Veronica Rutledge and her husband loved everything about guns. They practiced at shooting ranges. They hunted. And both of them, relatives and friends say, had permits to carry concealed firearms. Veronica typically left her Blackfoot, Idaho, home with her gun nestled at her side. So on Christmas morning last week, her husband gave her a present he hoped would make her life more comfortable: a purse with a special pocket for a concealed weapon.
The day after Christmas, she took her new gift with her on a trip with her husband and her 2-year-old son. They headed hundreds of miles north to the end of a country road where Terry Rutledge, her husband’s father, lived. The father-in-law learned of the new purse.
“It was designed for that purpose — to carry a concealed firearm,” Rutledge told The Washington Post late Tuesday night. “And you had to unzip a compartment to find the handgun.
On Tuesday morning, that was exactly what Veronica Rutledge’s son did — with the most tragic of outcomes. Veronica, 29, arrived at a nearby Wal-Mart in Hayden with her three nieces and son, her gun “zippered closed” inside her new purse, her father-in-law said. Then, in the back of the store, near the electronics section, the purse was left unattended for a moment.
“An inquisitive 2-year-old boy reached into the purse, unzipped the compartment, found the gun and shot his mother in the head,” Rutledge said. “It’s a terrible, terr
The path Veronica Rutledge charted before her death, friends and family say, was one of academics and small-town, country living. “Hunting, being outdoors and being with her son” was what made her happiest, her friend Rhonda Ellis told The Post. She was raised in northeast Idaho and always excelled at school, former high school classmate Kathleen Phelps said, recalling her as “extremely smart. … valedictorian of our class, very motivated and the smartest person I know. … Getting good grades was always very important to her.”
She went on to graduate in 2010 from the University of Idaho with a chemistry degree, according to a commencement program. From there, she got a job at Battelle’s Idaho National Laboratory and published several articles, one of which analyzed a method to absorb toxic waste discharged by burning nuclear fuel.ible incident.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/12/31/the-inside-story-of-how-an-idaho-toddler-shot-his-mom-at-wal-mart/

So we have 2 stories about rather stupid parents.

I mean seriously, who leaves their gun around a toddler?

gosh a ruddies both these women had all kinds of gun training, were seemingly well educated and they still did it.
You know one group of families that do not leave their guns around for their kids to use, families that don't own guns.

and what does the child's grandfather, the woman's father in law have to say after this loss, what worries him the most
Rutledge isn’t just sad — he’s angry. Not at his grandson. Nor at his dead daughter-in-law, “who didn’t have a malicious fiber in her body,” he said. He’s angry at the observers already using the accident as an excuse to grandstand on gun rights.
“They are painting Veronica as irresponsible, and that is not the case,” he said. “… I brought my son up around guns, and he has extensive experience shooting it. And Veronica had had hand gun classes; they’re both licensed to carry, and this wasn’t just some purse she had thrown her gun into.”
right that is why a 2 year old could get at it.

Isadore continues to dance on the graves of dead mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives.

gosh a ruddies my effort to prevent children from having to grow up without the guilt of killing a parent, even if mom and dad were gun nuts

I wish the same fervor was had with regard to preventing children to be able to grow up without being killed by the parent due to an abortion.:RpS_glare:

gosh a ruddies if you armed fetuses you wouldn't have to worry about that.

HitsRus;1787033 wrote:I vote for Belly 'cause he has a gun!

Gosh a ruddies, me too.

isadore;1787111 wrote:gosh a ruddies both these women had all kinds of gun training, were seemingly well educated and they still did it.
You know one group of families that do not leave their guns around for their kids to use, families that don't own guns.

Doesn't matter. I am as pro-gun as anyone, but any parent that leaves the possibility of a gun near a toddler is a moron.

I mean seriously, a zipper is the only thing between the toddler and the gun in the "purse" case? That was extremely stupid.

The car case I am not sure how the child got the gun, but assuming the idiot parent left it in the back seat? Again, dumb.