I read a lot of magazines, some of them the parenting kind. Years ago one had a poll about guns in the home and if you would ask the parents of your child's friends if they have one before you'd let your child go over to play. Stories like this one from Tuesday's USA Today make me think abso-frikin-lutely.

From the article:"An 11-year-old boy in Mississippi accidentally killed his 9-year-old brother with a shotgun blast Tuesday as the two struggled over the gun after arguing about a video game, authorities said."

My brother, Phil and I had a heated argument about this topic one night when were at a bar (my bother's girlfriend wisely chose to stay out of it). We started out talking about Tyler playing with toy guns and turning his other toys into guns, and the conversation turned to guns in the home, nature versus nurture, men versus women, the role of a parent etc. etc. I believe my brother even said, "men are genetically designed to spread their seed as much as possible." Oh yes he did! But I digress.

I grew up around guns. My father is and has been in law enforcement since I was little. If someone were to ask me if we had a gun in the house, I would have said, "sure" in the same way as if they'd asked if we had a TV. It was no big deal. My dad's gun was just another thing on the table next to his wallet and keys. I could touch or hold it anytime I wanted to, all I had to do was ask (that's what she said. sorry, I couldn't leave that one just lying there). It held no mystique for me and I'd get tired of friends (mostly boys) asking me about it because it was no big deal. My dad and my uncle (former LAPD) used to take me to the shooting range. For awhile I kept all my targets so I could track my progress.



When kids would ask about my dad's gun, I'd tell them the story about my dad cleaning his gun in bed one night after I'd gone to bed (I think I was 6 or so). My dad was in the bedroom and my mom was in the bathroom. The bed faced my parent's closet and the bathroom was on the other side of the closet. When the gun went off, my mom said it was so loud she thought she'd been shot. She was frozen in the bathroom. then she thought my dad had shot himself and she called out to him. He ran into the bathroom to make sure she was OK.

The bullet took a chunk out of the closet door knob. It looked like a small animal bit a piece off. The bullets my dad was using at the time weren't the typical kind. Most bullets are capable of leaving an entry and exit wound, but these were designed to penetrate then explode. So after it went through the closet door it exploded and tore up several of my dad's suits. But I digress again.

Not once did I feel the need to sneak around and look for the gun so I could hold it. For one, Dad didn't hide it, it was usually on his dresser. He also told me he'd break all my fingers if he ever caught me, but mostly it was because I didn't care. Having a gun in the house hardly ever crossed my mind unless someone else brought it up. And I never, ever thought about getting his gun when I was angry or sad let alone think to threaten someone with it.

My brother and I knew that guns aren't toys because it was drilled into us over and over. And my brother's argument was the popular, "guns don't kill people, people kill people." To some extent, I agree. But in this instance, and in so many other instances, the "people" involved are children. Fighting over a video game. For some reason, one of them thought going to get a gun was an appropriate way to deal with the situation. That 11-year-old boy is going to have the specter of having shot and killed his brother hanging over him for the rest of his life.

My main point to my brother was that not everyone was raised the way we were. It seems to me that there's still an aura about guns that's attractive to kids. It seems that the stories we read about involving tragic deaths like this one it's usually about one kid telling another, "hey, look what my parents have," and then one of them ends up dead.

I'm not saying people shouldn't have guns in their homes so all the card carrying NRA can simmer down. I don't know what the solution is either, I just feel that if families who keep guns would do more to take the mystery and curiosity about them away, and teach proper handling and basic safety, maybe children won't end up accidentally killing one another.

What do you think? Would you, or have you asked another parent if they have a gun in the house? Will you let you child play there if they do?
 
(photo from Google Images)

Wordless Wednesday: Proud As A Peacock Part Deux

Look who came to visit! I saw something out of the corner of my eye that looked much bigger than the birds I'm used to seeing. These two must be escapees. They hung out behind my house until my neighbor's dog scared them off.

At Least He Was Honest

Phil: "Tyler, are you ready to go yet?"

Tyler: "No."

Phil: "We're waiting on you. Why aren't you ready"

Tyler: "Because I was messing around."

Well okay then.

General Motors: Preventable or Inevitable?

I'm following General Motors on Twitter and caught I some of the President's televised speech about GM filing for bankruptcy. I won't pretend to understand all the politics and implications of the decision as it relates to the state of the auto industry. I changed my major from business to journalism after sitting through a semester of economics, but it seems this is a simple case of supply and demand. Consumers demanded more fuel efficient cars and US auto makers failed to supply them.


I'm sad for the workers who will lose their jobs. I'm sad for their cities and towns because their economies will suffer too as will that of the supporting industry's like steel. There will be many ripples in this pond. There's a lot of history and tradition in the US auto industry and it's sad to see it come to an end this way.

But I think US auto makers needed a big Ty-from-Extreme-Makeover standing-outside-their-offices-with-a-bullhorn sized wake up call.

When we were shopping for Phil's car we test drove at least 10 mid-sized SUV's, including the Ford Escape, but feature for feature the US cars fell short. We wanted to Buy American but in the end we just couldn't sacrifice performance and price for patriotism.

I know there are plans in the works to save some of the brands that fall under the GM umbrella, like Saturn, and to speed up the development of their electric and hybrids, but doesn't this seem like they're using sippy cups to bail water from their sinking ship? Shouldn't they have been pushing the other options well before now? If I'm wrong, or missing something vital, I'd love it if you could explain it me.