Do You Own a Gun?

[Kingswood]

Most gun owners are responsible people. They keep their weapons locked away when not in use, take care to make sure they are not loaded when put away, that sort of thing. I do not have issues with such people. They may have a gun to shoot vermin, or to put down a sick animal on the farm, or they may use them to hunt game, or they may like shooting at targets on a shooting range on weekends, or they may just feel safer with a gun nearby. Whatever their reasons, I respect them if they are responsible people.

The problem is, not all gun owners are as careful as they should be.

The careless ones are the ones that make like harder for legitimate gun owners. They are the ones that leave loaded guns lying around, or don't lock their guns away when not in use, and otherwise do not treat their firearms with the respect that they deserve.

All too often such carelessness leads to trouble. Children may find the guns and start playing with them. It's not uncommon for such carelessness to lead to tragedy.

When she was very little, someone I know had the experience of having a loaded gun pointed at her by her brother, who found a rifle in the house that had not been secured properly. She remembers this very clearly, as does her brother. After turning the gun on her, the brother turned the gun on another brother. And then pulled the trigger.

Blam.

Their brother died that day.

I don't know how common such events are in the USA. But if the figure I heard of 30,000 deaths by firearms per year in the USA is accurate, I would not be surprised if some of these deaths occured in similar circumstances.

I don't know what the laws are in the USA in relation to deaths caused by unsecured firearms. I feel that people who do not secure their firearms properly should be responsible for them. If one leaves a firearm lying around unsecured and it causes the death of a child, is it possible for that act of negligence to lead to jail time in the USA?