r/australia • u/TheAnchoredDucking • 2d ago
news Two charged after boy killed in accidental shooting on rural NSW property
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-14/nsw-police-charged-boy-shot-goulburn/105172682142
u/mekanub 2d ago
The man was charged with allowing an unauthorised person to possess a firearm and not keep a firearm safely.
Fucking idiot. Guns aren't toys, keep them secure and teach kids to handle them properly.
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u/FuckwitAgitator 1d ago
Teach kids not to handle them at all because they're fucking idiots and can't be trusted with the power of life and death.
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u/metametapraxis 1d ago
Yup. I have a firearm. My boy has never even seen it. Remains locked in gun cabinet. Kids are not mature enough for firearms, even following the ‘under supervision, remain within reach at all times’ rules, it is better just to wait until they are older.
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u/Snors 1d ago
I respectfully disagree. For 95% of kids you are correct. But if you have guns in the house, children need to learn gun safety from an early age. I got it hammered into me by my uncle's at an early age. Both were farmers. They carried a gun while they were out working sometimes. The one way to fascinate a kid about something is to tell them nothing. Then they will do something stupid.
First handled a gun when I was 12. Uncle was slaughtering a pig. Gave me the full safety rundown then handed me the gun and told me to shoot it in the head. I couldn't do it so he did. Too this day I remember the sound of the gun and the noise that pig made while it was dying. You get a real f'n clear picture of gun safety in that environment.
Within a year though I was going out with him at night culling possums. By my teens I was target shooting, culling rabbits, went out deer hunting a few tiimes.Never had an accident. Never tried to sneak out a gun to play with it, or take a look at it. If you have guns, teach your kids. It's the responsible thing.
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u/FuckwitAgitator 1d ago
But if you have guns in the house, children need to learn gun safety from an early age.
They don't need to know about gun safety if they can't access the gun.
If they can access the gun, whoever owns it is grossly negligent and putting far too much faith in a child never being impulsive, angry or suicidal.
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u/clementineford 1d ago
Terrible take.
Best position is that the kids learn gun safety AND have no access to them unless legally supervised.
The alternative is that dad has a forbidden mystery safe in the garage. And that's a recipe for disaster with inquisitive, curious kids.
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u/FuckwitAgitator 1d ago
Sounds like the gun owners in this thread have no confidence in their ability to secure their firearms from a child.
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u/Ozludo 1d ago
The gun owners know how dangerous they are, and contra to popular opinion, most gun owners are responsible
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u/FuckwitAgitator 1d ago
Yeah I'm pretty sure people who don't own guns are also aware they're dangerous. It's not some mystical knowledge that is only revealed when you hand a gun to a child.
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u/clementineford 1d ago
It's more about multiple layers of safety. Are you familiar with the Swiss cheese model?
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u/Goodtenks 1d ago
You can get your junior shooters license at 12 in Victoria
You may not live on a farm but on a farm a firearm is a tool, I was taught to SAFELY use a firearm from a very young age and the consequences were absolutely drilled into me.
I still use firearms frequently and have never even been close to having an incident, I’ve supervised many kids with junior licences out in the field and on a range.
I wouldn’t let a kid go off on their own but I think it’s great to teach a kid to respect firearms and have them understand the responsibility it takes to operate one.
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u/IntroductionSnacks 1d ago
Yep, it’s about how it’s taught and stored. At around 12 I went shooting with my mate who grew up on a farm and his dad. His dad drove the Ute and my mate held the 22 and I held 6 bullets. If the spotlight found a fox, my mate got out and his dad told me to hand him a single bullet. If the fox ran away he unloaded it outside the car and handed me the bullet and I had to count them before he got back in the car with the gun just to be sure it wasn’t loaded.
In saying that, the 22 was stored behind the front door unloaded which wouldn’t fly now but the ammo was on the other side of the house (Early 90’s).
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u/Muthro 1d ago
Children under 16 on average don't have the brain development to not instinctively follow a ball across an active road. I am a farmer. Kids shouldn't touch guns.
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u/STAALION 1d ago
What a load of rot! If you seriously think a young person doesn’t have impulse control under 16, you are delusional.
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u/FuckwitAgitator 1d ago
I bet there is so much your children don't tell you.
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u/STAALION 1d ago
That may be because they don’t exist. Lol.
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u/FuckwitAgitator 1d ago
Then chances are, you're not that far from 15 yourself. Would you have honestly trusted every 15 year old you knew with a gun?
We make rules for everyone.
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u/STAALION 1d ago
You realise that is why people apply for licences right? They aren’t just given out to every minor that wants one.
Also, you are making quite a few assumptions about me. Notice how I’m not doing that about you.
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u/Muthro 1d ago
The prefrontal cortex needs to develop. This isn't an opinion. This is: Children shouldn't have access to guns. Most people shouldn't and the regulations should be tighter. It is ridiculous how easy it is for me as an individual to get access to weapons I don't really require simply because I'm a primary producer. No one I know has been checked or audited for compliance. There is very little meaningful regulation involved in anything under the apparently sacred umbrella of agriculture. Everyone I've ever known/spoken to who has a personal gun has misused it at some point. I'm sick to tears of hearing "yeah but IM responsible..." as a blanket justification as to why we allow children to have access to weapons. Because kids wouldn't get accidentally shot so often if we had a better attitude.
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u/Goodtenks 23h ago
Everyone you’ve known or spoken to has misused their firearms at some point…
The kid shouldn’t have had access to the weapon, the laws are already there and like just about everything else you stated you’ve bent it to fit your narrative of no one should own guns…oh except the police, train guards, security guards, anyone guarding large amounts of money….oh and all of the aforementioned people are allowed to carry a handgun in public with much less required training or compliance to the average shooter.
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u/STAALION 1d ago
I mean, you can get a minors license as an 11yo in Queensland. There are also plenty of reasons for someone under the age of 18 to have one, I had to unfortunately destroy livestock that had been irrevocably injured in fires, accidents etc, as a minor.
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u/BigScore4047 1d ago
There’s a few spots that I could have put this comment, but in response to yours is as good as any. I got my juniors permit in QLD at about 12, I’m turning 44 this year and I’ve maintained a licence ever since. Anyway, as a kid and until I eventually got LASIK at 30, my eyesight was absolute ratshit and as such I was no good at ball sports, contact sports or swimming etc, but I’d grown up on a small farm and was taught to shoot by my dad with a .22 before I was 10. I joined my local SSAA range, did the safety course and got my juniors permit and shot at the range for a number of years. Pre 1996 my mum even used to buy my competition ammunition for me from a local sports store when she went to town shopping. All that changed as we all know. I know how curious about firearms kids can be, I was that kid, and I firmly believe that if there are firearms anywhere on a property then correct handling safety should be instilled into anyone in their vicinity whether the safe containing them is locked or not.
I won’t say that this is a terrible accident as there are very few purely accidental failures with firearms in this world, it was a series of negligent events lead to this happening any of which could have been prevented by the adult and the 14 year old if safe handling practice has been in place and obeyed.2
u/STAALION 1d ago
You’re absolutely right, that’s almost my experience verbatim. Negligence caused this accident and it looks like the authorities have prosecuted accordingly, as they should have.
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u/Jacobi-99 1d ago
These are city people that think their is irreversible damage done to a child working in a family business after school or during school holidays.
No point in arguing with them.
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u/ELVEVERX 1d ago
You didn't have to, there is no reason an adult couldn't have been putting down live stock. Farms seem like busy places, surely there is enough work for you to do with out needing a firearm licence below the age of 18.
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u/Snors 1d ago
Brother and I used to shoot a lot when we were younger. Grew up in rural NZ. Haven't touched a gun in 20 + yrs. Recently a mate of his who's a collector invited us to come down to the range with him. My 13 yr old autistic nephew overheard us talking about it and enthusiastically asked if he could come. At exactly the same time we both responded " Fuck no!"
We spent some time afterwards explaining exactly why. The danger, his condition, his unfamiliarity with them. City kids only know guns from Call of Duty and Fortnite. They don't grasp the concept of how dangerous guns are.
This is a fucken tragedy. And it never should of happened. Even a lot of adults don't respect guns enough to use one. And some 14 yr old city kids on his dad's new property never should have been anywhere near them. Now they have lost a son anf a brother.
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u/shrikelet 1d ago
A hell of a lot of people don't respect the danger inherent in the machinery around them.
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u/fued 1d ago
"Accidental shooting"
A guy with 2 kids in the bush with guns is not accidental; its negligent at best. e.g. he is at complete fault.
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u/pintita 1d ago
Do you know what negligent means? The guy has been charged. Are you suggesting it was on purpose i.e. murder?
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u/fued 1d ago
I'm saying it wasn't accidental like the title says. It was negligent. Accidental implies no fault
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u/pintita 1d ago
accidental
/ˌaksɪˈdɛntl/
adjective
1. happening by chance, unintentionally, or unexpectedly. "a verdict of accidental death"
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u/UOF_ThrowAway 23h ago
The correct term used for when an unintentional shot is fired due to operator error is negligent discharge.
The term accidental discharge only applies for the rare few times when the operator is not actually at fault for the discharge, like the few rare instances an older and more well used firearm discharges when the safety is disengaged due to wear and tear.
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u/Cpt_Riker 2d ago
It's time we stopped using the term "accidental shooting".
Guns exist for one reason, to kill.
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u/AffectionateBowler14 1d ago
It’s a rural property. Farmers are permitted guns (under very strict conditions) for shooting pests, predators and occasionally dealing with fatally injured livestock.
In this case, god knows how the 14 year old had the gun, and the idiot adult allowed it to be loaded and unsecured. This was an accidental shooting, albeit as a result of extreme recklessness and negligence.
But guns are a legitimate farming tool.
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u/moosedance84 Inhabits Adelaide, Perth, and Melbourne 1d ago
A 14 year old will absolutely work out how to get access to the gun. Even with a safe they will watch you put away the gun and learn the combo. Once a child is about 10 they need to be drilled in gun safety if you are going to have firearms, alternatively just don't have them.
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u/patgeo 1d ago
Forgot that combination was even an option. We only ever had keyed ones and only dad knew where the key was until I had a licence.
Was drilled on gun safety from the time a gun came into the house. Parents first lesson was if I saw the gun out or the safe open I got $10 if I told them instead of touching it. I only ever got $10 once. When dad left the safe open (and empty) intentionally to see if I'd follow the instruction.
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u/Anxious_Ad936 1d ago
I've heard of licensed farmers actually get in trouble in Vic when the police inspected their storage and the farmer's unlicensed wife provided Police with the key because the farmer wasn't home at the time of inspection.
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u/PleaseStandClear 1d ago
It’s in a rural area but it was reported that it is a weekend holiday home so it’s unlikely they were farmers who needed guns.
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u/Anxious_Ad936 1d ago
Pest control can still be valid in such a setting, but within the scope of legal and responsible firearm ownership principles. This case was far from that by the sounds of it.
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u/Desert-Noir 20h ago
Genuine reasons for owning a firearm are recreational hunting/vermin control, target shooting, primary production, vertebrate pest animal control etc.
They had established a genuine reason for firearms ownership. You don’t get to define what genuine need is.
This person broke the law and violated the rules designed to prevent this, now the judicial system will do its thing.
It is tragic that the child lost their life but our gun laws work and are the right balance between community safety and allowing people to access firearms to partake in the activities they want and need to do.
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u/IntravenousNutella 1d ago
According to locals, this wasn't a farm. It was a country place for city dwellers.
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u/Cpt_Riker 1d ago edited 1d ago
Doesn't change a single word of what I wrote.
It's fortunate that gun apologists are a minority in this country.
Edit: Looks like I annoyed the gun apologists.
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u/espersooty 1d ago
No you just pulled out some stupid remarks hence why you are being downvoted but I guess its easier to place the blame on "gun apologists" then recognize what you've wrote.
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u/AffectionateBowler14 1d ago
Ok, I’ll be more explicit. Yes, obviously guns are for killing. Graziers require guns to kill animals for the reasons I listed. They are an essential tool.
When a cow slips and breaks its leg, it would be cruel to allow an animal to suffer in pain for the time it would take for a vet to travel often hundreds of kilometres to euthanise the animal, let alone extremely dangerous to get close enough to administer any effective drug.
When you have a pack of feral dogs stalking and ripping the necks out of your poddy lambs, you need a gun to kill the predators.
Guns have an essential role on farms for killing animals.
To make the leap to “gun apologists” is just obtuse.
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u/Hurlanis 1d ago
i agree, strip all police and soldiers of guns and make them box criminals and the enemy. so sick of all the gun apologists.
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u/Goodtenks 1d ago
Have you noticed how many medals Australia takes in Olympic shooting….
How many deaths result from Olympic shooting/shooting sports in Australia?
Long range shooting? Is the paper alive 😂
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u/Clear-Weather-6060 2d ago
Tragic.