news-record.com

Greensboro police said the accidental shooting of 13-year-old Shaquon Woods on July 5 "resulted from poor firearms safety and judgment."

There's no disputing that. But don't expect the individual who's allegedly at fault to enroll in a firearms safety course. As a convicted felon, he's prohibited from even holding a gun.

Police say the weapon was in the hand of Shaquon's 20-year-old brother, Rickey Earlton Woods, when it discharged during a family picnic at Claremont Courts apartments.

Shaquon, hit in the neck and shoulder, was taken to Moses Cone Hospital, then transferred to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center with serious injuries. Rickey Woods went on the run.

The older brother has been in trouble with the law for years but has avoided an active prison sentence. His convictions include receiving/possessing a firearm, robbery with a dangerous weapon (conspiracy), felony breaking and entering and receiving a stolen vehicle. In each case, he was given a suspended sentence and put on probation. He has other charges pending on drug violations.

The incident last week should amount to a probation violation and cause previous sentences to be activated. A separate charge of possessing a firearm also could bring prison time, if he's convicted.

Convicted felons who can't keep their hands off guns are all too common. As News & Record staff writer Jennifer Fernandez reported Sunday, there were nearly 4,700 cases in North Carolina last year of felons charged with firearms possession. About 400 of those were in Guilford County.

Unfortunately, far too many ex-convicts revert to criminal behavior after release from prison. They can expect tougher punishment if they're caught and convicted again. Using a firearm compounds their trouble.

Many more felons, however, aren't sent to prison but are given suspended sentences and put on probation -- like Rickey Woods. Currently, there are about 40,000 inmates in state prisons but more than 108,000 individuals on probation. Because prison space is limited, and it's expensive to keep people locked up, probation represents the state's effort to monitor felons in other settings while giving them a chance to work and resume productive lives.

The state's primary concern, however, must be public safety. The effort was unsuccessful with Rickey Woods. If police are correct that he held the gun when it fired and wounded his younger brother, Woods' irresponsible behavior made him a danger even within his own family.

To call it poor firearms safety is an understatement. To see poor judgment reflects not only on Rickey Woods' recklessness and disregard for the law but raises questions about judges' decisions to trust him with probation when they could have sent him to prison. While that might have seemed harsh at the time, it would have spared a 13-year-old boy and his family their suffering now.