Aries
03-17-2010, 10:54 PM
I'm left speechless over this article, I take it that no one ever taught these kids firearms safety.
Dallas Barnes, and 11-year-old fifth-grader at Trunnell Elementary, was accidentally shot with a BB gun through the heart and died.
They were close family members, playing with empty air guns with other teens at a relative’s Valley Station home.
But neither Dallas Barnes, an 11-year-old fifth-grader at Trunnell Elementary, nor his 16-year-old uncle knew that someone had loaded and pumped one of the BB guns, a Daisy Powerline 880, during a break in the games, police said.
When the 16-year-old pointed the gun at Dallas and pulled the trigger in the home’s tiny kitchen, the BB penetrated between Dallas’ ribs and pierced his heart, entering his right ventricle and artery.
Dallas was able to walk to the bathroom before paramedics were called, but he died less than an hour later at Kosair Children’s Hospital.
“It’s just an unbelievably tragic event,” said attorney John DeCamillis, who is representing Dallas’ mother, Amy Barnes, and his stepfather, Matthew Bauer, who live in the 3000 block of Fordhaven Road. “Dallas was Amy’s oldest, and she isn’t doing well, what with it being her brother that fired the gun.”
Authorities Monday called it a terrible accident, saying the 16-year-old uncle, who wasn’t named, likely won’t be charged. The two boys were “like best friends” and were together constantly, leaving the 16-year-old “devastated,” said Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Jack Arnold.
But authorities say the death highlights the dangers of a weapon that too often is treated as a toy.
“I don’t think anybody realized the nature of what this rifle could do,” said Barry Wilkerson, head of the Louisville Metro Police’s homicide unit, who called it “obviously very dangerous.”
Non-powder guns such as BB guns and air rifles kill an average of four people every year in the United States, according to a 2004 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
And their victims often are children.
Of the 39 such deaths recorded between 1990 and 2000, 32 were children younger than 15, the report said. That same year, for example, a South Carolina 13-year-old was killed after a pellet pierced his heart.
While deaths are rare — Lawrence Pilcher, a firearm examiner with the state’s Central Forensic Laboratory, said he couldn’t recall a similar case in Kentucky — the weapon can produce dangerous velocity, despite its tiny projectile.
A BB is just one-seventh the weight of a .22-caliber bullet, but anything shot at a speed exceeding 100 feet per second can penetrate skin, especially among the young and elderly, Pilcher said.
The $71 Daisy Powerline 880, a pneumatic multi-pump rifle, shoots BBs at 750 feet per second, according the Daisy product description, which warns that “air guns are real guns, not toys.”
“The ones you pump by hand you can determine the velocity yourself, and it can get high,” Pilcher said.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has warned that children younger than 16 should not use high-velocity BB or pellet guns, which have muzzle velocities of 150 feet per second to 1,200 feet per second.
Traditional firearm pistols have speeds of 750 feet per second and higher.
Some states such as New Jersey and Michigan require a permit for an air gun. But Kentucky, like many other states, doesn’t consider air guns firearms and doesn’t regulate them.
Still, retail stores often restrict sales to minors. Wal-Mart, for example, doesn’t sell air guns to anyone younger than 18, according to a Louisville store manager.
And Daisy itself only ships guns to customers 21 years or older who sign an affidavit of age.
Authorities could not say Monday who owned the gun that Dallas, his uncle and two other older teens were playing with Sunday, along with a second plastic pellet gun. They were at his grandmother’s Valley Station home in 9900 block of Donerail Way between Count Turf and Middleground drives.
None of the group was older than 19, police said, and the grandmother was not home.
The guns were empty while they were being played with. However, at some point, someone — police would not say who — loaded the gun and left it on the kitchen counter. Shortly after, Dallas’ uncle picked up the gun and shot it at Dallas.
Trunnell Elementary is going to make grief counselors available, said Lauren Roberts, a spokeswoman for Jefferson County Public Schools.
Funeral arrangements were still pending at Owen Funeral Home on Dixie Highway, Arnold said. He did not provide more details about the family.
DeCamillis said a memorial fund has been set up at Fifth-Third Bank, 9711 Dixie Highway, to help the financially struggling family afford the funeral.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100315/NEWS01/303150048/Fatal-BB-gun-shooting-highlights-weapon-s-danger
Dallas Barnes, and 11-year-old fifth-grader at Trunnell Elementary, was accidentally shot with a BB gun through the heart and died.
They were close family members, playing with empty air guns with other teens at a relative’s Valley Station home.
But neither Dallas Barnes, an 11-year-old fifth-grader at Trunnell Elementary, nor his 16-year-old uncle knew that someone had loaded and pumped one of the BB guns, a Daisy Powerline 880, during a break in the games, police said.
When the 16-year-old pointed the gun at Dallas and pulled the trigger in the home’s tiny kitchen, the BB penetrated between Dallas’ ribs and pierced his heart, entering his right ventricle and artery.
Dallas was able to walk to the bathroom before paramedics were called, but he died less than an hour later at Kosair Children’s Hospital.
“It’s just an unbelievably tragic event,” said attorney John DeCamillis, who is representing Dallas’ mother, Amy Barnes, and his stepfather, Matthew Bauer, who live in the 3000 block of Fordhaven Road. “Dallas was Amy’s oldest, and she isn’t doing well, what with it being her brother that fired the gun.”
Authorities Monday called it a terrible accident, saying the 16-year-old uncle, who wasn’t named, likely won’t be charged. The two boys were “like best friends” and were together constantly, leaving the 16-year-old “devastated,” said Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Jack Arnold.
But authorities say the death highlights the dangers of a weapon that too often is treated as a toy.
“I don’t think anybody realized the nature of what this rifle could do,” said Barry Wilkerson, head of the Louisville Metro Police’s homicide unit, who called it “obviously very dangerous.”
Non-powder guns such as BB guns and air rifles kill an average of four people every year in the United States, according to a 2004 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
And their victims often are children.
Of the 39 such deaths recorded between 1990 and 2000, 32 were children younger than 15, the report said. That same year, for example, a South Carolina 13-year-old was killed after a pellet pierced his heart.
While deaths are rare — Lawrence Pilcher, a firearm examiner with the state’s Central Forensic Laboratory, said he couldn’t recall a similar case in Kentucky — the weapon can produce dangerous velocity, despite its tiny projectile.
A BB is just one-seventh the weight of a .22-caliber bullet, but anything shot at a speed exceeding 100 feet per second can penetrate skin, especially among the young and elderly, Pilcher said.
The $71 Daisy Powerline 880, a pneumatic multi-pump rifle, shoots BBs at 750 feet per second, according the Daisy product description, which warns that “air guns are real guns, not toys.”
“The ones you pump by hand you can determine the velocity yourself, and it can get high,” Pilcher said.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has warned that children younger than 16 should not use high-velocity BB or pellet guns, which have muzzle velocities of 150 feet per second to 1,200 feet per second.
Traditional firearm pistols have speeds of 750 feet per second and higher.
Some states such as New Jersey and Michigan require a permit for an air gun. But Kentucky, like many other states, doesn’t consider air guns firearms and doesn’t regulate them.
Still, retail stores often restrict sales to minors. Wal-Mart, for example, doesn’t sell air guns to anyone younger than 18, according to a Louisville store manager.
And Daisy itself only ships guns to customers 21 years or older who sign an affidavit of age.
Authorities could not say Monday who owned the gun that Dallas, his uncle and two other older teens were playing with Sunday, along with a second plastic pellet gun. They were at his grandmother’s Valley Station home in 9900 block of Donerail Way between Count Turf and Middleground drives.
None of the group was older than 19, police said, and the grandmother was not home.
The guns were empty while they were being played with. However, at some point, someone — police would not say who — loaded the gun and left it on the kitchen counter. Shortly after, Dallas’ uncle picked up the gun and shot it at Dallas.
Trunnell Elementary is going to make grief counselors available, said Lauren Roberts, a spokeswoman for Jefferson County Public Schools.
Funeral arrangements were still pending at Owen Funeral Home on Dixie Highway, Arnold said. He did not provide more details about the family.
DeCamillis said a memorial fund has been set up at Fifth-Third Bank, 9711 Dixie Highway, to help the financially struggling family afford the funeral.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100315/NEWS01/303150048/Fatal-BB-gun-shooting-highlights-weapon-s-danger