Chandler boy’s shooting accident could result in charges
CRIMEDA SAYS JUVENILES SHOULD NOT HAVE PISTOLS

BY NOLAN CLAY AND JOHNNY JOHNSON

Published: January 6, 2009

CHANDLER — A district attorney said Monday that state law prohibits giving a child a pistol, and he will consider filing criminal charges over the accidental fatal shooting of a 13-year-old boy.

"It is against the law to give a pistol to a kid. Now a kid can have certain other guns, but not a pistol,” said Richard Smothermon, the district attorney in Lincoln and Pottawatomie counties. "I want to know the circumstances of how the kid got it because you give a kid a gun and he ends up dead, you’ve got some culpability there, I think.”

Michael Contway died Dec. 30, a day after a friend accidentally shot him in the head with a .22-caliber revolver near Chandler, investigators said.

A great-grandfather said Michael’s parents gave him the revolver for Christmas. An assistant district attorney incorrectly said last week that was not against the law.

Smothermon said he will decide on charges after getting reports from the Lincoln County sheriff’s deputy who investigated the accident.

"We’ll do the same mental gyrations we do on every case that comes to us,” he said.

Under state law, no one can sell or give a child a firearm. A violation is a misdemeanor, punishable on first offense by up to 30 days in jail and a $250 fine.

There is an exception. A parent can give a child a rifle or shotgun for "hunting ..., hunter safety classes, target shooting, skeet, trap or other recognized sporting events.” The child receiving the gun must not be a juvenile delinquent or convicted of a crime.

Officials speak out

Since the accident, other officials have stepped forward to stress that it is against the law to give a child a firearm.

"Giving loaded guns to children and letting them use them unsupervised is extremely dangerous, and this is the type of stuff that happens,” said Warr Acres police detective Sgt. Alan Davidofsky.

"I just don’t want people thinking this is a tragic accident but it’s still OK for children to be running around with firearms.”

The detective said it is possible parents could be held responsible even if a firearm is simply accessible somewhere in a house or vehicle.

A Warr Acres woman was charged in September in Oklahoma County District Court after her son, who was then age 9, was found at an apartment with a handgun.

The boy in that case said he took the gun "from underneath my mother’s pillow,” according to a police affidavit.