Baltimore Boy Killed Playing with Daddy's Gun

The Baltimore Sun reports

A Baltimore boy who was apparently playing with a gun shot and killed a 15-year-old friend Saturday morning in Cherry Hill, Baltimore police said.

Police could not say Saturday how many times the boy was shot or who owned the gun. The gun was secured in the house, but the children had found a key or passcode to unlock it, said police spokesman Kevin Brown. The shooter, who was either 11 or 12 years old, was not being charged at this time because the killing appeared to be an accident, he said.

"We want this to serve as a reminder of the extreme importance of securing weapons in the home," Brown said.

I think police spokesman Brown got that wrong. This couldn't possibly serve as a reminder about securing your guns since the gun was secured and the kids got to it anyway. What it could serve as a reminder of, though, is the fallacy of thinking a gun in the home makes you safer.

How many times do you think that particular gun was used in a DGU to thwart home invaders and rapists? I'd guess none, just like most of the guns in homes. They generally sit there doing no good whatever until sooner or later someone misuses them either by kids getting ahold of them, like in this case, or a negligent discharge while cleaning them, or the burglars get them.

All the while, the owners of these guns will proclaim their god-given natural human rights. Sick irony or weird paradox, I don't know what you should call it.

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