ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An Albuquerque father is facing a child endangerment charge after police say he left a loaded .22 caliber gun with his 11-year-old daughter for her protection while he went to get a tattoo.
KOB-TV reports (HTTP://GOO.GL/1H0NES ) that John Ruiz was arrested this week shortly after a neighbor spotted his daughter with the firearm at an apartment complex swimming pool.
Authorities say the girl didn’t threaten anyone with the gun, but told officers her dad left her the weapon for protection.
Ruiz has been released on a $15,000 bond.
After his court appearance on Monday, Ruiz told reporters he made a mistake.
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OMG. We read similar stories everyday and I still can’t believe what the gun culture (stoked by irrational fear and the NRA) has done to people. What kind of parent thinks a kid needs a gun at the apartment complex pool???
How did he explain just when it was okay to use it?
Why is it that the people who live in the safest areas are the one’s who are most afraid?
I don’t see why this is a big deal. The gun needed company, so he left it with his daughter.
No one ever considers the welfare of the guns…
And gun or no gun, what kind of parent leaves his 11-year-old at a swimming pool alone and apparently unsupervised? (And doesn’t the gun culture consider swimming pools even more dangerous to kids than guns?)