Bfgrn
Gold Member
- Apr 4, 2009
- 16,829
- 2,492
- 245
We have a cancer in this country, and they are armed.
U.S. Gun Deaths Since Sandy Hook Top 1,280
WASHINGTON -- It was Christmas night when Sincere Smith, 2, found his fathers loaded gun on the living room table of their Conway, S.C., mobile home. It took just a second for Smiths tiny hands to find the trigger and pull. A single bullet ripped into his upper right chest and out his back.
His father, Rondell Smith, said he had turned away to call Sinceres mother, who had left to visit a friend. His back was turned to the toddler, he said, for just that moment.
Sincere was still conscious when his father scooped him up and rushed him to the hospital, just a few minutes away.
Eleven hours earlier, Sincere Smith had woken up to Christmas -- the first that he was old enough to appreciate. His father remembered their last morning well - his son ripping through wrapping paper, squealing with delight with each new gift -- his first bike, a bright toy barn.
It was quite a sight seeing Sincere so happy around a cloud of crinkled wrapping paper. We bought him a little barn thing, Smith said. He knew what a barn is. He just seen it - Oh Mommy, Daddy! Barn! He went crazy over it. He lit up like a Christmas tree.
Smith, 30, lit up too. I just wanted to see him open them up, he said. His own parents were teenagers when they had him. He had vowed to be there for his five children, giving up college and a possible basketball career to take care of them. With Sincere, he promised his wife hed be a hands-on parent. He said he considered Sincere his best friend.
The two kept close that day visiting relatives for more presents and a Christmas dinner of chicken and macaroni and cheese. Everything was normal, Smith said. He was happy. Everything was good then.
Two weeks earlier, Smith had bought a .38-caliber handgun to protect his family after bandits had tried to break into their home. He doesnt know what to say about the national gun-control debate. He just wants that lost second back. I would say, man, keep them out of your house, he offered. Its just. Boy. All it takes is a second. Just a second to turn your head. I dont know, sir.
Sincere died on an ambulance gurney as he was transferred to a second hospital in Charleston.
"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government."
Thomas Jefferson to the Republican Citizens of Washington County, Maryland" (March 31, 1809).
U.S. Gun Deaths Since Sandy Hook Top 1,280
WASHINGTON -- It was Christmas night when Sincere Smith, 2, found his fathers loaded gun on the living room table of their Conway, S.C., mobile home. It took just a second for Smiths tiny hands to find the trigger and pull. A single bullet ripped into his upper right chest and out his back.
His father, Rondell Smith, said he had turned away to call Sinceres mother, who had left to visit a friend. His back was turned to the toddler, he said, for just that moment.
Sincere was still conscious when his father scooped him up and rushed him to the hospital, just a few minutes away.
Eleven hours earlier, Sincere Smith had woken up to Christmas -- the first that he was old enough to appreciate. His father remembered their last morning well - his son ripping through wrapping paper, squealing with delight with each new gift -- his first bike, a bright toy barn.
It was quite a sight seeing Sincere so happy around a cloud of crinkled wrapping paper. We bought him a little barn thing, Smith said. He knew what a barn is. He just seen it - Oh Mommy, Daddy! Barn! He went crazy over it. He lit up like a Christmas tree.
Smith, 30, lit up too. I just wanted to see him open them up, he said. His own parents were teenagers when they had him. He had vowed to be there for his five children, giving up college and a possible basketball career to take care of them. With Sincere, he promised his wife hed be a hands-on parent. He said he considered Sincere his best friend.
The two kept close that day visiting relatives for more presents and a Christmas dinner of chicken and macaroni and cheese. Everything was normal, Smith said. He was happy. Everything was good then.
Two weeks earlier, Smith had bought a .38-caliber handgun to protect his family after bandits had tried to break into their home. He doesnt know what to say about the national gun-control debate. He just wants that lost second back. I would say, man, keep them out of your house, he offered. Its just. Boy. All it takes is a second. Just a second to turn your head. I dont know, sir.
Sincere died on an ambulance gurney as he was transferred to a second hospital in Charleston.
"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government."
Thomas Jefferson to the Republican Citizens of Washington County, Maryland" (March 31, 1809).
