When someone is shot and killed by one of their own family it's a very sorry case indeed, but when an infant boy shoots his mother, it's downright bizarre.
While shopping at a Walmart store in Hayden, Idaho, Veronica Rutledge was shot by her 2-year-old son who unzipped her purpose-built bag in which her revolver was concealed. The gun was a Christmas present a day earlier from her husband.
From all accounts, the couple were well-educated "responsible" people who simply loved guns, carrying one every day of their lives and shooting extensively in competitions and hunting trips.
Accidents with such weapons do happen and I know of a few that have happened under the most unlikely circumstances, like the man who accidentally shot his wife through a wall while she was in the next room. But, in the case of the Idaho mum, there's absolutely no excuse. The gun shouldn't have been there and certainly not with a bullet in the barrel. As a result, she paid the ultimate price and was shot dead.
But, of course, as is often the case in such a tragedy, there's a fair bit of blame shifting and the woman's husband is "angry" at those who are using the accident as an excuse to grandstand on gun rights. In a community where many people carry loaded guns with them, surely they have a case. The husband's claim that "This was just a horrible accident," is a cop out. Sad to say, it's the ultimate example of damned slack parenting. What responsible mother would go shopping with her toddler, with a loaded gun in her bag - not for self-protection, but simply because of her love of guns? I would bet that her family and friends won't be adopting that attitude from here on.
