Guns in kid's bedrooms? Ohio town approves

[Liberal_in_LA]

Guns in kids' bedrooms? Ohio hunting town approves



The guns were kept in the boy's bedroom, resting on a rack mounted to the wall. The one investigators say was used to kill his mother_ a .22-caliber rifle — was found lying on his bed.

On a cold winter evening in Big Prairie, a rural hunting town, the 10-year-old boy picked up the rifle and shot his mother, 46-year-old Deborah McVay, in the head, authorities say. Relatives said mother and son had been arguing over chores: He didn't want to carry firewood into the house.

The notion of a 10-year-old boy keeping a stash of weapons in his bedroom is a jolting one to some Americans, but not so in Big Prairie, where the sound of gunshots ricocheting through the air is familiar — even comforting. Here, children learn to fire guns as easily as they learn to ride bicycles.

The child's tender age exposes an age-old divide between rural and urban in a nation where 80 million people are registered gun owners. It also raises anew the question of whether children should have access to guns — let alone be permitted to keep loaded guns in their bedrooms.

In Big Prairie, as in many other areas with deep hunting cultures, the answer is a resounding yes.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/01/08/national/a104351S69.DTL#ixzz1ATWaQU74