Secure your Guns



Secure your guns, and peace of mind

By Kelvin Wade
October 08, 2009 10:06AM

A Vacaville couple was arrested this week on a variety of criminal complaints stemming from the tragedy last month when their 8-year-old son accidentally shot and killed his 2-year-old sister with a handgun he'd found on the couple's bed.

Due to his parents' alleged irresponsibility, unfortunately, this little boy will have to live with this horrific memory.

There is no pain worse than losing a child and losing a child through one's own negligence must be unfathomably painful. But if the press accounts are true that there were multiple unsecured firearms in the house and that they shouldn't have been there at all due to the wife's felony drunk driving conviction, then it's hard not to feel contempt for that kind of recklessness.

These kinds of incidents anger responsible gun owners because too often the focus is on the weapons and not the irresponsibility of the owner. California law requires that gun owners secure firearms on their premises if they have children in the home or have a reasonable expectation of children being in the home.

But one doesn't have to be grossly negligent in order for tragedy to strike. The RAND Corporation did a study that showed of households that had children and firearms, 40 percent had at least one unlocked firearm. And with the recent Westside Burglar case, I'm willing to bet that locally many firearms were transferred from lockers and lockboxes to nightstands. What gun owner wants to be fussing with a key when an intruder is in their home?

So, even normally responsible gun owners can act irresponsibly or negligently. It only takes one slip up to end in tragedy.

Years ago, Cathi and I had my family over for dinner for the first time. I believe my brother Tony's daughter Kaci was around 2 years old. While cleaning up after dinner, I noticed Kaci was missing. I asked where she was and Cathi told me that she wasn't feeling well so she was taking a nap in the master bedroom.

Something about that just didn't sit right with me. Then I recalled that I'd placed my handgun in the nightstand a couple nights before. Without alarming anyone, I immediately went down the hall to the room and found Kaci sleeping. I eased the .380 automatic out of the drawer, locked it in my metal gun case and put the case up on the shelf in the closet in the office.

At the time, we'd never had children in the house. And the only consolation I have when I look back on the incident is that there was no round in the chamber and my 2-year-old niece would not have been able to work the slide on that particular gun. Cathi wasn't even strong enough to do it.

Yet, to this day, it's a chilling memory.

Now, with Cathi's grandkids in and out of the house, all of my firearms are secured. I may not be able to get to them as quickly as I'd like, but preventing a horrific tragedy is more important to me.

We have to use these terrible incidents when they happen as a reminder to be vigilant about safety in our gun ownership. These things can happen so quickly, with life-changing consequences. Hug your kids and secure your guns. Peace.mailto:kelvinjwade@aol.com

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