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Children and Gun Safety |
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Gregory Morris, 9/23/08 10:03:58 am |
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In this recent case, children were left alone at home with access to loaded guns, and their father was arrested for it. The law works as intended, and thankfully nobody was hurt.
In Florida, the law does not say "you must keep your gun locked up". Even if it did, that wouldn't have prevented what happened. However, just like safe-storage laws, our law allowed for this man to be arrested for being an irresponsible parent. The statute reads: Any parent or guardian of a minor, or other adult responsible for the welfare of a minor, who knowingly and willfully permits the minor to possess a firearm in violation of subsection (3) commits a felony of the third degree There is a lot of extra verbage in the statute which makes it clear that children are allowed to use firearms for legal hunting/shooting activities under proper supervision.
Basically, unlike the "gun safety" laws which the Brady Campaign would like to see enacted, Florida's law does not infringe upon an individual's right to have a loaded gun for self defense just because there may be children around. What it does is make them liable for a child having access to a loaded firearm.
There is a pretty distinct difference.
The Brady Campaign wants to legally restrain both responsible and irresponsible parents. The irresponsible parent won't follow trigger lock/safe storage requirements, whereas responsible parents who do will be effectively disarmed. Florida's law doesn't restrain anyone from exercising their rights, but it does provide for criminal of parents who put their children in danger.
The proper way to keep guns in a house with children is unloaded and locked up when not in immediate control of an adult. There are ways to keep a defensive firearm both ready and secure from children. Nobody disagrees with that. What responsible gun owners disagree with is having to choose between violating the law an being disarmed. |
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