Quote Originally Posted by bighit View Post
there you go. until the courts use the full sentences there will be no detterent.
You can't deter stupidity.

This wasn't the sort of case where a long sentence would deter someone else from "taking pot shots" at whatever they want, it was an unconscionably deliberate action that due to the abject stupidity of the gun owner in;
1. - not carrying out a basic safety drill in making sure the gun was unloaded.
and then
2. - pointing & shooting a gun at a child.
resulted in a ND causing serious injury to that child.

He could have been given life & it won't change the fact that there are really, really, stupid people in the world
or that there is no requirement for a gun owner to be trained in basic firearms safety & to remember to use any training that they may have had.