Last week’s contest was won by milwhcky. It was the store in San Jose where one of the winning Mega Millions tickets was sold.
This week is the 5th week in December and last weekend of the year. As followers of this contest know, when I do the monthly news events, I try not to select news events that are particularly depressing. Sometimes I can’t avoid it because that’s what a lot of the news is, but for the most part, I’ve avoided selecting one of the many deadly shootings that occur in this country every damn day. So last year at this time, in order to highlight just how common these occur, I did a roundup of views that were related to mass shootings.
This year, I’m highlighting another horrible aspect of our nation’s ridiculous obsession with guns. All six locations below are related to a shooting where a child under the age of 5 was accidentally killed by a gun in 2013. As someone who has two kids under the age of 5, I can’t even fathom how stupid you have to be to allow something like this to happen to your own child, but it happens almost weekly. So again, forgive the morbidity of this week’s contest, but this is something that shouldn’t be so damn common.
Notes:
1 – All views are default orientation (up is north)
2 – The “no political comments” rule will be strictly enforced in this thread, there will be an Open Thread posted at 12:01pm that you may weigh in on the larger subject of gun control (or whatever else you want)
A
B
C
D
E
F
After reading about a dozen other shootings and searching for their locations, I’m in quite a rotten mood. I come here every Sunday to play a fun contest, which this one is not. See you next year.
@1
Completely understand that. Thanks for making this such a fun contest to do every week. We’ll be back to the regular routine next Sunday.
@2 Yeah, Lee, that was my reaction too. You might want to delete this thread and post a cheerier one. None of us are in the mood for this. There’s nothing wrong with admitting something is a
bad idea and correcting it. There’ll be plenty of shootings next year.
@3
Well, I’m not going to delete it, but I’m not going to be upset if people don’t want to participate. Last year I questioned doing it and then got feedback that it was appropriate. There’s no fifth Sunday in December next year, so this is the last time I’m doing this regardless.
@4 Gonna be stubborn, huh?
@5
No, just not deleting a post because 1 person thinks I should.
@6 So how many posters have to ask before you’ll do it? 3? 5? 10? 10,000?
If you won’t replace it, how about also putting up a more fun one for people and rabbits who want to play, but don’t want to play this one?
I’m going to be sadder, and madder, before they’re solved. But not at you, Lee.
None of the locations are this story, in Denton, TX.
And none of the locations are this story in Denver.
And none of the locations are this story in Minneapolis.
And none of the locations are this story in New Orleans.
And none of the locations are this story of the five-year-old with “My First Rifle”, who shot & killed his two-year-old sister with “My First Rifle,” in Cumberland County, KY.
And all those stories were just on the first TWO pages of searches on “five-year-old,” “shot,” and “killed.”
Not the four-year-olds, three-year-olds, two-year-olds; not the next several pages of stories; not the nonfatal accidental shootings of children.
Picture A is at Arlington & Davies St., Akron, OH, where a 4-year-old boy shot himself in the head with his father’s gun.
@14
Yep, that’s one. And to clarify, it’s under 5. So 4 years old and younger.
Picture D is on Camelot Lane, Memphis TN, where a 4-year-old boy was playing with a gun when it went off.
Picture C is at Jason & Kirk, Bullard, TX, where a 2-year-old shot himself.
Picture B is in Michigan City, IN, where a 3-year-old was shot in a game with mom’s boyfriend.
I’m not a frequent contributor on this weekly feature, but I can see I was not alone in feeling some level of pushback on this thread. I knew Lee was going to do this end of year thread, but when I started to look at places, I just couldn’t do it. So much sadness here.
I’m a pastor. I see a lot of pain, and especially in a season when everybody’s expected to put on a happy face, I’m really aware of the folks who are simply too overwhelmed with awful stuff. So this kind of fit with the Christmas season, for me.
Plus, coincidentally, it has a place in the Christmas story, sort of … where Herod had all the young children of Bethlehem slaughtered, because one of them might be a threat to his power. Dec 28 on the church calendar is the day to remember those “holy innocents” — so it fit the week’s theme for me to tie those slaughtered children with the slaughter that’s still going on.
I expect the other 2 images might be found somewhere in the data files attached to this article from Mother Jones.
@20
Good wins, and thanks for the additional thoughts. With two little ones, these types of news stories just shock me. The lengths that Dana and I go to keep them safe, I don’t understand even owning a gun, let alone leaving it around and loaded. Insane.
Just about to pick this week’s image. Peace and Happy New Year!