classy Pauline! You obviously don’t have kids.
@Robbie Farquharson: considering that your opening gambit on the article was an insult to people pointing out that America has a gun problem you’re not really in a position to judge
Mandatory hefty sentence for the parents / gun owners – ridiculous that could happen
That Chris Rock sketch on bullets comes to mind. It may be a comedy show but it makes logical sense. Let them bear arms, let them have all the guns they want. However, charge them $5000 for every bullet and see what happens. He reckons there would be no more innocent bystanders. Not sure about that but the number of accidental shootings would dramatically be reduced since there wouldn’t be loads of ammunition for the goods readily available.
Disgraceful! Obviously dumb liberals have planted this fake news story to weaken the NRA and Lord Trump! FAKE NEWS
@Susan: Hope the kids pull through all the same! Imagine what the prents are going through right now. Tragic
Yanks are the dumbest collection of people after DUP supporters, obviously. Really just collectively stupid.
Chances are this wee child went into a persons bag and found this weapon. It would be unlikely that people are so desperate for childcare that they would put their child in the home of a person who just leaves weapons lying around. Given that the right to bear arms and all jazz over there, everyone and their tweety birds can own a gun. It is a sad situation and will happen again
@Ginger Victi: happens once a week. Also a bag withal gun in it shouldn’t be at any point for any reason attainable by a toddler.
Can’t tell if this is real or
No news
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