12-year-old girl shoots her friend after stealing gun from a car at 3 a.m.

At 3 a.m. yesterday in Madison, Tennessee, a group of girls--ages 12 to 16--sneaked out of grandmother's apartment, went to a nearby parking lot and started trying car doors to see what they could steal.

In one of the unlocked cars they found a handgun.  When they went back to grandmother's apartment  one of the girls--12 years old--was playing with the gun, pointing it at the others.  As the police put it (very diplomatically), the gun "fired," killing one of her friends.

This story is obviously tragic, but even more significant are many of the 2,500-odd comments to it.  You won't believe it unless you read 'em.

Predictably, liberals screamed that the shooting was yet another proof that no one should be allowed to buy or legally own a gun.  But hundreds of commenters went further, claiming the owner of the car should be charged with murder, since he or she left his/her car unlocked.  They angrily rejected the idea that the girls bore any responsibility for breaking into the car and stealing the gun, or for handling it so negligently that one fatally shot another.  This one is typical:

As a teacher I can tell you the average 12 year-old doesn't have a realistic idea of the consequences of actions. The girl may have understood that pulling the trigger fires a gun, but might not have fully understood the fatal consequence of that action. The irresponsible person who left a loaded weapon in an unlocked car was at fault here!!!!!!

Conservatives asked liberal gun-haters if they agreed that they'd be legally liable if a thief entered their unlocked house, fell down stairs and then sued them for being the homeowner.  Liberals invariably replied with a non-sequitur, like "It's illegal to leave your car running" or similar.

Liberal gun-haters were adamant that the young thieves bore no responsibility at all for the fatal shooting.  To libs, the entire problem was because of the gun-- in an unlocked car where the blameless young thieves could...um..."appropriate" it.

The liberal "argument" quickly deteriorated into "All gun owners are irresponsible cowards," and "Ban guns."  (Both are actual quotes.)  A conservative replied "Should we ban cars too?  How about trampolines, since kids get killed on them too."

Honestly, if you ever thought liberals were rational, the comments to this story will cure you.