"It's not MY fault." More biased media coverage of a victim shifting the blame to guns.
Tip-off, the reporter's name is 'Heather' (apologies to all the gun-toting Heathers out there.)
The source URL is: www.post-dispatch.com/postnet/stories.nsf/
News/7E97CCE2F37F34F886256934003E0968?OpenDocument&
Headline=Activists%20question%20gun%20owners'%20awareness%20of%20new%20Illiois%20law
Activists question gun owners' awareness of new Illinois law
By Heather Ratcliffe of The Post-Dispatch
Janet Delp curls her fingers into a fist and weeps when she talks about the death of her beautiful blond little boy.
Jess Ryan Delp, 9, of Cottage Hills, was shot to death when he and a friend were playing a game of war with a loaded 12-gauge shotgun July 30.
Janet Delp wants someone to be punished.
"I'm so mad. My boy's gone," Delp said. "Someone should have to pay for that. They took my everything."
Police said the gun's owner probably will not be charged with a crime because the weapon was stored unloaded in a closet, within legal requirements, and the children didn't have permission to be in the apartment in Bethalto where they found the firearm.
Under other circumstances, the gun owner could have been arrested. That's because Illinois is one of 17 states that make it a crime to leave a loaded weapon unsecured in a home with children under the age of 14. Missouri has no similar law.
Gun opponents said Illinois' law, enacted last year, goes far to help prevent the death of children. But gun owners need to become aware of the law and follow it to make it work.
"This law was a message to all Illinois gun owners that having an improperly stored firearm is dangerous," said Chris Boyster of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence. "Gun safety education is important. But there is no substitute to locking a gun away."
Illinois' law requires a firearm to be secured by a trigger lock, stored in a locked box or placed in a location that a reasonable person would believe to be secured from a minor.
The minimum penalty for violating the law is a $1,000 fine. However, a conviction does not mean gun owners lose their license to carry the weapon, a provision that some call a flaw in the law.
Other states have gone further with their laws to ensure that gun owners understand the requirements for locking away their weapons.
In Florida, gun dealers are required to provide purchasers with a written warning about the law and place a warning sign at the counter.
And Connecticut's legislators went a step further in 1990, requiring gun dealers to offer trigger locks at the time of a gun purchase. The statute also required the state board of education to develop a firearm safety program for children in kindergarten through eighth grade.
Authorities find other ways to prosecute gun owners in Missouri who allow children access to loaded weapons.
St. Louis police charged a man with child endangerment after he left a loaded .380-caliber pistol out and a 2-year-old shot and injured herself with it in October.
Gun control lobbyists have tried to get a similar law passed in Missouri for 10 years. They say strong opposition from the National Rifle Association has kept passage from happening.
Each year horrible stories surface about children like Anthony Asaro, a 12-year-old boy from Wentzville who died Tuesday when a friend playing with a loaded revolver shot him in the head.
People need to understand how to prevent such tragedies, said Frieda Friedman-Bernstein of the Missouri Council Against Handgun Violence.
"These are not accidents," she said. "They could have been prevented. That's why we need to get a law on the books requiring proper storage and launch a campaign to get the message out to parents."
Police said enforcing laws preventing access by a child is difficult.
Unfortunately, a child is usually killed or injured before gun owners are brought to justice, said Bethalto police Lt. Alan Winslow.
No one has been prosecuted for violating the law in the Metro East area since it was approved last year.
Police said the law won't be effective until firearm owners know about it.
"There was not a lot of publicity when the law was approved," Winslow said.
Officers in his department have been doing a lot of soul-searching since they responded to the shooting that killed Jess Delp.
"You just want to beat your head against a wall," Winslow said. "What else can we do to prevent such tragedies?"
Many law enforcement agencies across the area have begun to distribute free gun locks, which disable a gun from firing and can be removed only by a combination or key.
However, some gun enthusiasts believe a lock will get in the way if they need to use it quickly in self-defense.
But Janet Delp doesn't care about their arguments. Even as she grieves for her son, she vows to make guns her enemy.
"I've never liked guns," she said. "Now my son is gone. I'll try to help the kids in this neighborhood learn to stay away from them."
E-mail: hratcliffe@postnet.com\Phone: 618-659-3637
© 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Check out an earlier story by the same reporter: http://www.postnet.com/__86256680006cac6e.nsf/1626453a7e43cdd98 625671b004cc5d4/6787cc28af760a058625692e00303306
Boy is killed while he and friend played with shotgun
By Heather Ratcliffe
Of The Post-Dispatch
A 9-year-old boy from Cottage Hills was killed when he and his friend played with a loaded shotgun.
Jess Ryan Delp died when he was shot in the head at 4:45 p.m. Sunday in an apartment in Bethalto.
Jess and another, unidentified 9-year-old boy were locked out of Jess' home after playing at a neighborhood park earlier Sunday. The two boys walked to an apartment in the 100 block of Rue Des Chateaux, where the second child's sister and husband lived.
No one was home, and the boys got a key to the apartment from another relative. The boys intended to get something to eat and drink and then watch television until someone arrived, police said.
That's when they found a 12-gauge shotgun in the closet and began playing a game of war. The surviving boy told police that he accidentally shot Jess in the head. Both boys had handled the gun, investigators said.
In a panic, the boy tried to drag Jess outside to get help. A neighbor called police.
"It's particularly disturbing when child's play ends in gunfire," said Ralph Baahlmann, chief deputy coroner. "This is a tragic reminder that all parents should discuss gun safety with their children."
Both boys, pupils at Parkside Elementary School in Bethalto, had been present during a gun safety discussion with the local Boys and Girls Club.
The owner of the gun, who was not identified, told police that it was not loaded. Three other guns in the house also were not loaded.
Police said one of the boys may have loaded the shotgun. Investigators found an opened box of shotgun shells. Experts are studying the box and empty shell casing for fingerprints to determine who loaded the gun.
Under Illinois law, gun owners who live with children under the age of 14 must put a lock on their weapons. None of the four guns at this home had a lock.
"Neither of these boys lived at this apartment, so the gun owner was not required to have a lock," said Bethalto Police Lt. Alan Winslow. "And the people who lived at the apartment didn't know the boys were there."
Jess was the son of Byron and Janet Delp of Cottage Hills.
The Madison County state's attorney's office will study the evidence and consider criminal charges, if any, after a coroner's inquest in September.
© 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Too bad Heather didn't read her own article.
[This message has been edited by Oatka (edited August 07, 2000).]
Edited to fix formatting problem - TBM
[This message has been edited by TheBluesMan (edited August 07, 2000).]
Ditto.
[This message has been edited by Mykl (edited August 07, 2000).]
Tip-off, the reporter's name is 'Heather' (apologies to all the gun-toting Heathers out there.)
The source URL is: www.post-dispatch.com/postnet/stories.nsf/
News/7E97CCE2F37F34F886256934003E0968?OpenDocument&
Headline=Activists%20question%20gun%20owners'%20awareness%20of%20new%20Illiois%20law
Activists question gun owners' awareness of new Illinois law
By Heather Ratcliffe of The Post-Dispatch
Janet Delp curls her fingers into a fist and weeps when she talks about the death of her beautiful blond little boy.
Jess Ryan Delp, 9, of Cottage Hills, was shot to death when he and a friend were playing a game of war with a loaded 12-gauge shotgun July 30.
Janet Delp wants someone to be punished.
"I'm so mad. My boy's gone," Delp said. "Someone should have to pay for that. They took my everything."
Police said the gun's owner probably will not be charged with a crime because the weapon was stored unloaded in a closet, within legal requirements, and the children didn't have permission to be in the apartment in Bethalto where they found the firearm.
Under other circumstances, the gun owner could have been arrested. That's because Illinois is one of 17 states that make it a crime to leave a loaded weapon unsecured in a home with children under the age of 14. Missouri has no similar law.
Gun opponents said Illinois' law, enacted last year, goes far to help prevent the death of children. But gun owners need to become aware of the law and follow it to make it work.
"This law was a message to all Illinois gun owners that having an improperly stored firearm is dangerous," said Chris Boyster of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence. "Gun safety education is important. But there is no substitute to locking a gun away."
Illinois' law requires a firearm to be secured by a trigger lock, stored in a locked box or placed in a location that a reasonable person would believe to be secured from a minor.
The minimum penalty for violating the law is a $1,000 fine. However, a conviction does not mean gun owners lose their license to carry the weapon, a provision that some call a flaw in the law.
Other states have gone further with their laws to ensure that gun owners understand the requirements for locking away their weapons.
In Florida, gun dealers are required to provide purchasers with a written warning about the law and place a warning sign at the counter.
And Connecticut's legislators went a step further in 1990, requiring gun dealers to offer trigger locks at the time of a gun purchase. The statute also required the state board of education to develop a firearm safety program for children in kindergarten through eighth grade.
Authorities find other ways to prosecute gun owners in Missouri who allow children access to loaded weapons.
St. Louis police charged a man with child endangerment after he left a loaded .380-caliber pistol out and a 2-year-old shot and injured herself with it in October.
Gun control lobbyists have tried to get a similar law passed in Missouri for 10 years. They say strong opposition from the National Rifle Association has kept passage from happening.
Each year horrible stories surface about children like Anthony Asaro, a 12-year-old boy from Wentzville who died Tuesday when a friend playing with a loaded revolver shot him in the head.
People need to understand how to prevent such tragedies, said Frieda Friedman-Bernstein of the Missouri Council Against Handgun Violence.
"These are not accidents," she said. "They could have been prevented. That's why we need to get a law on the books requiring proper storage and launch a campaign to get the message out to parents."
Police said enforcing laws preventing access by a child is difficult.
Unfortunately, a child is usually killed or injured before gun owners are brought to justice, said Bethalto police Lt. Alan Winslow.
No one has been prosecuted for violating the law in the Metro East area since it was approved last year.
Police said the law won't be effective until firearm owners know about it.
"There was not a lot of publicity when the law was approved," Winslow said.
Officers in his department have been doing a lot of soul-searching since they responded to the shooting that killed Jess Delp.
"You just want to beat your head against a wall," Winslow said. "What else can we do to prevent such tragedies?"
Many law enforcement agencies across the area have begun to distribute free gun locks, which disable a gun from firing and can be removed only by a combination or key.
However, some gun enthusiasts believe a lock will get in the way if they need to use it quickly in self-defense.
But Janet Delp doesn't care about their arguments. Even as she grieves for her son, she vows to make guns her enemy.
"I've never liked guns," she said. "Now my son is gone. I'll try to help the kids in this neighborhood learn to stay away from them."
E-mail: hratcliffe@postnet.com\Phone: 618-659-3637
© 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Check out an earlier story by the same reporter: http://www.postnet.com/__86256680006cac6e.nsf/1626453a7e43cdd98 625671b004cc5d4/6787cc28af760a058625692e00303306
Boy is killed while he and friend played with shotgun
By Heather Ratcliffe
Of The Post-Dispatch
A 9-year-old boy from Cottage Hills was killed when he and his friend played with a loaded shotgun.
Jess Ryan Delp died when he was shot in the head at 4:45 p.m. Sunday in an apartment in Bethalto.
Jess and another, unidentified 9-year-old boy were locked out of Jess' home after playing at a neighborhood park earlier Sunday. The two boys walked to an apartment in the 100 block of Rue Des Chateaux, where the second child's sister and husband lived.
No one was home, and the boys got a key to the apartment from another relative. The boys intended to get something to eat and drink and then watch television until someone arrived, police said.
That's when they found a 12-gauge shotgun in the closet and began playing a game of war. The surviving boy told police that he accidentally shot Jess in the head. Both boys had handled the gun, investigators said.
In a panic, the boy tried to drag Jess outside to get help. A neighbor called police.
"It's particularly disturbing when child's play ends in gunfire," said Ralph Baahlmann, chief deputy coroner. "This is a tragic reminder that all parents should discuss gun safety with their children."
Both boys, pupils at Parkside Elementary School in Bethalto, had been present during a gun safety discussion with the local Boys and Girls Club.
The owner of the gun, who was not identified, told police that it was not loaded. Three other guns in the house also were not loaded.
Police said one of the boys may have loaded the shotgun. Investigators found an opened box of shotgun shells. Experts are studying the box and empty shell casing for fingerprints to determine who loaded the gun.
Under Illinois law, gun owners who live with children under the age of 14 must put a lock on their weapons. None of the four guns at this home had a lock.
"Neither of these boys lived at this apartment, so the gun owner was not required to have a lock," said Bethalto Police Lt. Alan Winslow. "And the people who lived at the apartment didn't know the boys were there."
Jess was the son of Byron and Janet Delp of Cottage Hills.
The Madison County state's attorney's office will study the evidence and consider criminal charges, if any, after a coroner's inquest in September.
© 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Too bad Heather didn't read her own article.
[This message has been edited by Oatka (edited August 07, 2000).]
Edited to fix formatting problem - TBM
[This message has been edited by TheBluesMan (edited August 07, 2000).]
Ditto.
[This message has been edited by Mykl (edited August 07, 2000).]
