In turn, I agree with your point as well. A child should always be
supervised around any dangerous equipment, whether it is a hot stove or a
gun. I was not trying to imply that a five year old is capable of handling
a gun responsibly on their own without supervision. Generally speaking, a
five year old should never be allowed to handle a firearm except in
strictly controlled environments. However, you can teach them enough that
when unexpected situations occur (perhaps due to some other parents
irresponsibility), there is a high probability that they will respond
appropriately.
A big part of the problem is that some parents are not fit to supervise.
-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com
At 02:33 PM 6/7/99 -0400, you wrote:
>I agree with your point, but I still would not want to be around a five year
>old with a loaded gun. Even with good training, I don't want to risk my
>life on a five year old acting responsibly.
>
>From: James Rogers <jamesr@best.com>
>
>> This is hardly a useful characterization. A five year old child can most
>> certainly be educated (so that they are not ignorant) and taught why it is
>> important to be careful when dealing with firearms. We do it with
>> everything else, why not firearms?