An 8-year-old boy was shot by his 12-year-old brother.

 

Burnet Police say the two boys were home alone at the time of the shooting. The 8-year-old reportedly located the weapon involved, a .22 pistol. Police say his 12-year-old brother was attempting to put the weapon away when he accidentally pulled the trigger, shooting the 8-year-old in the leg.

 

 

Two things.

First, there’s the question of safe storage, which wasn’t touched on so I can’t speculate.

Second, both children are old enough and capable enough to operate a firearm (obviously). If you are going to keep firearms in your home, you should not just keep them away from your children — it’s a forbidden fruit issue, it’s a safety issue. You need to teach your children safe handling. We teach our children safety issues with electrical outlets, with water/soap and slipping in the bathtub, and just like any safety issue our children do better to be taught how to deal with it than kept ignorant of it.

Very small children should get the Eddie Eagle treatment of “Stop. Don’t touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult.” But older children should receive at least basic safety lessons on storage and handling. Kathy Jackson has a collection of excellent articles on Kids and Guns that I highly recommend you read.