Safe Storage Tragedy- Father Charged

[Craig_AR]

On Independence Day 2024 a six year old shot his four year old sister with a gun left on a night stand. The father has now been charged with multiple counts. Here is the news 10/2/24 news story:

Father of 4-year-old girl fatally shot by brother, 6, formally charged with reckless manslaughter​

This occurred in an upper middle class residential neighborhood a few miles from my home.
I am posting this for several reasons.
- The whole family needs our prayers.
- As a reminder of why anti-2A folks clamor for safe storage laws.
- To point out that we have plenty of laws already to deal with the aftermath, and do not need new safe storage laws that will prevent nothing, but simply add burdens on the general population.
- To point out that we do, indeed, agree with the anti-2A folks that safe responsible storage of firearms is essential, we just disagree on the need to add new laws as if such laws would prevent these events.
- To suggest we look for opportunities to partner with the anti crowd on public awareness on the need for and ways to implement safe storage.
- To give THR members a chance to suggest effective practices and tools to use in various situations, e.g. locks, safes, home, travel, hotels, etc.
- To remind everyone of the value of training kids early on about firearms, even if none are in the home, with tools like ther NRA Eddie Eagle program.

 

[buck460XVR]

Good points. From my perspective of 70+ years of age, safe storage of firearms has always been an issue. Siblings have been shooting each other because of loaded firearms left lying around for as long as I remember. Only recently, have those responsible for carelssly leaving those loaded guns lying around where young children have easy access to them, have been held accountable.....and for good reason. Along with safe storage, children from an early age must be taught to respect firearms, that they are not toys, and to realize the damage they can do. Careless storage of firearms not only leads to accidental shootings, but suicides and in recent years, the taking of those guns to school and the shooting fellow students. While we may not need to enact more safe storage laws, we do need to enforce those that are there and to inform the public that they exist....and the consequences for not following them.

 

[stonebuster]

Heartbreaking story on many levels. The father's biggest punishment will be knowing he caused his daughter's death and trauma to his son.

 

[hps1]

- To remind everyone of the value of training kids early on about firearms, even if none are in the home, with tools like the NRA Eddie Eagle program.

Eddie Eagle is an excellent program. Our Friends of NRA committee provided the program annually to local schools through grants to the program and partnering with the school district police department. By last count, 27,000 students had received this training.

Check with your schools and see if they are taking advantage of the training aids offered by NRA and support this worthy program.

 

[Hookeye]

Teaching safety should help, but its no guarantee IMHO.

Too many believe kids think like adults.

Teach em, but dont trust em.

 

[hps1]

Nothing is 100%, especially when dealing with kids.

 

[Hookeye]

Some people have guns. Some people have kids.
Some should have neither.
Always been that way.

 

[wayneinFL]

Heartbreaking story on many levels. The father's biggest punishment will be knowing he caused his daughter's death and trauma to his son.

Yeah, there's a lot of talk about accountability or punishment, but I can't imagine any punishment the government could impose that would compare with that.

Imagine having to face your wife or your daughter's proud grandparents, and try to explain how you let that happen. Your siblings, your wife's siblings, everyone at work, all your friends. Your name's in the newspaper, everyone knows who you are. You wouldn't even have time to process the grief of losing child yourself.

I think I'd rather be in prison.

 

[lightman]

Thats a sad story on a lot of fronts! Prayers offered for the family.

When my kids were little I kept my nightstand gun on an elevated location that was out of sight. A closet shelf with something folded up over it, a tall piece of furniture, ect. When my young Grandkids come to visit I do the same thing with my nightstand gun. Or just lock the door to that room.

I started teaching my kids about firearm safety as soon as they were old enough to understand. But until they reached the age where they could handle guns and shoot I practiced the above.

 

[Hookeye]

My mom lost a cousin to a firearm accident.
Made mom anti gun.

Years later she agreed, that side of the family was different. Dunno if the accident messed em all up or they were messed up and that contributed to the accident.

Unfortunately a lot of people dont believe in absolutes. Esp in todays culture, everything is to be questioned, negotiated and should things go bad, claim victim status ( and file lawsuit ).

Its a gun. Maintain control/ safety.

 

[Hookeye]

Have my first grandkid due this month. Daughter and husband not gun people. More of the hiker, camper type. Are not anti gun. In fact SIL inherited a few from his father.

But they are not gun people.

As such i seriously question if I should buy a CZ scout next week. Dunno if the kid ever use it, or be raised in an environment where he should have it.

I could keep it in my safe, but ill proly be dead before hes old enough to shoot. And even if Im still around, dont want to push my interests on the kid.
Mom and dad get to mould the tyke as they see fit.

 

[AlexanderA]

Guns and children don't mix. If you have both, it's on you to keep them separate.

 

[TimRB]

As a former little kid, I would say that kids can find anything, anywhere, so hiding guns in closets or elsewhere is too risky. IMHO if kids are present the guns need to be locked up or at least under mechanical protection that is too complicated for kids. (Is it even possible for something to be "too complicated for kids"?)

Tim

 

[roscoe]

As a former little kid, I would say that kids can find anything, anywhere, so hiding guns in closets or elsewhere is too risky. IMHO if kids are present the guns need to be locked up or at least under mechanical protection that is too complicated for kids. (Is it even possible for something to be "too complicated for kids"?)

Tim

I strongly agree. I was an inquisitive kid and would have found anything hidden, and only stopped by a strongbox. You realistically can't trust young kids to people understand the danger. Some will and some won't, but with a developing brain you can never be sure.

When my daughters were under 14 or so, they had no independent access to our firearms. Now they do, and are gun owners and users

 

[Gordon]

Heavy steel with good locks and memorized combos never shared with minors, strangers, depressed people, whether family or not, and, needless to say, nut jobs. If it is not being worn on you or within reach at ALL TIMES and you are sober and awake, LOCK IT UP!

 

[Frulk]

TimRB makes a good point. As a kid I knew where every gun was in the house. Even the one my dad hid that was fully loaded for home protection.

Luckily I didn’t do anything stupid. It’s on the parents to ensure their children don’t have access, not the government. However, when the parents fail in that responsibility they should be held accountable.

 

[hps1]

 

[hps1]

TimRB makes a good point. As a kid I knew where every gun was in the house. Even the one my dad hid that was fully loaded for home protection.

Luckily I didn’t do anything stupid. It’s on the parents to ensure their children don’t have access, not the government. However, when the parents fail in that responsibility they should be held accountable.

Exactly!
When I was a pup, I knew exactly where Dad's 12 ga. was, and have to admit fondling it a time or two.

I kept guns locked up and as soon as my son showed the least bit of interest in them (around 5 or 6) I told him (repeatedly) that any time he wished to look at or handle any of them, all he had to do was ask and I would get them out of cabinet.
I tested him repeatedly by leaving an unloaded firearm lying on the bed after a range trip and he never touched them without asking. Dad didn't agree with my approach, but it worked. Guns stayed locked up and occasionally my son asked to see _______, and that satisfied his curiosity. Each time he asked, I took advantage of his curiosity and gave him a safety lesson on gun safety, taking advantage of a child's short attention span.
He shot his first buck @ 8 and has been my lifelong hunting companion for 80 years.

My biggest worry was not my son, but his little friends who often visited, some of whom never had been exposed to firearms.

Teach them young, but as Ronald Reagan once said, "Trust, but verify".

 

[Hookeye]

Got my first rifle in 1st grade and my first handgun in 5th grade.

Very strict environment, but it had its pluses.

I never was like other kids.

Didn't do stupid stuff

 

[Ignition Override]

Paranoia about home invasions, and consequent mistakes , seem to be deadlier than actual home invasions.

I’m surprised how many parents of young children totally disregard the risk.
And how clever, observant and determined little boys are.

Do parents forget that little boys see guns on tv and elsewhere, and will do anything to get their hands on them?

 

[Walkalong]

I was taught gun safety early on, just like skill saw safety, knife safety, water safety, climbing safety, etc, etc, etc.

I too would sneak dads .22 LR rifle out of the house and go shoot, I have no idea if he ever figured it out.

Safety of all kinds needs to be taught to kids.

 

[Necessary_Nutrient]

The answer isn't to train kids on how to handle loaded guns unless, and only unless, it's used in conjunction with concrete plans to keep them out of kid's hands. Whether it's your 5-year-old or your moody teen, they should NOT BE ACCESSIBLE.

It's not just "Antis" that come to this conclusion but I do agree with several of the OP's points about working together with people of differing opinions to keep kids safe.

 

[AlexanderA]

Flash back to my childhood as a 10-year-old, in Austin, Texas, in 1955.

Although my family didn't have guns in the house, at that time, my neighborhood friends' families did. Gun safes and gun locks were unheard of. My 10-year-old friends had no problem accessing guns.

Looking back, I remember some very unsafe behavior around guns, by my friends. This ranged from a contest in their bedroom to see how far they could eject a live shell from their single-shot shotgun, to drilling out the chamber of their .22 LR rifle to take .22 Magnums.

These things didn't seem remarkable to me at the time. But now, in retrospect, it's a miracle there were no accidents.

 

[shafter]

It's a tragedy that didn't need to happen and one that the father will live with for the rest of his life.

I'd be ok with him losing the right to own firearms as his carelessness with them has cost a life, but I don't believe he should do prison time. It won't bring back the dead, he isn't dangerous to the community at large, and it will only add more pain and suffering to his family.

Tragedies happen. Always have and always will. Such is life.

 

[21H40]

One detail that I think more people need to be aware of is that there are many different options for locking up firearms.

When we lived in apartments and money was tighter, I found that using a steel eye-bolt lagged into the closet corner allowed me to secure my non-CCW or HD firearms with coated steel cable and bike locks through the actions. It was a method that was mildly theft resistant, but entirely child-resistant.