Carelessness with guns

WE CAN think of nothing more irresponsible than leaving a loaded gun where it can be reached by unattended children. Such carelessness is a recipe for disaster, and 13-year-old Danielle Carrington must consider herself lucky to be still alive after being shot in the head by her seven-year-old cousin at Valsayn on Wednesday. In fact, we expect the police to conduct a thorough investigation of this incident to determine whether criminal charges should not be preferred on Pete Carrington, owner of the Glock 9 mm semi-automatic pistol which featured in the shooting, or whether his firearm user’s licence should not be revoked.
 
Our society is already too terrified by the depredations of criminals armed with guns to have supposedly responsible firearm owners acting without the required measure of caution and safety. Last December 31, it seemed that some reckless person, firing off a gun in apparent Wild West style to celebrate the passing of the old year, shot and killed three-year-old Reba Aberdeen who was in the gallery of her home at Chaconia Avenue, Morvant. According to the police, the child’s life was snuffed out by a stray bullet but so far investigators have not been able to trace the shooter. More recently, the husband of an employee of the German Embassy in Port-of-Spain was found by E-999 police officers in possession of a firearm while sitting in a sports utility vehicle at the Wallerfield racing track. Both the gun and the SUV belonged to his wife. We also recall the case of a well-known university professor forgetting his firearm in the toilet of a St James fast food outlet some time ago. Now we have the episode of Pete Carrington leaving his Glock pistol in his SUV where his seven-year-old passenger was able to get hold of it. One would expect that Carrington, owner of Innovative Security of San Fernando, would have been more alert and careful than that. Our reports are that Carrington, some friends and a group of five children were going to spend the day at Toco when they called at Camelot Townhouses in Valsayn North to pick up a friend. We are told that Carrington and the other adults left the children in the vehicle and that was when Danielle was shot in the head by a seven-year-old relative.

Exactly how the shooting happened we do not know since the Carringtons have chosen not to speak to the media. One report seems to indicate that the boy was fooling around with the pistol which we understand does not carry a safety catch. Another report says he was taking the gun to Carrington when it accidentally went off. Whatever the case, leaving the children unattended in the vehicle and the gun where they could reach it was simply asking for trouble. We are relieved to learn that, although she was shot in the head, Danielle’s injury was not fatal and that she is resting comfortably at the Mt Hope Paediatric Hospital. Because of the country’s high crime rate, the police may not want to deny the application of businessmen to own licenced firearms. However, we would certainly expect them not only to make sure of the bona fides of these applicants but also to insist that holders strictly observe a code of safety with respect to the ownership of these deadly weapons. Indeed, we feel that examples should be made of those who carelessly breach these safety and security requirements.