A four year old Albuquerque boy found a gun at home and shot and killed himself, and the "authorities" draw the wrong conclusion, and want you and me to learn the wrong lesson, from the tragedy. In fact, following their advice will ensure more tragedies of this type in the future.
Quoting what the cops reportedly said from the above-linked story:
"...this is a lesson to be learned for people who have guns out there: to
keep their guns away from kids, locked up, separate from the bullets.
That's the lesson they want to get out tonight."
No, no, ruttin' NO! This completely terrible advice from the "authorities", the worst advice they could possibly give, is the equivalent of never letting your kids see or experience water, because they could drown. Never teaching them to swim, but telling them to never go near water, no matter where they find it. And then being "surprised" when the perfectly predictable happens and a child drowns because they were kept ignorant and water was mystified instead of being explained in a truthful, educational, and fun way. The stupidity of this tactic infuriates me. It results in completely preventable deaths of innocent children. You know what that makes advice like this, don't you?
If you want to make certain your children are safe around your guns, or other people's guns, you must familiarize them with guns. Do not make the guns into mysterious, forbidden objects. That only guarantees your children will try to sneak a peek at the guns when you aren't looking; when you can't be supervising and instructing. Teach them developmentally-appropriate lessons about anything that can hurt them.
With guns, that means to let them see you handling your guns safely, and talk to them about why you handle the guns the way you do. If they wish to hold your gun, have them watch as you check and double-check to make certain it is unloaded, teach them to check for themselves, and then make sure they still handle the gun as if it were loaded. No pointing the muzzle at the gun at anything they are not willing to destroy. Take them out shooting and let them see the destructive power of a gun, yet let them understand that the gun does not have a mind of its own and it is under the handler's control, for good or bad. Counteract all the false information they will receive from "news", entertainment, and "law enforcement".
The perverted monsters who advocate "gun control" always snivel "...if it saves one life...". Well, this will save a lot more than one life. Guaranteed. If it is done. Now.
I don't know how this family raised and trained their children, so I don't mean this as an accusation of any sort against them. Sometimes, no matter what you do, tragedies will still happen. That is a fact of life in this Universe that will never change. I am glad that the grieving parents won't face a kidnapping or the threat of other punishment from the "law" since that is the "legal" equivalent of kicking a person when he is down, but I can't help but wonder if the family received "special consideration" due to the father's status as a federal Only One.
