Boy killed with PA State Senator's handgun

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I'm curious: would the Senator be liable if it turns out the weapons were secured properly but the measures taken were bypassed (I.E. jimmied lock, etc.)

This does open up a lot of questions:
1. How did this kid know where said weapon was?
2. How did kid obtain said weapon?
3. If kid was dog sitting, why would he be handling a weapon in the first place?

I can see the media making a big stink over this already...
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Well, yeah--but fortunately the answers are simple.

1. It's irrelevant how he knew.
2. If he bypassed the security measures, the owner of the firearm is not at fault for anything. If not, then he might be.
3. Either he was curious, stupid, or suicidal. Or any combination thereof.

Then again, what if someone gained entry into the house, kidnapped the boy, took the firearm, and later shot him with it...?
 
I will now seek cover in anticipation of the inevitable barrage that will be heading my way shortly....
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Nah, I'd say you are safe. You make very good points, in fact. I, personally would not leave a loaded weapon unsecured in my house were I to go on vacation. That said, I also probably wouldn't leave the weapon there at all, either! :D I know when I was groing up that some of the folks I went to school with could bypass their parents safety measures (locks, hiding, safe) and still get at the weapons. Fortunately nobody was hurt during all this, but needless to say a curious teenager with half a brain can/could get by security/safety measures. :uhoh:

In any event, I hope things work out for the senator. I'm sorry someone lost their life, but it appears as if nobody is at fault but the kid. However, until we all know more about the situation all we can do is draw assumptions. Not a good way to go.
 
I, personally would not leave a loaded weapon unsecured in my house were I to go on vacation. That said, I also probably wouldn't leave the weapon there at all, either!
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I remember as a kid helping my dad load up a bunch of handguns from his safe and take them to a friend's house when we were going out of town for vacation. My dad collected quite valuable WWII military sidearms at the time, and he was a well-known collector and show promoter, so I think he removed them from the house not because of safety concerns but because he worried that irreplacable pieces of his collection would be stolen. Our home was broken into once when I was still a toddler, and my dad remains convinced to this day that the break-in was by someone who knew about his collection and came specifically for the guns.

I don't think removing guns from the home is necessary. I have too many, and I don't have anywhere to take them. I make sure they are all locked up, however. To me, that's "reasonable care", and nothing more is needed.
 
Swimming Pools and Fences

In most cities, a swimming pool is required to have a high fence around it, with a childproof gate latch; the pool is considered to be an attractive hazard to children, and special measures are legally mandated to limit liability of pool owners.

If a pool owner does not secure the pool from easy access, they are considered to be negligent if a child drowns in their pool. If a child somehow bypasses the mandated protective fence and gate lock (properly securing the area), the pool owner is not held liable.

That leads to the issue of firearms being an attractive hazard. It is well known that many teenaged boys, and some adolescent boys, are fascinated by firearms, probably due to the influence of TV, movies and books about cops & robbers and cowboys & indians. Scientific studies have shown that most children, even when these children have been trained in the proper use of firearms, and have had supervised access and shooting provided to them whenever they wanted, will still play with found firearms in an unsupervised situation. That is the reason firearms are considered to be an attractive hazard.

Hiding firearms does not secure them from inquisitive children. There is essentially no place in the home where a child will not find a hidden object, once the child learns it is in the home, and decides he wants to play with it. That is why it is essential to keep firearms and ammunition stored in different locations, and in some sort of locked container, when the firearm is not under direct control of the owner, and children are in the home. The story implies that the Senator used adequate methods to store his firearms from casual access, so that also implies some knowledge of the location and access requirements were used to obtain the pistol.


With that being said, it is much more likely that the son of the Senator was the one that gained access to the handgun used to kill the neighbor boy. The son would be more likely to know where the gun was located, and the ammunition; he might have known where the keys to the gun storage area were kept, if his father trusted him with fireams at age 16.

The news reported that the Senator's son and the neighbor boy that died had a telephone conversation at close to midnight on friday. Between that time and the following morning the neighbor boy was killed, probably by a single shot being fired. A single shot, from a distance, will not awaken most people from a sound sleep (at least not so that they will recognize what woke them), so it is possible that the two boys got together to examine one of the Senator's pistols, and the Senator's son accidentally shot his friend, then dropped the pistol and ran home.

It seems from the news story that the police can not conclude there was a suicide, because the pistol was found at a distance (to far to drop from a dead hand, yet near the body) from the dead boy; they will probably run a gunshot residue test to determine if he fired the gun, or if he was shot by someone else.

The father effectively obliterated any shoeprint evidence at the scene, by trying to revive his dead son; that is understandable on the part of the grieving father, but unfortunate for forensics teams trying to recover evidence.

I suspect that this will be determined to be an accidental death at the hands of an unknown person. That way the dead boy's family is not stigmatized by having a suicidal son, and the Senator's son is not punished for his friend's death, and the Senator's political career is safe.
 
"It was not left out in an area where anyone would normally see it,"
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So what if it was? It was HIS house after all.

If someone else's children have not been sufficiently educated and cautioned about firearms, that is a self correcting problem owned by the failing parents, not the innocent (in this case) gun owner. Whether or not his gun was out in the open, cocked and locked, whatever; it's irrelevant. Responsibility for a child and the child's acts belongs to the parents.
 
I will now seek cover in anticipation of the inevitable barrage that will be heading my way shortly
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If I understand you correctly
You are saying that if the senator failed to adequately secure the gun while allowing a young teen total access to his home then he may be morally or ethically accountable for the mishap but not legally responsible.

Works for me.

Too many unanswered question
Nothing more to do but speculate for now
 
http://post-gazette.com/pg/06221/712216-100.stm

State police are executing a search warrant today at the Hempfield home of state Sen. Bob Regola as part of their investigation into the death of a 14-year-old neighbor shot with the senator's gun.

The search warrant affidavit has been sealed by a judge because of the ongoing investigation, state police said today.

State police arrived about 10 a.m. at the Regola home on Glenmeade Road. Information about what was being sought or what had been taken from the house was unavailable this morning.

Mark Rush, who is representing Sen. Regola, said the family was not home this morning and a relative had to be contacted to let police in. He said he had no idea what investigators were searching for.

"I'm anxious to see what's in the probable cause because I don't know what they have, I don't know where it's going," said defense attorney Duke George, who is representing the senator's son, Robert Regola IV.

Mr. George said relations between his client and the state police have turned adversarial of late.

Louis Farrell was pronounced dead July 22 from a gunshot wound of the head. The teen's body was found about 100 yards from his home, which is next-door to the Regola residence.

Investigators are still trying to determine whether Louis's death was an accident, homicide or suicide. They are also trying to determine how the teen obtained a 9mm handgun registered to Sen. Regola.

Sen. Regola had left Louis Farrell in charge of the Regolas' dogs while he was in Harrisburg. Robert Regola IV, the senator's eldest son, had remained in Hempfield, but was away from home until around 10:30 p.m. the day before
 
I thought the same thing joab. Very interesting, the father and the son each have lawyers.

Since the father seems to have been cleared of any "reckless" storage issues, this indicates to me the 16 yo had a hand in this.
 
UPDATE ON REGOLA CASE

I happen to know the Farrell family very well. I happened upon this site today and thought I would share some updates. We are all anxiously awaiting the results of the investigation so that we may begin to heal and find closure. This has been an unbelievable few months. I would like to share some links to the newly updated details of the case. We are very happy that the press is pushing for answers. We would like Lou to be remembered as a beautiful thoughtful child who was always bringing smiles to people. Hopefully we will get some answers soon.

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/10338901/detail.html

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/06320/738816-59.stm
 
Is it pretty much standard practice to confiscate computing gear these days?

It seems like no matter how unlikely it is that a computer was involved in, or facilitated a crime, they always want to traipse through all the digital media in the house.

I mean, 50 years ago, did they cart off every scrap of paper in the house on the off chance someone scrawled "I did it" on one of them?
 
Yes, it is - I'd rather not go into the reasons why.

50 years ago - well, I'm sure they'd have gone through peoples' diaries...
 
all of these points have merit. ie, it wasn't the guns fault. speaking as a father, i feel this boys fathers grief. may we all never feel such loss.
 
THey're not looking for "I did it" on the computer.

Really it's too bad a kid is dead, no matter the reason.

Actually, they're looking for chatroom/message board bragging. For suicidal evidence blogs, posts, emails. For any journal, etc. As a computer-geek on the side I know that unless they were real real careful everything on the computer (deleted or not) can be found. And you can get free software to recover files.
 
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If it is how it looks, they're both at fault. The kid shouldn't have been fooling around, or even taking a gun. And the Senator should've secured his guns properly.
 
yeah.. real funny - (the joke about shooting the dog watcher.) Can you have a little respect? Talk about insensitive..thanks..
 
But (granting we don't know all the facts) this politician appears to have screwed up on a monumental scale.
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While there is some merit to that statement, I don't think I would go so far as to say it's monumental. Yes, the senator should have made sure his firearms were secure, that's an obvious. But there is some personal responsibility on the 14-year-old. While we don't know exactly what happened, it's possible that it was an accidental discharge. Those seem to be pretty common with younger unexperienced children who get a hold of guns. I'm not throwing blame on anyone yet, 'specially cause we don't have all the facts.

The whole situation might have been able to be avoided by the Senator (possibly by a safe), but he didn't pull the trigger, and he didn't tell his son to handle the firearm. Edited (Sorry, hadn't read updated article) Well, stupid me read the article after posting. I wouldn't see any responsibility on the part of the Senator if his son was the one who acquired the firearm.

And people wonder why many of us would like firearms safety training offered in public schools...(not a rant at the child, just our gov't.)
 
For the antis who will use this as fodder for their political agenda facts are not important. What is important is how much mileage can they get from a tragedy in order to further their own purposes. They don't give a red rats ass about the kid. All they care about is using this story for their own agenda.

Is it a tragedy? of course. But it should not be used for political purposes.

"Facts!....we don't need no stinkin Facts!.....
 
Tragedy

XB nailed it pretty well down...BUT...as DNS noted:

> Once the senator gave the boy the key to the home, the gun was no longer secure from the boy. Access to the home is access to the gun, or so I bet will be argued.<
****************

The man may not have stored it in a readily accessible area...maybe even very well hidden...but since the teen had both access to the entire house and ample time to pilfer around, he had about as much access to the gun as if it had been tossed in a kitchen drawer.

If there's anything that I've learned about teenagers, it's that you can't bet on what they may do if an opportunity is present. This comes both from dealing with teens and from being one.

The good senator knew that he would be out of town, and it isn't likely that he forgot that he owned the gun. Knowing that the boy would be in the home
for whatever amount of time that he pleased...the man should have secured the gun, taken it with him, or left it in the possession of a responsible adult.
This, especially so in light of the present political climate...with the outcry for
more secure firearms storage...for the children. That the lad may have been a thief...or suicidal...careless and irresponsible, or whatever, will have little bearing on what is to follow. The antis won't care about anything except that he found a gun in a senator's home, and that he's dead.

You may be assured that this will cause some heavy fallout, and Senator Regola may have just been instrumental in dealing us a fatal blow.
 
Don!

if he'd only had some porn laying around, for instance, the kid would have taken that, gotten caught
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from post 7

from Sarah's update we learn he had porn, brass knuckles and liquor as well as the gun.
 
another update

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/...vania/counties/montgomery_county/16866165.htm

Coroner says teen used senator's gun in suicide
By Dan Nephin
Associated Press

GREENSBURG, Pa. - A 14-year-old boy committed suicide with a state senator's gun, a coroner ruled yesterday. While he recommended against charges that someone else caused the death, he left the door open to the senator's prosecution.

Westmoreland County Coroner Kenneth Bacha's finding came after an inquest last month into the death of Louis Farrell, whose body was found in July in woods behind his home and the home of his neighbor, Sen. Bob Regola (R., Westmoreland).

An inquest hearing officer's report, the basis of the coroner's recommendations, concluded that the senator had been "irresponsible" with the weapon but that no grounds could be found for manslaughter or homicide charges.

The coroner, in a brief statement, said he recommended "no charges be filed for causing Louis Farrell's death."

But he said that "other offenses such as recklessly endangering another person and firearms violations do not require proof that other person's actions caused death," and that he was making no recommendations on those.

District Attorney John Peck said he would need at least a week to review the coroner's recommendations and decide whether to file any charges, which he said could include involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and violation of state firearms law.

Peck has said he believes the senator violated firearms law by apparently letting his teenage son - contrary to the senator's testimony - keep the gun in his bedroom.

The first-term senator has denied wrongdoing.

The inquest report found that the senator had broken firearms law by leaving his 9mm Taurus in his teenage son's possession, but said none of the evidence was strong enough to link the senator's actions to the boy's death.

"Sen. Regola's conduct in allowing his son to have a loaded, unlocked handgun in the house was certainly irresponsible. However, there is no reason to believe that he 'consciously disregarded a known risk' that Louis Farrell would take the gun and shoot himself," the report said.

The Farrell family said through its attorney that it still believes the evidence does not prove the boy killed himself.

The senator was away at the time of the shooting. The Regolas had given Louis Farrell a key to the house to watch the family dogs while they were away.

Their son Bobby, 16, returned home that night from an amusement park, reporting the gun missing to his family, but no one alerted police. Bobby also said he spoke for five minutes by phone with Louis Farrell.

The younger Regola at first cooperated with police but then refused further interviews and declined to testify at the inquest.

Attorney Thomas J. Farrell, who presided at the inquest, said there was no evidence that "the senator or Bobby would have known that Louis, number one, would take the gun, and number two, that he would end his life."

"Our authority stops there at whether or not to recommend manslaughter or homicide charges," said Farrell, who is not related to the victim. "Whether other charges are appropriate is entirely up to Mr. Peck."

Inquest Report

Excerpts from the report from lawyer Thomas J. Farrell.

On criminal charges: "There is insufficient evidence to charge anyone with either causing suicide or involuntary manslaughter. My commission and the coroner's do not extend to recommendations regarding any other charges... ."

On Louis Farrell's suicide: "Sometimes... despite our most conscientious and wisest efforts as parents and human beings, the worst happens."

On Sen. Regola's testimony about where he kept the gun: "The story of moving the gun to the senator's bedroom because of the concern about 'vagrants'... is incredible... . It is more likely that the senator... used the vagrant boy to concoct a story and bolster the false statement that he moved the gun into his bedroom."
 
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