For kids at a certain age, the whole point of sleepovers is watching R rated movies and eating junk food, knowing that one thing or the other is prohibited at many of the kids’ homes.
But somehow, I find it difficult to extrapolate this to guns. Do parents who own guns really leave them accessible to a bunch of middle school kids spending the night in the basement? There’s a big difference between a gun and a bag of tortilla chips.
Apparently they left them easily accessible enough for their own children to use.
I’m not questioning that, @roycroftmom. That seems to have happened in several major incidents. I’m questioning the idea that kids could easily get guns at neighbors’ houses, much the same way they could be exposed to more ordinary things that break the rules of their own households.
I truly don’t know whether this happens.
Anyone read the book by the Columbine shooter’s mom? Remarkably well done, but what most struck me was that upon first hearing of a school shooting, the mom was distraught with worry over her child’s safety, fearing he was injured or dying somewhere. The father, however, immediately called a criminal defense attorney the family had previously used for the boy. If one’s first thought upon hearing of a shooting is to call a lawyer, that is a huge parenting fail.
boy, oh boy, I sure agree w/ post 211!
People leave their guns exposed to their kids all the time, with tragic consequences. The number of child-related accidental shootings is surprisingly high.
Yes, that’s important, @anomander.
When I think of accidental shootings involving kids, I tend to think of little kids who don’t realize what they’re doing. But remembering what my kids and their friends (especially the boys) were like from around 10 to 15, it would have been just as risky for those kids to have access to guns. Even if your own kid has been taught gun safety, it doesn’t mean that his friends have or that any kid can be trusted with something so dangerous.
I’m learning a lot on this thread that I probably should have learned a long time ago.
Even those taught gun safety don’t always follow it. Our culture has a fascination with guns. We’re very much a gun culture society. I know quite a few people, usually males, who will admit to playing around with the guns in their house during their childhood even when told not to do so. Guns and ammo should be locked up securely.
In the few hours between the theft and the shootings, when they had no idea? I think not. That still doesn’t make the illegal possession and transportation of a handgun by a minor any less illegal, it’s still theft as well.
Agreed.
@Creekland I wish I could like your post a thousands time that one simple fact keeps getting overlooked. They act as if illegal guns come from a illegal gun factor like fake Prada bags. The only difference between a legal gun and illegal one is the point of sale.
I wish every mass shooting was handled this way. Until we remove the lure of mass murderers becoming famous/infamous we’ll continue to see these tragedies.
Maybe some of you have seen the news stories where they speak to a young mother who is certain that she has trained her children well to NEVER speak to strangers, much less go anywhere with them. They get an actor to talk to the children at a park, and most of them actually leave with him to “look at his puppy.” The mothers are, of course, always stunned.
Similar experiments have been done with kids schooled in gun safety, and many of the kids whose parents were CERTAIN they wouldn’t play with an unsecured gun do it anyway.
This is why education alone is insufficient. The guns MUST be locked up and keys or combinations completely inaccessible to kids.
There are no absolutes in this world, and history shows us that there are those who seek power will force their will upon others given the right conditions. Our republic is a tenuous one, you only have to look around the world to see oppressive governments everywhere. To think we couldn’t slide into an oppressive state is naïve.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
The conversation, despite numerous moderator notes, continues to trend very far off topic. I’ve deleted several posts and am now closing the thread.