A Child Has Died - Part II - Should We Prosecute Gun Crimes?

Some time ago a friend told us a story of an event where she worked. One "mean widdle kid" began repeatedly to swing on a door. She said several times in a loud voice, "Don't do that, Sweetie, you'll get hurt." The mother didn't even look up. Finally she said, "Don't do that, Kiddo. That door is new; your mother will have to pay for any damages." What do you think happened then? Yes, the mother made the child sit down and behave. Sad, isn't it?

A regular reader didn't like our bringing up older child deaths. We used no names; we merely wished to point out how easy it is for a child to die if a parent or guardian ignores basic safety rules. We also wished to point out how the law is applied differently to parents than it is to others who may be in temporary charge of a child. What lesson does that present to the general public?

We'll look at only one gun crime today - the shooting death of the 10 year old Loretto girl. First, some thoughts.

Yes, we own a hand gun which we keep in our bedroom. It's loaded and stored in an unlocked drawer. That is fine for us since no children live in our home. The gun was a gift from a friend and he stressed the importance of making sure there was no round in the chamber when handling the gun. If he hadn't told us about this aspect of gun ownership, countless movies would have...or any gun safety course.

Yet we have a father, apparently an "experienced" gun owner, who doesn't check this when he places an "unloaded gun" in an unsecured location in his vehicle. He's also said to have instructed both his children in gun safety, but hasn't told them not to point the weapon at each other? Now his daughter is dead.

Let's all double check any firearms we think are unloaded, shall we? Better yet, let's keep them locked if children are present. How hard is that?