No need to worry!!!

It was not on purpose, and the friend is at the hospital, but not deceased.

"Just after 11:30 a.m. Saturday, an urgent 911 call came from 2720 Stockton Dr.: A 5-year-old boy had been shot in the head.
Police said the boy's 8-year-old friend found a 22-caliber rifle in a room where they were playing. The older boy pointed the gun at his younger friend and accidentally shot him. The 5-year-old's grandparents and a 16-year-old relative were also in the home. Police said the boy's parents also live at the same residence but were at work at the time of the shooting."

The parents of the 5 year-old child do not seem to have intentions in pressing charges... But should they?
Some say the shooting was an "opportunity" for parents to talk to their children about gun safety, but is this not too another reason why guns in the home should not be so easily accessible, especially with children around?

Can this also be another incident that can be used in support for strengthening gun regulations?

Denton Police spokesman Orlando Hinojosa says, "You know education is very very important especially with firearms. If parents do own firearms you must educate your children that they are not toys."

But I don't think it's all that simple. What are your opinions?

by CARLA WADE
Posted on May 13, 2013 at 6:27 AM
http://www.kens5.com/news/5-year-old-boy-hospitalized-after-being-accidentally-shot-in-the-head-in-Denton-207166981.html

Incidents of this kind of nature are getting worringly common within America. I am a strong supporter of tightening gun laws and events like this are exactly why I place my faith so extremely. At least keep them out of the reach of your kids for gods sake, how irresponsible can you be? And the fact that the children were lax enough about guns that they felt comfortable aiming it at each others heads is just another nail in the coffin. Measures need to be taken to deal with this kind of thing and placing armed guards out the front of every school is not the way to go for gun safety.

The parents of the 8-year old are idiots. You don't keep your guns loaded if you have kids in the house; that's common sense. And if you are going to leave your guns out where kids can get to them, you need to teach them the MOST IMPORTANT RULE OF FIREARM SAFETY: Always treat a firearm as if it is loaded.

You should have shot Shizu-chan in the head and stomach.

>>4 You're an eyesore and worthless to the community with your half-ass, third-rate, and entirely unwanted, pathetic role-play. Fuck. Off.

As a supporter of stricter gun laws as well, I think this is a perfect example! Guns are weapons, despite whatever safety they may bring. If you are going to keep a gun in a house with children, at least learn to keep it in an unreachable place most likely unloaded. And until you can completely trust a responsible child to be home alone and use that gun for safety purposes ONLY, then do you have the right to allow a child to hold a gun. And when I say child, I mean a child between ages 15+. And even that is hard to do. Parents need to teach children about weapon safety, no, in fact, the SCHOOLS and COMMUNITIES need to spend more time on this.

I learned that picking up a gun, loaded or not, is bad. What happened to when they taught children these important things?

It's the owner of the gun's fault for not placing it in the right place that's inaccessible to children...

It shouldn't have been loaded in the first place.

>>9
So then if they need to use it, they won't be able to cause it's not loaded.

It needed to be put in a place a child can't get to. Not "Keep it unloaded" because if they were to have a home invasion, they would be totally and royally fucked.

>>11 I think that you should keep a gun unloaded, with the bullets nearby so it's faster. It is much safer than a loaded gun, but yeah, I can understand what you mean there.

Doesn't take away from the fact that parents, schools, and communities need to teach more about gun safety, though.

>>11 I am not American and have never been there but you made it sound like it is really dangerous there, like anyone can get killed just for crossing his garden to check the letterbox. Is it really? Because everyone has gun so anyone can use it to shoot you so you buy gun too and it becomes an infinite cycle or a paradox with no way out.

>>11 Thiamor, have you ever taken a firearm safety course AT ALL? You are told to ALWAYS keep a gun unloaded unless you plan to shoot it at that given point and time. The reason for this is because guns go off more easily than you think. There was a story in the news rather recently about a woman who's purse dropped, had a loaded handgun in it, and went off, injuring her friend (I believe SourceFed was the one who covered the story).

Point is, keeping a gun loaded in storage with bullets in the chamber is STUPID AND DEADLY. If you do this, you are a terrible user and shouldn't be trusted with a firearm in the first place.

if one keeps a gun for self defence in the home its rather stupid to have it unloaded and seperate from the gun, it kinda defeats the purpose. so no, those who decide to keep it loaded are not terrible users, they just may have diffrent reasons for keeping one. if one has kids around then its up to them to decide if the gun should simply be hidden or placed in a lock box close to the users bed or where ever els they see fit for quick access. sure if one is going to simply keep a gun for target practice, or hunting it makes sence to keep them seperated but otherwise again, its not very smart. as for using this to further the need for gun laws, heck no, thers far to many of those as it is. in fact wehats needed is less gun laws, not more. The old saying that guns dont kill people, people do has been thrown around alot, but its true non the less. In the end its up to the parents/adults to decide whats best for better or for worse. regulations should not impede upon peoples freedom or substitute for proper judgment.

>>15 "Guns dont kill people, people do"
Well it would help to not give those people fucking guns then.

There parents should have been more responsible in storing the gun in a locked cabinet.

>>15 The point of having a loaded gun lying around is so you can pick it up at a moment's notice should anything happen. If you lock it up, it beats the purpose. May as well leave it unloaded.

>>15 >>18 Both of you are idiots.

>>15 A loaded gun can go off if it is so much as dropped against the ground. If the firing pin hits the primer, someone's getting shot. It's fine to keep bullets in the magazine for easy access but keep the actual chamber empty.

>>18 It takes thirty seconds to crack open a safe and grab your gun. There's no reason you can't keep your bullets in the magazine, load and fire. It's not rocket science.

>>19 While possible, the force of a firearm hitting the ground, thus causing it to fire is INCREDIBLY unlikely. It has to contact the ground at an almost exact angle, and with a certain amount of force.

>>18>>15 By all means, keep your guns and ammo close, but you NEVER store a gun loaded.

>>20>>19 It may take thirty seconds to open a safe, but maybe another five to load the weapon, not including the time it took you to recognize the threat and run to the safe. All the while the threat may be already next to you with a loaded weapon to your chest. Milliseconds count in situations like that, I used to competitively target shoot, even the speed of my pistol added on to the clock. And let me tell you, target shooting and combat shooting, are two very different species. During combat shooting, the average un-conditioned person will miss about 30-60% of their shots and take 20-45% longer to hit their target.

When you have a loaded weapon in your house and you have a child, you ingrain into their head to never touch a weapon unless given permission and when you do, always unload the weapon first. And if that's impossible for the child, then always carry a weapon on you and hide other weapons.

>>21 It's just a slippery slope because kids are prone to misbehaving. Even if you keep a gun stored next to your bed, it'll be much safer to keep bullets in the magazine. And of course, being conditioned with the weapon is vital, as you yourself said.

As for your other point, I do like CCWs, as it somewhat demonstrates your ability to handle a firearm properly. Plus a properly holstered weapon is far less likely to go off as it is.