OT But sadly relevant

[Gryphon Black]

Just heard on the local news about a boy in our area, home alone, accidentally shot himself with one of his parents guns.
He died at the hospital. I think they said he was nine.
Everybody do a self-check right now. Do you have an unsafe firearm situation in your home? Are your guns safe from unsupervised hands? Can your kids' friends find them, even though you think your kids are too well taught to play with them?
This kind of tragedy leads politicians to thinking that the general public can't be trusted to behave responsibly with firearms, and that we need government to be our parents. Makes it harder to argue against them and keep our rights when people let this kind of thing happen.
Right now, there is one couple having a truly bad day, made worse by the knowledge that they could have prevented it. And that never goes away.
Get a safe. Use it. Don't let your kids know the combination. Barring that, get a gunlock, and keep the key on your ring.
I know, nearly all of y'all know this already. Can't hurt to mention it again...

Gryphon

[Chuck 100 yd]

Good reminder, Good post!

[rjohns94]

thanks for the post and reminder

[TedH]

I always hate to hear about these terrible events. The only good thing that could possibly come from it, is if it helps someone to prevent the next one from happening. Good reminder.

[Old Ironsights]

...Get a safe. Use it.

I'm with you there.

Don't let your kids know the combination. Barring that, get a gunlock, and keep the key on your ring.

Here you lose me. No child living in my house would "accidentailly" shoot anything, much less him/herself. I've trained children as young as Six to safely handle (or not handle, as appropriate) firearms.

Locking up your guns where a responsible child has no access to them leads to events like the case in Merced California where the Goon pitchforked a bunch of kids to death:

On the morning of August 23, 2000, Jonathon David Bruce was high on drugs. He slipped inside a home when the parents were away and began attacking the children inside.

Armed only with a pitchfork, and without a stitch of clothing on his body, Bruce proceeded to chase the children through the house -- stabbing them repeatedly.

The oldest of the children, Jessica Carpenter (14), was babysitting at the time. Having been trained by her father, Jessica knew how to use a firearm. There was just one problem: the household gun was locked up in compliance with California state law.

Because of California's "lock up your safety" law, Jessica had few options. She could not call 911 because the intruder had cut the phone lines to the house. She could not protect herself, for state officials had effectively removed that possibility. Her only option was to flee the house and leave her siblings behind.

Thankfully, Mr. Bruce's murderous rampage was finally cut short when police officers arrived at the house. They shot and killed Bruce, but not before two children had already been murdered. ...

http://www.gunowners.org/op0132.htm

That is the result of "not letting your kids know the combination".

[Ysabel Kid]

My heart aches for the parents. I never knew fear - never really understood it - until I had my own children. What I thought was fear before was nothing compared to the worry one has for their own kids. This is most people's worst nightmare.

I discuss gun safety all the time with my kids, and at 9 and 5, I have absolutely no fear either of them would ever pick up a gun without adult supervision. They were trained like I was growing up.

I still lock them all up though. Why? Because I haven't trained their friends, and you can't take back a fired bullet. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer kids are taught firearms safety at an early age. The worst are the anti-gun morons who think that their children would never touch a gun because they don't like them. These are the most dangerous ones - because they will handle a gun when they see it - it is a normal thing, especially for young boys, and because their idiotic parents refuse to accept reality, they endanger themselves and everyone around them.

Sorry I got on my high horse. This just burns me up...

[Gryphon Black]

I understand about kids needing to be able to defend themselves. That's what makes it a tough decision.
I figure the only way to call it is to look at the likelihood. I don't know for sure, but I'd guess we lose a lot more to unsupervised accidents than to invaders. I would worry a lot more about visiting kids that I had no opportunity to teach than my own kids. Even if mine knew not to let thier friends fool around with them, it's easy for someone to wander away and find a gun without the knowledge of the host kid. And no matter how much we may want to, we can't always be there.
It's not by any means a simple equation. But I still think the numbers fall on the side of locking them up when you aren't there.
The one exception would be if the kid owned thier own, and you knew they were responsible enough to be in charge of thier weapons while other kids were around. That would be a lot of trust, but some kids can show they are up to it.
Some parents, however, aren't up to making good and darn sure of their youngster's trustworthiness, nor do they police their weapons properly. I believe that's how the incident happened. I just wanted to ask people if they have a situation like that at their house. We all have to decide for ourselves, in the end, and live with whatever consequences.

And for the record, we don't have kids, so I realize my opinion is only worth so much. But FWIW, there it is. My opinion.

[gamekeeper]

. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer kids are taught firearms safety at an early age. The worst are the anti-gun morons who think that their children would never touch a gun because they don't like them. These are the most dangerous ones - because they will handle a gun when they see it - it is a normal thing, especially for young boys, and because their idiotic parents refuse to accept reality, they endanger themselves and everyone around them.

Sorry I got on my high horse. This just burns me up...

+1

[Hobie]

I used to store my guns in my son's closet as my dad stored his in my closet. NOW, I have a safe as does my son-in-law. 30 Years ago I knew one young man who probably saved his life by having access to a gun unsupervised.

I think that everyone's circumstances and children are different. One makes choices based on individuals not a one size fits all. Hopefully, this will keep the bad guys guessing.

As to this boys family, you know we'll keep his family in our prayers.

[Old Ironsights]

I understand about the unsupervised children that don't belong to you, but IMO

(A) It's up to your kid to supervise his friends and
(B) It's up to you to make sure your kid knows better than to get out any firearms without adult/circumstantial permission.

I'm not saying leave the guns unsecured, rather I'm saying that your responsible kids should have the ability to access a secured firearm.

[morgan in nm]

It is a tragic incident and my sympathies go out to the families.

However, when I was very young, my dad showed all of his kids what that bullet can do to "Bambi" as well as making sure that you have a safe, clear backdrop. Maybe this is not the best way to teach safety around firearms but it worked because me and my siblings always treated guns with respect. As a kid, I would never even show my friends any guns without my dad there to guide us.

Just my $.02 worth.

[FWiedner]

It's tough about the kid, and always preferreable to see them grow up, but this is the nature of natural selection.

We have parents who either didn't train or poorly trained a child, to an extent that the child didn't have the knowledge required to protect himself or properly use something he found in the house.

Don't try make me pay for their stupidity.

[AJMD429]

The first time I realized how gun-dumb most kids must be, and their parents, was when late at night my wife was in the far barn milking, and one of the kids arrived home given a ride with another cub scout parent or something. Anyway, they commented that there were a bunch of strange looking people just kind of hanging around a hundred yards down the road. I realized my wife hadn't taken a gun, so I just handed my .357 to our 8 year old daughter, and said 'take this out to your mom' - you should have seen the look of shock on the other parent's face! Shock that began with the fact of even OWNING a gun, much less admitting it, and exposing a CHILD to it. I tried to reassure them that although she hadn't shot that specific gun, she was well able to load, unload, and handle safely a double action revolver, since that was the kind her's (a .22) was.

Funny thing is, the same parent probably lets their kid ride a bicycle (far more dangerous) and will get him a 4-wheeler for his 14th birthday...