Children with Loaded Guns in their Rooms

"You must spread some karma before telling Clay he's the awesome for that commentary"

Just because there was a laoded rifle in his room AFTER he just got done shooting his mother doesn't mean it was kept in there as a matter of course.

If the rifle was kept elsewhere, or unloaded, what makes you think he could not have gone to get ammo and loaded it and shot his mother? A loaded gun in his room is no more dangerous than any gun and ammo available to him. If the kid was taught proper gun safety, the the rifle is just as safe anywhere in the house.

Guns being stored in the parent's room are still used in accidental shootings by untaught kids. Kitchen knives or baseball bats are used by disturbed/spoiled/whatever kids to murder their parents or others, even when they aren't kept in the kid's room.

Guns are not intelligent creatures, whispering evil thoughts into someone's head to use them for ill. They are a tool, and as a tool can be good bad or indifferent.

I grew up in a bad family. I also had access to loaded guns, knives and other possible weapons from my earliest memories. I never fired a gun accidentally, nor did I murder a parent(or attempt to), nor did I ever use a weapon in a moment of childish anger against anyone. Don't blame the fact that a gun existed in the house and was used as some sort of lesson that any child with access to a weapon will use it for ill. The kid chose to use the rifle to kill his mother. Was it chemical organic issues in his brain? Poor training? A reaction to abuse? We don't know. But none of it means that the gun jumped up into his hands and fired of it's own free will.

"The guns were kept in the boy's bedroom, resting on a rack mounted to the wall"

Of course it's a parenting issue! It's a simple matter of safety. It's irresponsible for parents with young children in the home to keep loaded weapons accessible to their kids. I'll take it a step further and say that if parents do have guns in the home then ammunition should be locked away out of a child's reach.

American children are more at risk from firearms than the children of any other industrialized nation. In one year, firearms killed 0 children in Japan, 19 in Great Britain, 57 in Germany, 109 in France, 153 in Canada, and 5,285 in the United States. (Centers for Disease Control)

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=...q1AW_wk0Cp03Pw

And I have no doubt the stats will also tell you our country has more kids killed by their parents, or kids that kill their parents with other weapons/objects.

OBVIOUSLY there was some sort of parenting issue, because his wanted to kill his mother and acted on it! Gun or no gun!

The fact that the guns were kept in the room doesn't mean the parents habitally kept the gun loaded in his room either.

I'll maintain, all my guns are loaded(except my breakaction shotguns) and will continue to be kept loaded.

Originally Posted by KelliH

American children are more at risk from firearms than the children of any other industrialized nation. In one year, firearms killed 0 children in Japan, 19 in Great Britain, 57 in Germany, 109 in France, 153 in Canada, and 5,285 in the United States. (Centers for Disease Control)

Perhaps I'm not looking in the right place, but I can't find those statistics anywhere in the document you linked to.
Regardless, such abstract figures are unfortunately meaningless without further clarification.

First the comparison is between the US and 5 nations that either completely ban or have extreme restrictions on private ownership of guns. That sort of ruins the usefulness of the comparison, unless of course that was the point you wanted to convey.

Secondly, such statistics must be broken down further to have any real meaning at all. How many were accidents, how many were homicide, how many were suicide, how many were related to gang violence? These factors greatly affect the usefulness of the numbers.

For instance if that is a number that includes suicides by self inflicted gunshot, then that total should be deducted entirely. Child suicides in other countries would be skewed much higher toward other methods because of the lack of access to firearms, basically they'll commit suicide by other means. Not that there's much fewer deaths, just fewer deaths by firearm in that category.
Likewise gang violence will have a large effect on the total because of the far greater prevalence of gang activity in this country than in much of the rest of the world.

I'm just saying taking a number like that and trying to apply any useful meaning to it is like how the HSUS likes to say 95,000 children contract Salmonella each year when they are talking about reptile ownership. The number is accurate, but not in the context they are using it as it includes all sources, not just the ones resulting from contact with reptiles.

Hey I had a .22 when I was a kid. My dad just kept the ammo put up unless he was home and out there with me. In our house, when you can drive, you can shoot. We are taught well before that age the importance of safety. Just as a side note, I always would try to find that ammo when I got home from school, but never did, and I think my dad knew that.

Originally Posted by KelliH

Just for the record, I think any parent that allows a 10 year old to keep loaded guns in their bedrooms is an idiot.

No.... any parent that doesn't teach their kid is an idiot. I grew up with guns... Started off shooting dads and then he eventually got me my own. That is probably around the time I got my 410 shotgun.

The problem lies with our gov not allowing parents to disipline our kids anymore. If I screwed up... I got my butt busted. Now they try to put you in jail for that.

Originally Posted by KelliH

It's fine for a kid to own a .22, but for any parent to allow loaded guns in a young child's bedroom is asking for trouble. No matter how excellent one's parenting skills are, kids sometimes make poor decisions/mistakes.

Not really.... think about it. When we were growing up.... all we thought about was running away. We didn't think about shooting our parents. As Rich has said.... society has changed and I blame the gov for it.

Dad's belt was an attitude adjuster... and you didn't do the same thing that got you in trouble a second time. Now kids dare you to whoop em so they can call CPS.

Originally Posted by Focal X

"The guns were kept in the boy's bedroom, resting on a rack mounted to the wall"

AND?

I had the same rack on my wall with guns in it. I never though about killing my folks. Thought about running away a time or two.... but never murder.

Originally Posted by KelliH

Of course it's a parenting issue! It's a simple matter of safety. It's irresponsible for parents with young children in the home to keep loaded weapons accessible to their kids. I'll take it a step further and say that if parents do have guns in the home then ammunition should be locked away out of a child's reach.

An unloaded weapon is of absolutely no tacticle (sp?) use. What...are we supposed to say to an intruder.... hang on while I load my gun. Hang on while I unlock the gun safe.

I dont think so.

Growing up... I knew not to play with daddy's guns. If you did... you wouldn't sit down for a week. He taught me proper gun safety.... and it was a long time before he bought me my 22 (which I still have). That was after I demonstrated I could handle my 410 and mom's 20ga.... and demonstrated I thought about where the bullet was going... not just what I was shooting at.