Re: Message to Parents this Christmas Eve
No kidding. Some of my first memories growing up were of being taught safe gun handling, starting with: treat EVERY gun like it's loaded, and NEVER point a gun at another person. We always had unlocked, loaded guns around, but the message was clear: they were weapons and tools, not toys, and I was not to handle them in any circumstance, unless my parents were around.
My dad even had a rather interesting demonstration. I missed out on it, but my older siblings remember it vividly... He took an orange that was over-ripe, and roughly the feel of human flesh. All the kids felt it and agreed it felt alot like flesh. He then set it down, stood back, and shot it. It pretty much disintegrated, bringing the point home pretty effectively that if you play with a gun, that could happen to you or your friend. Lesson learned.
Point is: Teach kids gun safety, and even if you don't have guns, they should at least be aware of the rules, in case they come across one. Also, teach by example and practice safe gun handling yourself, don't go waving them around, pointing them at other people, showing them off as if they're some cool gadget, and DON'T be one of those dumbasses that somehow manage to shoot themselves while cleaning their gun (I mean really, why would you even start to clean a gun without making sure it's unloaded first?). And yes, if you have other kids over, make sure their parents know you have guns. At the very least you can make sure they know about gun safety, or see to it that they learn, or give the parent the opportunity to pass on the visit if they're still uncomfortable.
It really is tragic when something like this happens, and it's especially tragic that so often it would be so easily avoided by some simple education. I'm not saying that's definitely the case here, since I don't know all the details and have no intention of pointing the finger at any one party in this situation. Just saying that in general, proper education can make a big difference.
