little kids and guns

[angel607]

sadly there has been 2 stories this week with four year olds picking up guns and shooting someone. one case a four year old grabbed a gun and shot his six year old friend . another case a guy was showing off his guns to family members when a four year old grabbed a loaded gun on the bed and shot his aunt. this is really sad because it never should of happened to begin with. I always thought if you need guns for protection or whatever the case you would keep all guns unloaded and locked up. the ammo should be locked up out of reach also. I guess these parents think something like that could never happen to them until it does.

[Classicblast]

Unfortunately these stories are going to get the optimum attention unless the Obama agenda of removing guns from the people is passed. The point is going to be misplaced that the gun was the problem not the irresponsible parent.

I own over 300 baseball bats. Some I've never used. Any one of them could kill somebody if used by the wrong person. This case the guns should not have been in the child's reach. I could carelessly leave keys in my car and my sons could accidentally or naively start the car and wreck it injuring or killing themselves or others. But that would be my fault for being negligent with the car and keys not the car itself.

[angel607]

i agree. it just makes me sad reading stories like this. if the guns were locked up they would of been out of the child's reach and the victims would be alive today and living life. now their six feet under. the poor kids will grow up knowing they shot someone by accident.

[Beangirl]

When my mom was 13 years old her brother (my uncle) who was 17 at the time was cleaning his 22 rifle on the couch and accidently shot my mom in her side. She was in the hospital for 4 weeks.They could not remove the bullet as it was too close to her spine.It was an accident but from then on she was terrified of guns and we never had them in our house.I believe if my uncle and been more mature and trained for firearms this could have been avoided.

[Phil]

Its a terrible accident no doubt. And good thing nobody was killed even though seriously injured. I agree though her brother needed to be more experienced to be working on the gun.

I've made it clear I support gun ownership I do definitely want to see the most care possible taken. People are often negligent working on their cars and there's problems from that too.

[Beangirl]

Apr 13, 2013 18:12:28 GMT -5 Phil said:

Its a terrible accident no doubt. And good thing nobody was killed even though seriously injured. I agree though her brother needed to be more experienced to be working on the gun.

I've made it clear I support gun ownership I do definitely want to see the most care possible taken. People are often negligent working on their cars and there's problems from that too.

True, people are too often negligent at lots of things. We all need to pay attention and not hurry through life.

[Phil]

Its a tragedy that so many parents are so lax about things. Not only guns. I remember reading and commenting about this in a youtube video that a 7 year old girl fell out of the bed of a pick up truck. I think miraculously she wasn't hurt bad, but what in the world was a 7 year old riding in the bed of a pickup for?

I have always owned pickup trucks and my kids do not ride in the back and they'd love to.

Once in a while at our camp outings I've bent that rule and that's not going highway speeds or with traffic and even then I have some misgivings of it.

There's a video on Youtube that someone asked me to comment on about 3 years ago. There was a kid on the back of a motorcycle... that's strike 1... but then the childs father leaves the bike running and goes into a gas station to put a deposit on the gas and the bike apparently still in gear goes around the pumps by itself with the infant in a child seat on the back of the motorcycle the bike laps the pumps 3 or 4 times before dumping itself. Fortunately the kid was strapped in enough and the bike didn't get going fast enough to force the child off itself.

But that doesn't make that any less stupid.

I don't like a child on the back of a motorcycle to start with. In some places Europe and some crowded cities in the US space is an issue and the motorcycle is used for that purpose... in most US cities motorcycles are a fun vehicle. Granted I don't know that person's circumstances I do not think a child needs to be on the back of a motorcycle. And leaving a motorcycle running is a lot like a car with a manual transmission that if you don't make positive that you have shifted fully out of gear the gear could still be meshing a little bit and eventually by gripping little by little, shift itself back into gear. Like I said that can happen with a car/truck with a manual transmission too but less likely than a motorcycle because the gears are not as closely meshed.

If that father turned off the engine the bike could not have driven off on its own though. Once again simple steps taken to avoid a big mess. They always figure that nothing will happen.

But it was human negligence in each case. Not the gun, the pickup truck or the motorcycle.

[angel607]

beangirl so sorry to hear that happened to your mom. accidents can happen to the best of us. I have never owned a gun but I support them when it comes to people wanting to defend themselves or if they live in a area where crime is high they need it for protection. many cases guns have saved someone's life when their house is broken into. they scare me to much because I can't handle loud noise I have sensitive ears so I could never own one.

[Beangirl]

I am all for people having guns too . Gun owners just need to act more responsibly.

[Phil]

Apr 17, 2013 15:51:15 GMT -5 Beangirl said:

I am all for people having guns too . Gun owners just need to act more responsibly.

That's definitely true. As a gun owner you have to respect its potential and never think that it precautions are unnecessary.

[Beangirl]

It is the same thing when your kid drives a car for the first time.You have to teach them they are in control of a lethal weapon that can kill and maime and must act responsible.

[angel607]

i have seen some people show off by speeding in their cars. I remember at work a employee got written up after speeding out of the parking lot many times after they told him not to. one night pat ended up having a close call. I don't know what happened but she told the manager about the guy. your right a car should be looked at the same as a dangerous weapon and parents need to explain this to kids more.

[Phil]

Apr 17, 2013 19:04:03 GMT -5 Beangirl said:

It is the same thing when your kid drives a car for the first time.You have to teach them they are in control of a lethal weapon that can kill and maime and must act responsible.

Coincidentally, I am going through that right now. While Jason knows cars can do harm if used improperly, Jason, like most kids his age, feel they have more control of the machine than they do.

Jason had some experience with my truck and trailer to move the truck around and move it some. This is different though, this is driving with real traffic and signals, signs and crosswalks. He is finding out its not just bombing my truck down the trails where the campsites are. This is real life. And phones and text messages are definitely out.

[angel607]

glad to hear you taught him about no texting while driving. many parents won't do that because they figure their kid already knows that.

[Jason O'Lewa]

I could order a pizza and go pick it up in one motion now. No I am kidding I am going to take my road teat I hope before the end of the school year.

[Phil]

Road test coming up soon. I can't believe it.