# Can/should the irresponsible handling of guns be specifically targeted by law? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 5, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-should-the-irresponsible-handling-of-guns-be-specifically-targeted-by-law/694868 "2014-08-05T14:31:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-should-the-irresponsible-handling-of-guns-be-specifically-targeted-by-law/694868/21 "2014-08-05T20:37:42Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > So other than the incarceration costs (in the event of a successful prosecution), which hit a different budget line, where’s the “additional costs” coming from to _prosecute_ people for firearm negligence? Maybe this is a bit of a digression but it seems to me that it’s an opportunity cost - the judge, prosecutor, potential public defender and so forth all need to spend time and money handling that case, which comes at the expense of some other matter. One accidental firearm injury case might take away resources from that burglary case. There’s a finite amount of those resources available and we as a society have to decide what to spend them on. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-should-the-irresponsible-handling-of-guns-be-specifically-targeted-by-law/694868/22 "2014-08-05T21:15:32Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I am not a supporter of gun rights. At all But while it is a right, you believe people should be punished for it? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-should-the-irresponsible-handling-of-guns-be-specifically-targeted-by-law/694868/23 "2014-08-05T21:48:01Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > But while it is a right, you believe people should be punished for it? I think its perfectly within the rights of the law to restrict gun ownership. You and I will never agree. To me the 2nd Amendment allows for magazine restrictions, carry restrictions, gun buying limits, background checks, licenses, registration, etc. Violate any of those and yes, its perfectly fine to punish people ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-should-the-irresponsible-handling-of-guns-be-specifically-targeted-by-law/694868/24 "2014-08-05T21:55:11Z")
Replace “guns” with “lighter fluid and matches” … same result … would this not be the same crime? Oregon requires gun safe use in homes with children. It’s never enforced but the parents will be in court the next three years trying to get their kids back from Child Welfare. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-should-the-irresponsible-handling-of-guns-be-specifically-targeted-by-law/694868/25 "2014-08-05T22:07:50Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > I think its perfectly within the rights of the law to restrict gun ownership. You and I will never agree. To me the 2nd Amendment allows for magazine restrictions, carry restrictions, gun buying limits, background checks, licenses, registration, etc. Violate any of those and yes, its perfectly fine to punish people What I thought. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-should-the-irresponsible-handling-of-guns-be-specifically-targeted-by-law/694868/26 "2014-08-05T23:02:43Z")
> [@slash2k](#): > > DAs and ADAs and judges and bailiffs and clerks aren’t just sitting around wasting time while they wait for a case. If you prosecute additional cases of firearms negligence, then either you are _not_ prosecuting some other cases, or you are hiring more ADAs, judges, etc., for the increased caseload. Don’t press charges against a few pot smokers and you’ll be way ahead. Seriously, if this kind of case happens often enough to affect prosecutor case loads, we’ve got way too many guns and way too many stupid gun owners. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-should-the-irresponsible-handling-of-guns-be-specifically-targeted-by-law/694868/27 "2014-08-06T00:45:13Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Don’t press charges against a few pot smokers and you’ll be way ahead. > Seriously, if this kind of case happens often enough to affect prosecutor case loads, we’ve got way too many guns and way too many stupid gun owners. All it takes is one particularly nasty case in a small county to completely wreck the budget. A single case involving a death or serious injury takes a lot more time and resources than one or a few or even a whole bunch of simple possession cases. And yes, there are a lot of stupid gun owners. Consider the 2012 case of [Hannah Kelley](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/18/pastors-daughter-accident_n_1286605.html), a Florida woman shot in the head at church; somebody was showing somebody else a gun for sale and it “went off.” As near as I have been able to determine, no charges were ever brought. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-should-the-irresponsible-handling-of-guns-be-specifically-targeted-by-law/694868/28 "2014-08-06T02:19:58Z")
How about mandatory amputation of the killer’s trigger finger? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-should-the-irresponsible-handling-of-guns-be-specifically-targeted-by-law/694868.md?page=1)