06-30-2015, 09:34 PM
I bet you weren't a toddler in college, Cutz. Just a hunch.
I understand that children can and do get injured and killed by common household items when their parents aren't watching them, and that not all of those parents are generally negligent.
I also understand that some of those parents get prosecuted for neglect and some don't, depending on the circumstances.
I wouldn't mind if there was one sweeping national Child Safety law requiring homes with children under a certain age to have household cleaners locked up or safety-capped, and requiring parents to check the effin' car for their kid before they exit the vehicle in the heat, and requiring the use of pool tarps. Etc... Your toddler gets injured or dies because you failed to do any of those things, you automatically get charged with neglect or endangerment.
But, I was specifically addressing guns. Guns -- unlike household cleaners, cars, and pools -- cause injuries and death when they are used for their sole intended purpose. They are designed to shoot. There is no reason for unlocked loaded guns to be accessible to toddlers anywhere in any state. And, I think the dipshit adults who put children in foreseeable danger should be legally considered negligent in all cases.
Such a law could not get passed in the current political environment, it's just my wish. I think it would prompt otherwise decent gun-friendly parents to take appropriate safety precautions with their weapons (which would not only result in better protection of the children, but also the gun-owning parents).
I'd also like to see child gun deaths consistently classified from state-to-state so they could finally be quantified and tracked/monitored. Make them all "homicides", fine by me.
I understand that children can and do get injured and killed by common household items when their parents aren't watching them, and that not all of those parents are generally negligent.
I also understand that some of those parents get prosecuted for neglect and some don't, depending on the circumstances.
I wouldn't mind if there was one sweeping national Child Safety law requiring homes with children under a certain age to have household cleaners locked up or safety-capped, and requiring parents to check the effin' car for their kid before they exit the vehicle in the heat, and requiring the use of pool tarps. Etc... Your toddler gets injured or dies because you failed to do any of those things, you automatically get charged with neglect or endangerment.
But, I was specifically addressing guns. Guns -- unlike household cleaners, cars, and pools -- cause injuries and death when they are used for their sole intended purpose. They are designed to shoot. There is no reason for unlocked loaded guns to be accessible to toddlers anywhere in any state. And, I think the dipshit adults who put children in foreseeable danger should be legally considered negligent in all cases.
Such a law could not get passed in the current political environment, it's just my wish. I think it would prompt otherwise decent gun-friendly parents to take appropriate safety precautions with their weapons (which would not only result in better protection of the children, but also the gun-owning parents).
I'd also like to see child gun deaths consistently classified from state-to-state so they could finally be quantified and tracked/monitored. Make them all "homicides", fine by me.