7th highest rate of accidental child shootings

[drylkuch]

You have to expose the kids to guns so that you can teach the proper respect for them and that safety is the #1 priority. Take the mystery and "forbidden fruit" aspect out of it, and replace it with healthy respect and proper safety instruction.

This is exactly what my dad did with me. He decided that I had learned the healthy respect thing well enough to give me my own keys to the guns by the time I was about 10-12.

 

[Bill of Rights]

Ok, I'll bite. What do you point to that is arbitrary?

If I was guessing, Kirk, I'd say the age issue is arbitrary. We as a society have set a random age (usually 18, but in some cases 21, and variable between and around those numbers) defining "This is an adult." So, if someone was born 17 years, 364 days, 23 hrs, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds ago, that person is, in the eyes of the law, an "infant", but one second later, is a full-grown adult, completely and totally responsible for his/her actions. That number, 18 years, is arbitrary, otherwise we would not have, as alluded, one age for voting, enlisting, etc., another for age of consent for sex, still another for alcohol, and individual states defining it for carry purposes (less so now, but has been the case in years past) even higher still. I think 23 is the highest I've seen. So when is someone an adult? I know, I know, "It depends!" but that numeric figure is an arbitrary point at which the division is made.

I'm not so sure that a clear metric is needed. I'd say that a parent should decide when their child is mature enough to handle adult responsibilities, with the caveat that the parent will, to a point, be responsible for the actions of their child. Perhaps the law handles that in terms of emancipation, I don't know.

Again, I'm not the one who said it, but that's my guess.

Blessings,
Bill

 

[DRob]

Didn't follow the link. Are the stats just by state or are they also broken down by county?