Damn, who needs that much resentment on a Sunday Morning, Bitty McBitterson?

Guns don't kill people.. kids kill people.

Timmy: From my cold, dead hands.

Billy: If you say so...

I'm glad I read this all the way to the end, where I found this little gem:

A 3-year-old boy was examining his testicles while taking a bath.

"Mommy," he asked, "are these my brains?"

"Not yet," she replied.

Guns don't kill people. Swimming pools kill people.

Think I'll go to the range this afternoon.

Guns don't kill people, I kill people. Bare handed, the way FSM intended it.

Guns don't kill people. People kill people. Guns just make it easier and more efficient, and opens up the world of killing to more people.

Here we go again...

Sad but true. Many gun owners still don't practice proper protection of their children from guns, and vise versa.

Lock your shiat up, store ammo in a separate lock box. Until you feel your child is old enough to be taught how to handle a gun, it should be explicitly forbidden (giving a 6 y.o. a hunting rifle is right out.)

"But I won't have time to get thru 3 locks and load the gun when a burglar breaks in!"

You're asking for tragedy and get no sympathy from me. All I ask for gun control is keep them safe from kids, trigger lock and/or gun safe and the keys NEVER in their grasp when unsupervised, EVER. They're your guns, not the kid's. A kid should not OWN a gun until he's old enough to get one for himself and has been taught the proper care and safety of guns with years of supervised experience.

There should be a basic gun care and safety test before someone is legally allowed to purchase their first gun.

Doesn't surprise me anymore. People are apathetic and lazy, including gun owners.

Additional delusion: people believe that the police are going to protect them from the bad guys.

Police don't protect citizens. They try to catch the bad guys and arrest them *after* they've done something bad.

did any of you RTFA?

Great troll job there subby.

This is an article about Barack Obama and health care.

This is the ONLY sentence referencing guns.

I believe in the right to bear arms, and by arms, I mean long guns.

Check out some of the research in pediatrics journals about how many parents actually teach their kids about guns. And about how many children--even those whose parents teach them about gun safety--still will find a gun and point it at their friend.

This article is terrifying. Every parent with a gun should have to be beaten over the head with it.

"More than 90% of the boys who handled the gun or pulled the trigger reported that they had previously received some sort of gun safety instruction."

submitter: "This is a nation built on self-delusion, where millions 'protect' their homes with arsenals of handguns and then seem genuinely surprised each and every time Billy shoots Timmy"

I'm not surprised when Billy shoots Timmy.

Generally, those shootings involve kids who were never familiarized with weapons and instructed as to the proper care and handling of weapons.

These are the kids who were raised in the, "Guns are dangerous for you, so don't touch." environment.

inTheJungle: Every parent with a gun should have to be beaten over the head with it.

I have 3 handguns, 5 rifles (not counting the collectables) and 3 shotguns in my home. My boys have grown up with them easily accessible. Why then haven't they shot themselves or us?

They're slow learners?

I was taught how to shoot at an early age, by my dad and my uncles.

I was allowed to shoot my BB gun by myself, and I had to be under adult supervision to shoot rifles or pistols.

My dad always told me that I could see any of his weapons whenever I wanted, so long as I asked him to get them and he was there.

I never once had the urge to get his .44 out of its box.

How the children behave around weapons is due, primarily, to the way they were raised.

inTheJungle: "More than 90% of the boys who handled the gun or pulled the trigger reported that they had previously received some sort of gun safety instruction."

I'd be very curious to see how the question was posed to the kids, and to see exactly what gun safety and gun training they'd received.

Must be.

Dancin_in_Anson
I have 3 handguns, 5 rifles (not counting the collectables) and 3 shotguns in my home. My boys have grown up with them easily accessible. Why then haven't they shot themselves or us?

There's a couple possibilities.

1. You actually are a good parent, unlike those 90% of kids whose parents apparently didn't do a good job.
2. You're lucky.
3. Your kids are abnormally mature and smart.

I'm not telling you to get rid of your guns. But you cannot deny the facts that so many kids, despite "good training," just plain old behave like kids.

SchlingFo
I'd be very curious to see how the question was posed to the kids, and to see exactly what gun safety and gun training they'd received.

My father in law subscribes to the journal, and I read it over Christmas. Most of those kids had been through the NRA's Eddie Eagle GunSafe program. You know, the one that tells kids to

STOP!
Don't Touch.
Leave the Area.
Tell an Adult.

Turns out, most kids, regardless of training

STOP!
Pick it up.
Pull the trigger.

The rest of the kids had parents who did some sort of gun safety lessons on their own.

The point of the article is that parents, by and large, think that they've taught their kids well. And they haven't.

A question, D_I_A. Given the research that shows that most kids who get gun safety training still behave like idiots when they find a gun, what does this make you think? You're a good parent, sure. But what about everyone else? Do you just trust everyone else's kids to have parents that are as good as you?

if you're playing the odds, yah...most parents can't teach their kids to be responsible with a video game console, much less a weapon.

that said, some parents do teach their kids to be responsible with a weapon.

that doesn't mean that kids will always be as responsible as you teach them to be - they are kids, after all.

ya remember 'trust but verify'? with the guns + kids mixture, i go with 'teach but restrict'. i've had my 9 year old nephew out shooting numerous times, and i think the responsibility of what is in his hands has sunk in.....but because he and his little sister are often over at my house, if a weapon isn't physically on my person, it's locked.

i trust him to be responsible, but i also expect there are fair to middlin' odds that as a kid...he's capable of doing something stupid. remove temptation, it aint that hard.

I never had any thorough training, but was around them at various relatives house. My instinct was to just avoid them as nothing good could come from me messing with them. I just never had the urge.

coyote1284: "But I won't have time to get thru 3 locks and load the gun when a burglar breaks in!"

OK, so if, after taking all your precautions, that statement proves true... why did you need the guns in the first place? The amount of people that actually hunt with their guns is so small as to be irrelevant to statistics. If you're going to go to such great lengths to secure the ammo and guns in separate locked compartments then they become useless for home protection and thus, we might as well ban guns. Personal protection is the only valid reason for owning a gun anymore.

teaching a child the importance of storing firearms securely is as important as teaching safe and proper handling techniques.

inTheJungle: A question, D_I_A. Given the research that shows that most kids who get gun safety training still behave like idiots when they find a gun, what does this make you think?

Like was asked earlier...What do they consider "training"? A couple of hours in a classroom telling kids "don't touch" then hiding that which they find so fascinating?

Or showing them how a firearm functions, showing them how to tear one down and put it back together then taking them to the range and letting them shoot till they're tired?

It's the same way with driving. You just don't tell them to stop at the red sign toss them the keys do you?

And The Boys have been driving since they were about 12.

Dancin_In_Anson: I have 3 handguns, 5 rifles (not counting the collectables) and 3 shotguns in my home. My boys have grown up with them easily accessible. Why then haven't they shot themselves or us?

Well, if they grew up with them easily accessible, that would rule out you being a good parent. I guess that leaves luck.

And The Boys have been driving since they were about 12.

But can they putt?

Dancin_In_Anson: Why then haven't they shot themselves or us?

Lionel Mandrake: Well, if they grew up with them easily accessible, that would rule out you being a good parent. I guess that leaves luck

why is it that folks think you can't raise a kid that understands and minds what their parent tells them?

Dancin_In_Anson
Like was asked earlier...What do they consider "training"? A couple of hours in a classroom telling kids "don't touch" then hiding that which they find so fascinating?

You're missing the point.

Here's the point. The overwhelming majority of parents think that they are training their children about guns, but aren't. You are not one of them, you apparently have a good head on your shoulders.

But when you think about other parents, parents who don't teach their children well, but think that they do. Given the results of the research that I cited, what does that make you think?

/remember...if your kid is smart with guns, he can still be shot by his idiot friends

snuffy
why is it that folks think you can't raise a kid that understands and minds what their parent tells them?

Because we were children once too?

capecodcarl: OK, so if, after taking all your precautions, that statement proves true... why did you need the guns in the first place?

i do hunt, but in as so far as 'home protection' - again, if you're playing the odds, i don't even know what they'd be.

even if it was '99% chance of burglar raping my ear hole while i fumble with lock' vs '.01% kid i love blowing himself up'...it still isn't much of a contest.

inTheJungle: Given the results of the research that I cited, what does that make you think?

Darwin at work.

Dancin_In_Anson: Darwin at work.

if the gun only pointed at the dumb person, that might be a valid answer.

Lionel Mandrake: Well, if they grew up with them easily accessible, that would rule out you being a good parent. I guess that leaves luck.

How so?

Cosmic_Music: But can they putt?

heh! They hate golf.

Dancin_In_Anson
Darwin at work.

You, seriously, are a loon. You'd be fine sending your kids to someone's house if their parents had only taught their kids half-assed gun safety?

Good thing guns only point towards dumb people, not their friends.

inTheJungle: You'd be fine sending your kids to someone's house if their parents had only taught their kids half-assed gun safety?

Sure. My kids are very proficient with firearms. I would put their knowledge of how they function and the safety nazi in them to know how to properly handle most situations involving firearms.

inTheJungle: Because we were children once too?

maybe some of us are not as thick headed as others.

Dancin_in_Anson
Sure. My kids are very proficient with firearms. I would put their knowledge of how they function and the safety nazi in them to know how to properly handle most situations involving firearms.

I'm sure your kids are very smart with firearms. What do they do when a friend opens a cabinet while looking for some porn in their dad's dresser, finds a handgun, points it at them and shoots?

This is what is frightening. Not your own children. Children I don't know.

snuffy
maybe some of us are not as thick headed as others.

Ooh, good one. You never once disobeyed your parents. Did you also fly to the moon with your magical wings? Do tell.

inTheJungle: What do they do when a friend opens a cabinet while looking for some porn in their dad's dresser, finds a handgun, points it at them and shoots?

Possibly the same thing that could happen to them if they are involved in a no fault of their own automobile accident...Which I as a parent have less control over.

Dancin_In_Anson
Possibly the same thing that could happen to them if they are involved in a no fault of their own automobile accident...Which I as a parent have less control over.

Sure it can. To say, then, that you don't care about other drivers seems to be the wrong conclusion to draw from the situation.

inTheJungle: To say, then, that you don't care about other drivers seems to be the wrong conclusion to draw from the situation.

I worry more about my Boys getting hurt in an MVA than I do from a firearms accident.

Dancin_In_Anson
I worry more about my Boys getting hurt in an MVA than I do from a firearms accident.

Yet the seriousness of the injury is likely to be far worse with a firearms accident.

You're avoiding the question. You just don't care about the piss-poor state of child gun safety instruction in the US, since your children are educated correctly?

inTheJungle: You just don't care about the piss-poor state of child gun safety instruction in the US, since your children are educated correctly?

I think firearms use should be taught in school.

Read Culture of Fear and you will realze how farking stupid this "kids are violent" whining is.

Dancin_In_Anson: I think firearms use should be taught in school.

first thought...not a bad idea.


then i remembered that in 12 years of school, i had 3 good teachers.

Dancin_In_Anson
I think firearms use should be taught in school.

So in other words, yes, you are concerned about gun safety in America, despite the fact that you're a smart gun user.

The weight of your concern should be gauged by the fact that 90% of the children in the study I cited had received "gun safety training."