11 year-old shoots and kills friend..

[boogalou]

I agree with Wayne D. Whether the parents are anti or pro gun, they have a responsibility to train their kids on the consequences of irresponsible gun handling. I received my first BB gun at the age of 6, and was hunting rabbits and squirrels with a .410 shotgun by the age of 11. I never treated guns like toys, and always used them as though they were loaded. This was drummed into me from a very early age.

 

[Viking6]

I grew up (10-12) around friends who had unsupervised access to 22s and 410 shotguns and we went out in the woods shooting. When I was in my teens, friends had access to Eagle carbines, 1911s and Walther P-38s and we shot them a lot. We were probably lucky no one ever got hurt. Having prefaced my experience with today, 100% parents of shooter in my opinion. Everyone else's stupidity, lack of training, etc. would have been moot if they had properly secured the weapon. Still sad for all involved. Let's all ensure that we don't make the same mistake.

 

[cracked butt]

Geez, long before I was 11 years old, I knew the relationship between what a gun does when fired and the things in the way of the bullets path. At that age, a child should have a strong sense of reasoning and a good foundation of what is right and wrong.

Locking up the guns? The guns in my household were not locked up, I knew where the ammo was, and knew how to shoot most of them by that age. I was never tempted to take the guns out and shoot them without permission, nor was I tempted to play with them, let alone point them at anyone.

Either the parents failed miserably at teaching the child what guns do, were not very big on disciplining the child, or the kid was incredibly stupid. In the first two, I would put the blame on the parents, on the third, I would blame the 11 year old.