Mother Shot Dead by Two-Year-Old Son was Indeed Irresponsible, Criminally Irresponsible

Yes, it is a tragedy that a beautiful young mother and a nuclear scientist, Veronica Rutledge was shot and killed by her own son in Wal-Mart. Yes, it was an accident in that there was no intent on the little boy's part to kill his mother. However, her husband is dead wrong that his wife "was not irresponsible" and his wife was dead wrong with her choice to be irresponsible which leaves her simply dead.

It seems it is pretty easy to forgive-and-forget because the young child shot his own mother dead but what if he had shot someone else's mother in Wal-mart? Would we see a lot more anger then directed at Veronica Rutledge for failure to control her firearm.

There is a simple rule of owning a firearm; you must be in control of it at all times. It should either be in a safe or on or nearby your person in such a way that NO ONE else can access the firearm. A firearm in a purse is okay IF and ONLY IF you are in control of the purse that is housing the firearm. Ms. Rutledge was clearly not in control of her firearm and, worse, she left the firearm within reach of her two-year-old son. This is not only being irresponsible, it is being criminally irresponsible. If the boy had shot someone's else's mother, I would want Veronica Rutledge to be charged as an accessory to murder.

I have always been a proponent of the right to own a handgun and the right to carry. But, I also believe that if we want that right, we also must accept the responsibility that whatever happens with that gun is our fault. If any human being dies by being shot with that gun, then unless self-defense can be proven, we should be charged with a crime whether or not our own finger was on the trigger. The only time this should not be true is if the gun was stolen from us due to a break-in of our home or vehicle or purse (and this does not included "theft" of such a weapon by a relative who has legal access to our home. If our son or nephew knows where we keep our weapons in some unlocked location, we should be responsible for that person taking the weapon and we should be responsible for what he does with it).

Owning a weapon is a huge responsibility. We have no excuse for our gun killing people unless they are trying to kill us.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

December 31, 2014

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Give Your Son an Equalizer for Christmas!

It's happened again.

Another kid has offed one of the adults in his house with a gun one of the adults gave him. Can you say WTF were you thinking, Dad? Yes, eleven-year-old Jordan Brown used his Christmas present, a special made-for-children (can I say WTF again?) to murder his new step-mom (well, girlfriend of his Daddy who was eight months pregnant while she was asleep in bed. Not much has been released about this child's psychological history but I can make sound reasonable guesses what this irresponsible father did.

1) You had a kid with a woman who didn't take to the mothering role very well, so you ended up raising him by himself (unless you are widowed and then I will give you a break). One has to wonder where the mother of the boy is since the father has custody.

2) Your son is used to having you to himself and suddenly you add a women and two little sisters. Did you spend a couple of years getting to know the woman and seeing if your son was emotionally able to deal with his instant new family (and competition for attention)?

3) Now, you added a new baby to the mix, a little brother, with this woman you haven't yet married.

4) You move all of them into your house.

5) You pay no mind to the fact that your son has a serious personality disorder.

AND THEN! You taught the kid to kill animals, gave him a shotgun of his very own, and left the shotgun unlocked so that he could pay you back for all your stupid choices. Brilliant!

Now, before I get a dozen emails saying I am cold-hearted and the father is already suffering enough, stop and think. A young woman has just lost her life, a baby has been killed before he even got to breathe, two little girls are now motherless, and a family has will never recover from their losses.

There is no excuse for giving your child a gun to play with. There is no excuse for giving an obviously disturbed child a gun to keep in his room. There is no excuse for your irresponsibility. None. The father should be going to jail with his son for aiding and abetting a homicide.

I don't have a problem with keeping weapons in the home for protection and for hunting (although I hate hunting). I believe this is a citizen's right. But, for God's sake, if you demand the right, you have to accept the responsibility. It is time to hold gun owners responsible for what happens with their weapons. If your gun is locked up, someone breaks in and steals it and this is reported immediately to the police, the gun at that point is not your responsibility. But, if you don't lock the weapon up, any crime it is involved in should be considered a crime you committed; your weapon, your responsibility, your crime.

Is this concept so hard to understand? Why is it I have never seen any move in our country to charge adults for giving guns to children to kill with? I have been harping on this for years and it seems the idea is repugnant to most people, even the prosecutors. I don't understand why we can't say enough is enough.

Guns don't kill people. Adults who give children guns kill people.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown