C'mon Now...

First off, let me agree that guns are dangerous and shouldn't be left around loaded. I am all for gun safety. It's very important that if you plan on having firearms in the home that the kids are educated on them and that they are stored properly.

I just read THIS article and I am just floored. Yes, it's tragic that a kid got hurt. No one wants to see that. However, this was not a 5 year old that didn't know any better. This kid was TWELVE.

Now I have two boys in that age group so I feel somewhat qualified to talk on the capabilities and reasoning of said age group. Even if they stumbled across a loaded gun, decided to pick it up and then decided to be really stupid and try to shoot said gun, they are smart enough NOT TO POINT IT AT THEIR HEAD FIRST. Really, by the time they are say 10ish.. if you have not imparted the knowledge to your child that you never want to have a gun pointed at your head if you are going to pull the trigger to see if it's loaded or not, then you have failed as a parent.

It's a common sense thing. Much like not slicing your jugular with that kitchen knife to test and see if its sharp. Or sticking your hand in the garbage disposal to see if the blades are spinning or not. Or sitting bare-assed on the stove to see if the burners are working. It's people like this that force companies to put warning labels on things like "Do not attempt to stop chainsaw with genitals". (Yes, that is an actual warning label for Husquvarna chainsaws)

You know those darwin awards.. it's like chlorine for the gene pool. Yes, the parents should have had better control of a loaded firearm. But a 12 year old should be smart enough to NOT shoot himself in the head even if he did find a loaded gun. I have never taught my kids specifically about grenades, but I am confident that if they found one, they are not going to pull the pin and hold on to it just to see what happens. It's common sense.

See.. you can learn things from violent action movies and video games. My guess is that 12 year old had an overbearing mother that wouldn't let him do anything. Wouldn't let him watch anything with guns or violence. Wouldn't let him play any video games. Pretending the big scary world isn't out there doesn't help prepare them to deal with it, which they are going to have to do eventually.

The boy in the story is in stable condition now. If he survives, I hope he has learned something from the experience. Like Gun+Head=Bad.