Couple Films Their 1 Year Old Baby Putting Gun In Her Mouth
(NEWSER) – It may be a bit early in 2015 to be handing out the Parents of the Year Award, but a man and woman in Indiana are certainly contenders: Police say they found a cellphone video featuring Michael Barnes, 19, and Toni Wilson, 22, encouraging a 1-year-old baby girl to place a .40-caliber handgun in her mouth and say “pow.” “The video also shows the child placing the muzzle of the gun in [her] mouth,” police say in a statement (amended here). “At no point does Barnes try to stop the child from playing with the gun.” Wilson is the girl’s mother, but Barnes is not her father. Authorities obtained the video after arresting Barnes in a separate incident in which he made arrangements via social media to sell a handgun to an undercover cop, Reutersreports. Wilson claimed the gun in the video was just a pellet gun, but police say that’s not true. Barnes has been charged with child neglect, allowing a child to possess a firearm, and criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, and Wilson faces the same charges, NBC News reports. The baby, as well as month-old twins in the home—of whom Barnes is the father, police say—were put into emergency care.
Classic kids. Right!? You buy them all sorts of toys – balls and dolls and video games and things with every sort of bell and whistle – and all they wanna do is play with your .40 cal. Hey baby do you wanna play with this brand new 3D music video sing a long projector? No? You just wanna lift the 4 pound in the air? Fine, lets just play guns. Pow pow pow! Pew pew pew!
I know everyone is probably gonna be up in arms about these parents. Gonna try to have them arrested for quote un-quote neglect and quote un-quote criminal recklessness. But I’m a firm believer that if the baby is happy and not crying, you dont rock the boat. I dont care if they’re playing with knives or fire or bleach – if the baby is quiet then you count your lucky stars and ride that wave. So what if she’s playing with an unloaded gun, she aint crying. Thats the name of the game when you’re raising a child.