The Michigan case is a tragedy — there’s no other way to describe it.
Investigators determined that five-year-old Braxton Dykstra was fatally shot by his six-year-old cousin after the children found an unlocked and loaded weapon. Braxton’s eight-year-old sister was present when the deadly accident occurred.
The incident unfolded in April at the Newaygo County home of 62-year-old Karl Robart, the grandfather of the victim and the other children.
Just two months before, Michigan’s new safe storage law took effect, mandating that firearms must be locked away and secured when children are in the home.
Robart entered a no contest plea in August to charges he faced in the case, one of the first to put the new law to the legal test.
Braxton’s father, Domynic Dykstra, addressed the court during the grandfather’s trial. “It destroyed a little eight-year-old girl’s life, Braxton’s big sister. She has to live every day knowing what happened when the gunshot went off. She will always remember that day, probably thinking to herself, what if she was faster to get up and get help.”
The father added, “The innocence in her eyes is gone. She will never be the same after this horrible tragedy we are all living through.”
Upon the defendant’s sentencing, Judge Robert Springstead pointed to the preventable nature of his grandson’s death and admonished Robart for ignoring the advice of others to secure his firearms. “This tragedy was 100 percent avoidable. All you had to do was listen to the people in your life who had been telling you to put these loaded guns away.”
Robart addressed the court with an unsteady voice. “There’s a lot of things I could tell you. It’s not going to change what happened.”
He was sentenced to 38 months in prison to be served before he is eligible for parole.
Mandatory storage laws are controversial in that they dictate what law-abiding citizens must do with their private property. However, it is unquestionable that responsible gun owners must secure their weapons when there are small children around to prevent horrific accidents such as this from happening.
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