My First Magnum

By Matt Wood in News on Oct 11, 2005 4:38PM

Chicagoist doesn't like to make light of sad things like children being shot, but this one seemed too easy: a 4-year old boy was shot in the hip yesterday at his babysitter's home in Little Village by a 2-year old who was playing with a gun left in the house by his uncle, Juan Ramirez. Sure, that conjures images of a little 2-year old gangsta holding a gun sideways yelling, "Gimme the cookies bitch!" But instead of making us giggle, this story just makes steam shoot out of our ears.

Chicagoist has heard plenty of depressing stories about children getting hurt by guns in the house, but we realize we're pissing in the wind trying to do anything to prevent that in Charlton Heston's America. What has us sputtering like Yosemite Sam about this story is that the home was a neighborhood daycare where up to 8 kids stayed every day. And somehow, this jerkoff thought it would be a good idea to leave his gat there, or was too stupid to realize that was a Bad Thing.

Not that Ramirez had any interest in enjoying his second amendment rights legally. He already had a history of felonies and shouldn't have had a gun in the first place. In addition to being charged with unlawful use of a firearm by a felon and violating the firearm child protection law, he was charged with felony defacement of a firearm because the serial number was scratched off the piece. We doubt he bought it at Don's Guns and abided by the mandatory waiting period.

Fortunately the bullet just grazed the victim, and he is recovering at University of Chicago Children's hospital. The 2-year old shooter, who police consider a victim too, is struggling to explain what happened. Chicagoist thinks that in this case ignorance is bliss, and the less he knows the better.

Photo courtesty of CBS 2 Chicago