5-Year-Old Looking for Candy Finds Gun, With Tragic Results

[Rubiks]

Not necessarily. Just the other day someone brought out a plastic black gun that shoots little steel BBs. At first glance it looks real and alot of people were upset that it was in the house. You don't know if it's real or not at first glance. Some even shoot water, which seems harmless but the idea is still there that it's OK to point and shoot at someone.

Here in the US toy guns are required to have an orange tip.

 

[iluvatar5150]

That's odd - my wife and I managed to raise two curious boys while carrying guns, without any "close calls" or accidents.

You sure? I used to fiddle around with my dad's guns all the time when I was home alone. They still don't know. I never fired one in the house/yard, but I did used to shoot at birds and squirrels with the bb gun in the yard frequently. They never found those carcasses, either.

 

[Darkhorse]

You sound like me (as a youth)...

My kids would have a hard time getting my gun out of my pocket (where I carry it) without me knowing.

When my clothes are off, they're in my bedroom - which has a key-locking knob to keep curious kids - and adults - out.

Of course, now they're in their 20s and can buy and carry their own guns. They haven't so far.

 

[dgiharris]

Not at all. At age 5 I knew that I would get a spanking if I touched them. In my day we didn't get time outs or none of that silly nonsense. We got our tails busted and we learned obedience from it. That is what is wrong today, People don't know how to raise children anymore, That is why we all these lazy people in the world refuse to do anything because they had everything handed to them in life.
Let me tell you I knew what guns were for and what they do, because I was taught. Dad and grampa and everyone carried guns on our farm and shot snakes and coyotes and "whatever" else and I was right there in the middle of them learning. They took the time to teach me things and a gun is simply a tool. A tool that killed things so I knew not to touch the tools. People are harming their children greatly by NOT teaching them about real life, Parents would rather sit them in front of a tv or give them a phone to play games on for a babysitter! This is why kids are so messed up today. They live in animation with no real world experience.

I get where you are coming from, I do. When I was a kid I had the fear of god of my parents and rarely disobeyed them.

but...

part of being a kid is having temporary bouts of stupidity or extreme curiosity... All I am saying is that if you are looking at the whole of America and all the kids out there, it is not a good argument to say "Oh, five year olds know better".

That is all I'm saying. There is a reason why kids are treated as kids... because they are still learning and prone to making all manner of mistakes. If I had a nickel for every time as a kid i did something dumb just because someone double dog dared me or I had a "mistaken" understanding of some physics or magic or "whatever"... I'd have a lot of nickels

 

[dgiharris]

Extreme hypothetical is not a bases for a ban. Otherwise you might as well banning other things like private pools, because "Hey, parents can be forget full and stupid at times yo!"

The point of my post wasn't to show a situation and use said situation as a basis of a ban.

The point of my post was to introduce some realism in regards to the danger of owning a gun in a house full of children.

All it takes is "one" mistake. That is the point of my post. A lot of gun enthusiasts wrongfully believe that the risk of anything bad happening in their house with their gun is 0%. Not 5%, not 1% not even 1/10 of 1%. No. There are a lot of people who mistakenly believe that they are 100% safe with their gun in their house.

They believe that their kids would "never" play with that gun when they are away simply because they told and taught their kids all about guns.

I'm, just amazed at the selective amnesia we adults seem to have in regards to our childhoods. Apparently, I'm the only person who did stupid things when I was a kid.

FWIW, I was a straight A student as a kid, very smart, very respectful, yada yada yada but about once every six months I would do something ridiculously stupid/dangerous. Part of it was learning, part of it was just being caught up in the madness or excitement of something novel... whatever...

sigh, I will stop this line of argument. Apparently, I was the only kid that on rare occasion did something stupid.