Criminal charges in accidental shootings nonexistent

If it’s called an accident when a Louisiana child shoots himself with a parent’s gun, that parent won’t face criminal charges.

Even some states most often associated with pro-gun citizens and government — such as Texas and Florida — call those parents criminals. Louisiana does not have CAP laws, shorthand for child access prevention.

CAP laws have been implemented in 27 states and the District of Columbia. There’s no federal CAP law.

“Legislatures must ask whether they want to guide behavior in their states by imposing additional civil and criminal liability,” said Raymond Diamond, LSU Law Center professor.

The child authorities believe shot himself on Prospect Street in Shreveport Friday, a 10 year old, died the next day. The case remains open, but Shreveport police spokesman Cpl. Marcus Hines said its unlikely anyone will be charged.

It’s being called an accident.

Less than one month earlier, a 3-year-old boy was similarly shot in the head after he found and was playing with a parent’s gun located on the bedside table at their Colquitt Road residence.

It also was called an accident.

Though SPD doesn’t maintain a running record on cases where children accidentally shoot themselves (few departments, if any, do), Hines answered a Times request for such data with a few police reports concerning similar incidents. Those reports showed:

• Sept. 14, 2009: A 5-year-old and his mother, visiting family on Wilkinson Street, shoots himself in the neck with his second cousin’s gun while out of sight of adults, according to reports.

• Dec. 15, 2009: A 3-year-old girl accidentally shoots herself in the stomach at a residence in the 4500 block of North Market Street. The owner of the gun was in the shower and his wife was sleeping in the same room where the child shot herself, according to reports.

Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research co-director Jon Vernick said CAP laws don’t — even can’t — eliminate unintentional deaths among children, but the research indicates reduction in occurrence in states where the regulations are enforced.

A 1997 study published in Journal of the American Medical Association which studied between 1990 and 1994 states with CAP laws found accidental shooting deaths in children younger than 15 were reduced by 23 percent during the years studied.

In Texas, a decidedly pro-gun state, CAP laws are a Class E misdemeanor punishable by up to $4,000 in fines and up to a year in prison.

“In Texas, we want adults to be responsible and we hold them accountable for these actions that endanger a child,” Novy Scott, a criminal attorney in Longview, Texas, said.

But Shreveport criminal attorney Jeffrey Little argues those kinds of charges wouldn’t always be necessary, or even appropriate.

“Even though the district attorney could charge parents, it’s difficult to pile on criminal charges when they’re already grieving the loss of a child,” Little said.

The real legal threat to parents — in both Louisiana and CAP law states — are civil suits, which are common if a child harms someone else, Little said. The charges that might seem most obvious are little more than a slap on the wrist.

Louisiana Revised Statute 14:92.2, which addresses improper supervision of a minor by a parent or guardian, provides that parents who allow children access to an illegal firearm can be charged with a $25-250 fine per offense and up to 30 days in prison.

In Louisiana, Little said as long as the firearm is legal to own and properly registered, no criminal charges should result from any case where a child gets his hands on a weapon.

“It all comes down to circumstance,” Little said. “Whether or not law would be used to prosecute really depends on the facts of the case.”

States with CAP laws in place

•California

•Colorado

•Connecticut

•Delaware

•District of Columbia

•Florida

•Georgia

•Hawaii

•Illinois

•Indiana

•Iowa

•Kentucky

•Maryland

•Massachusetts

•Minnesota

•Mississippi

•Missouri

•Nevada

•New Hampshire

•New Jersey

•North Carolina

•Oklahoma

•Rhode Island

•Tennessee

•Texas

•Utah

•Virginia

•Wisconsin