AST (After Sean Taylor)-To gun or not to gun?

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by mheisig

If the kid is properly trained, neither.

The whole kids and firearms argument, to me, is about as weak as it gets. It sure hits the old heart strings when you bring up the kids, but it's not really grounded in much.

When I was about 5 years old, my father took me aside, pulled out his old .22 Colt Woodsman, unloaded it and let me hold it. He told me where he kept it, why he kept it and explained how it worked. He then told me that if I ever wanted to hold it or see it to just ask him, any time of the night or day, and he'd do it with me. At the age of about 8 he took me to the range and taught me to shoot, and also fire three rounds while neither of us had ear protection on, so that I would know what a live fired weapon sounds like. I never snuck into his room to handle a gun, because all I had to do was ask.

Basically the firearm wasn't shrouded in secrecy, locked up, put away and never talked about. That amount of shady secrecy is going to guarantee that a kid will go looking for it.

Yes, untrained, unparented kids find guns and do stupid stuff. They can also grab the car keys and go drive down the road, or drink a bottle of Draino, or stab themselves in the eye with a knife, but I don't hear anyone arguing that nobody should have cars, knives or Draino.

There are some decent arguments against everyone having guns, but "the children" is not one of them.

But you're assuming the child is properly trained. You can't assume that all parents are going to be responsible about guns and train their kids like you were trained. It's up to the parents, and if the parents are irresponsible, like so many are, the poor kid is subjected to a situation over which he has no control.

It's not like a 7 year old is going to go out and seek training. If his dad isn't as good a parent as your father was to you, he's up a creek. When it comes to adults accidentally killing themselves because they have no training, I have little sympathy, because you reap what you sow. But a 7 year old? He's the victim of poor parenting, and you can't dismiss that with the old 'you reap what you sow' argument. The children need to be protected from their own parents at times.

I don't know how you do that effectively, mind you. But I definitely disagree that kids aren't a valid argument against owning a gun. In your situation, I'll agree. But not for most.

I still maintain that moving away from crime to safer neighborhoods is the most effective way to provide a safe life for you and your family.