and then people complain about gun control laws...
The gun control laws worked.
The kid never bought a firearm.
You mean people control laws did not work, as these parents were, obviously, able to decide what their child had access to within the house.
Clearly, this was in error. A police officer needs to be assigned to every home to prevent poor parenting practices.
Who the hell gives a five year old a rifle as a present?
My dad bought one for me when I was born.
I was never allowed to handle it without him around (until I was out of highschool) and he taught me proper handling of a weapon.
People should be more careful with where they store their guns.
Sigh...... Gun related accidents like this are getting very common here in the US!
I hope there is a stricter law to prevent negligence like this.
... What law could one possibly write that would prevent someone from doing something stupid?
Common sense should say that you shouldn't drive while intoxicated, right? ... Pretty stupid to take the $30,000, 1500 pound rolling death machine out for a drive when you can't walk five feet without stumbling, right?
So, why do we need to have a law against it?
.... Or, perhaps the more relevant question is "How many drunk drivers do those laws prevent?" Not a one. If a person doesn't care about the investment made into their vehicle or have respect for the land-borne cruise missile they sit behind... why the hell are they going to respect a piece of paper enforced by someone in a uniform?
Laws exist to penalize behavior, not prevent it. Short of lining people up in the street and executing them for their behavior, you're not going to see laws serve as much of a prevention. Even then - you'll only see a brief correction until people find the holes in your ability to enforce those laws, and you're back to square one.
What kind of dumb*ss gets a five year old a rifle as a present? What were they planning to get him next year, dynamite?
Is there even a law against children handling firearms? I doubt it. This country is messed up.
What is wrong with a child handling a firearm?
If you have firearms in your home (even locked up), you should always take the opportunity to reinforce proper handling and safety with a firearm. When they are physically able (especially if they show an interest) - you should allow them to handle and become familiar with a firearm under proper supervision. When they show themselves to have a solid understanding of proper handling and safety, you can take them out to really use a firearm in a controlled setting and environment.
Allow them to gain an appreciation for what the firearm actually does. Take them hunting for small game and let them see how that little .22 will pop a squirrel's head like a grape. They need to see and understand that there are consequences for using that weapon. It's not like a video game where you put a rocket launcher into someone's chest, then scamper off to another corner of the mysterious box-world before they pop back up and do the same to you.
It's never too early to introduce a child to firearm safety. It is, however, possible to be too late.
The same thing can be said about cars.
About scissors. Knives.
Or how many parents turn their ten year old loose with an automatic foot remover (also known as a lawnmower)?
Or give their kids a pair of hedge-trimming shears (scissors as long as your forearm designed to cut through bone-like wood about the size of fingers) and tell them to do their chores?
Hell... parents, these days, allow their kids onto computers (or, themselves, are allowed onto computers and should be beaten mercilessly for even thinking of touching a computer) where they pick up malware and viruses that hijack their computer so that it can participate in network-wide attacks on banks and government systems.
I'd argue that "computer control" is a far greater concern than "gun control" or "health insurance" - because stupid people allow themselves to be compromised in a way that allows malicious individuals to steal from us and disrupt critical services.
Now - I'm not at all for the government getting involved in the internet - but the fact remains that stupid people behave irresponsibly and **** things up for the rest of us. Rather than trying to write laws to save stupid people from themselves - we should simply encourage them to self-terminate or... where possible... give them assistance in terminating themselves. That way, they're only a problem once or twice, rather than a recurring problem that serves as the poster-child for every major legislative impetus.
