If your kid brings a gun to school,

[russspeakeasy]

you and that kid should go to jail.
Not for a long time, but enough to get your and your kid's attention.
We have cops posted at entrances, we have metal detectors, and still we have kid's getting killed because some parent decided his/her kid would never, ever do anything so stupid.
I wonder if the parents of the kid's in Ohio might agree ?

BTW, I don't care how many guns you own....Keep the damn things locked up.

[michreject]

1. I have a loaded gun in every room in my house

None are locked up.

If I wanted a paperweight, I would have bought an anchor.

[msanthrope]

12. Wouldn't it just be easier to carry a single, loaded gun with you at all times while at home?

After all, you may not be able to get to the portion of the room where the gun is....

Think about it...you're on the crapper, you hear an intruder, and the gun you need is across the bathroom, concealed in the the laundry hamper. You don't want to mess yourself (good thing you are on the crapper!) and you don't want to trip over your pants, which are around your ankles....

I would take no chances. I would carry at all times.

[michreject]

14. I do

I have a Kahr P380 in the pocket of my sweats. My wife doesn't though.

[ellisonz]

18. Hope you never...

...have an accident.

[joshcryer]

21. I actually feel sorry for people who feel so unsafe in this way.

Having to have "protection" at all times, it's just, really sad.

[TheWraith]

22. I have a bunch in my bedroom.

The rifle and the shotgun are kept identically, full magazine but not chambered. The revolver in the nightstand is loaded, but the action is open. Big difference though--I don't have any angry, disturbed teenager in my house.

That said, I grew up knowing that my father kept a loaded rifle in the top of the bedroom closet. I never messed with it. Why? Because I knew it wasn't a toy. Parents leaving their guns unlocked is much less a contributor to this sort of thing than parents leaving their kids alone.

[elleng]

2. Damn right keep the damn things locked up!

Jerks! Idiots!

[Swamp Lover]

3. Criminal charges are not possible, but you can bet there will be a civil suit.

Somthing has to be done to make gun owners take responsibility for the guns they own.

[elleng]

7. ???

Various 'manslaughters'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manslaughter

[Swamp Lover]

15. No way a prosecutor goes after a parent because his kid killed someone unless

the parent was in on it or should have known (kid was talking about it etc). The parent could and should be held civilly liable, however, for making a weapon avbailable to his kid by not locking them up or taking steps to secure them.

[gratuitous]

4. Careful

You're bad-mouthing the holy relics of our national religion. You may have to do penance for blasphemy.

[madrchsod]

5. i know of someone at the age of 15...

stole a police officers unlocked weapon and boxes of bullets from his home. that someone sold the weapon to a convicted felon.

it does`t matter who you are. lock your weapon and bullets up. trigger locks are made for a purpose.

[liberal N proud]

6. Put your Teflon suit

The gun supporters will be on deck.

[lapislzi]

8. you're assuming that these parents were/are present and responsible

I don't think anyone can make any such assumption.

Both my parents were alcoholics. I could have gone to school naked with an M16 across my shoulders and neither one would have even noticed.

Fortunately, I was not that that kind of kid.

Bad parenting has many faces.

Nor can you assume that these parents didn't do almost everything right and still wound up with a demon spawn. I've seen it in families--perfectly nice, apparently well-adjusted family. 2 kids are pleasant, average, do their schoolwork and some sports, and one kid goes completely off the rails.

The best parenting advice I ever got is that whether you make them or buy them, kids are a crap shoot. Plan accordingly and do your best.

[russspeakeasy]

11. Kids may be a "crap shoot", but trigger locks are pretty dependable.

[wendylaroux]

9. your responsibility

have guns? keep them away from irresponsible people--which include your kids.--duh

[11 Bravo]

10. Even if the kid in question didn't bring the gun from home?

[pitohui]

13. eh, i don't think you should go to jail for the acts of another person

nobody gets to go to the store and pick out in advance what kind of kid they have, or nobody would have a crazy kid to begin with

it does seem to me that if i was unlucky enough to get a crazy kid, i wouldn't want to have a gun handy, but i don't know how big or crazy this kid was or how frightened the parent who owned the gun might be, and not knowing anything about those factors, i'm hesitant to say much more

there is a way to give up a cute harmless baby for adoption but it is not necessarily so easy to give up a dangerous teen-ager, in fact, i know someone who was told she would be charged with child abandonment if she gave up her teen-ager to state custody

so i don't want to rush to judgment of the parent just yet, if i learn more, yes, i may learn the parent was a slob gun owner who needs to be charged but right now i'm going to say, i believe we should take these things case by case

[lacrew]

16. To add a variant to this discussion, this kid lived with his grandparents

[REP]

17. My husband took a gun to school every week in high school; he was on the Rifle Team

The school knew the Rifle Team members were bringing rifles to school - they encouraged it, since the school did not provide rifles for team members. There were no deaths at that school and have been no deaths at that school. Should rifle teams be disbanded?

[oldhippie]

24. I took a .22 rifle, and ammo, to high school 3 days a week ...

... on the school bus. Kept them in my locker during the day until rifle team practice. Nobody cared a whit. Also carried a pocket knife of one type or another in my pocket every day of school. Nobody ever got cut.

This was in the 60's.

[REP]

26. My husband did it in the '80s.

[Kablooie]

19. If a kid introduces a gun in first period, it must go off by the last.

Anton Chekov - or something.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

20. we brought guns to school most days

went squirrel hunting afterwards quite a bit. funny thing is, never once thought about shooting anyone with it...or any gun for that matter.

sP

[YellowRubberDuckie]

23. I wonder if the bullied outcast who pulled the trigger was looking for attention...

...from the teachers and the principals who were most likely allowing the bullying to continue and not doing a damned thing about it than he was from his parents.
That said, I don't know all the details, but after what I've learned from the kids who committed the travesty at Columbine, I'm thinking the blame does not solely lie with the kids with the guns in most of these school shootings, but then, that's just my impression.
Duckie

[ProgressiveProfessor]

25. Presuming they are the parent's guns

Thugs often tend to find other ways to arm themselves than taking firearms from their parents.