A year ago, one young man accidentally shot and killed his step-brother; recently, this young man was sentenced to two years of house arrest and some probation. It's a sad situation, to be sure, but I also find it thoroughly infuriating. My frustrations are best summed up in an email response from my older brother as we discussed the newspaper article:
Not to hammer home a point, but all this crap can be avoided by following the Four Rule:Treat every gun like it's loaded
Never point a gun at something you wouldn't want to shoot
Keep your finger straight and off the trigger until ready to fire
Know your targetLooks like this guy broke three in a row.
It's so true, and it's such a simple thing to do. Whenever you pull a gun out to show someone, a few things should happen first. The magazine should be removed from the gun. The chamber should be cleared. And the gun should never be pointed toward anything you don't want to shoot.
Now, I'm not a huge gun nut. I don't think everyone needs to own a gun. But I firmly believe (as does my brother) that every school child should be taught gun safety. They should also be taught how to balance a checkbook, do basic first aid, and other such life skills, since parents in our society seem to have failed many of their children on some of the finer points of existence.