Originally Posted by
socal57che
http:///forum/post/3231237
I spent 18 years in a home with a loaded 357 within reach. I never shot myself in the leg. Neither did my mom, my brothers or my sisters. Nor did any of the friends that came over to play at my house. I cannot recall any of us kids ever messing with dad's guns.
Accident's do happen, but it's a case of what the individual feels comfortable with. If you feel that your kids are too irresponsible to have a loaded weapon in the home, then by all means lock them up. If the airman's son was already handling the weapon, it was only a matter of time before he pointed it at something and squeezed the trigger. He merely sped up the process of discharging the firearm by dropping it. A weapon with a round in the chamber vs. a loaded weapon without a live round in the tube is not the issue. The issue was the kid playing with the gun. The airman may have failed to teach his son that the purpose of the gun was to kill. If you touch it, be prepared to kill something. Even when plinking and target shooting, we are killing the target. You said his boy "got hold" of the gun. It sounds like dad had hidden it, making it mysterious and sought after by the child.
Hey Nick, How about a pic of your new safe?
Kids will be kids. Do you want me to look up the statistics of accidental and fatal shootings of kids who were playing with guns in their own homes? I hide my guns. I don't leave them sitting out in the open for the world to see. That's just an open invitation for a child with an imaginative mind. There's very few accidental shootings where a child or grown up intentionally plans to shoot themselves. You can lecture your kids on every gun safety issue known to man. You can warn them of what happens when you play with a gun. You can show them the devastation that can be caused by a gun round. Irresponsibility has nothing to do with it. It's called peer pressure. It's called curiousity. It called defiance. It's called ignorance. Pick one:
"Hey Joey, wanna see my Dad's gun? Now I'm not supposed to touch it, but we can look at it."
"Come on Timmy, I've never held a gun, let me hold it."
"No Joey, Dad says that's dangerous."
"What's the matter Timmy, you chicken? Bwack Bwack."
"OK Joey, but just hold it. Don't put your finger on the trigger."
"What's a 'trigger' Timmy, this?" BANG.
If the chamber was empty, all that would've happened was - CLICK.
Get my point?
