Readers React: Mother shot by two-year old? Only in America.

To the editor: Buried in the paper was a small, sad item on another “accidental” death by handgun. This time, an Idaho 2-year-old reached into his mom’s purse, took out a pistol and shot her in the head. (“2-year-old kills mother with her own gun at Idaho Wal-Mart,” Dec. 30)

The astonishing comment by the dead woman’s father-in-law: “She was not the least bit irresponsible.”

Will 2015 be the year that Americans and their leaders reject the carnage, the heartbreak, the waste that comes from valuing gun ownership over human lives? We can only hope.

Bonnie Sloane, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: The appalling death of a mother shot by her 2-year-old cannot possibly be described as an accident. She was clearly in the habit of putting the gun in her purse, and who is better placed to judge whether her child can open a zipper than the mother?

The assertion that she was a responsible gun owner would be laughable if we were not agonized by the thought of how the child is going to live the rest of his life.

Rory Johnston, Hollywood

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