the biggest problem with gun related issues are dumb *** parents

[elsolo]

Whether or not you lock up your guns at home is a decision based on your circumstances, not me guessing that your home is just like mine.

I think it's about the same as leaving the keys in the car when you park it.

If it gets stolen and used by a criminal, did you help him in his crime?

Do you have a kid, or adult at home you cannot trust, like a hardcore drunk, drug addict, or mentally unstable 20 yr old that you are trying to get committed?

Does your teen bring friends over to your house?

[madjack956]

Sandy Hook would not have happened if that psycho had been locked away.

^^This, Plain and Simple^^

[Yemff]

If everyone locked up their guns, gun crime in general would go down a ton. I just dont get people who hide thousands of dollars worth of guns and ammo in a closet.

[Yemff]

If everyone locked up their guns, gun crime in general would go down a ton. I just dont get people who hide thousands of dollars worth of guns and ammo in a closet.

[bill_k_lopez]

Almost the same story here - my father always kept a loaded handgun in the drawer next to his bed. As kids my sister and I would have NEVER thought about touching that gun without permission. Never, ever crossed my mind to "show it off" to friends that were over, or to even mention it come to think of it..

I have to disagree. I was raised in a home with no safe or locked firearms. My dad always had a loaded shotgun in the house. We(myself and 2 brothers) never would consider touching the firearms without our parents permission and supervision. As a matter of fact we would never go into their bedroom without permission and that was were the firearms were. Later I got my own shotgun then 22RF then BG rifles and could use them as I wanted as long as I was safe. We lived on a ranch then.
It is HOW the children are raised and with what values. This is the parents responsiblity but is torpedoed by "good doers" and gov today. All the PC cr*p today does little to help. Personal responsiblity and such is not common now.
I raised my daughter to have the type of "old fashion" values that I have. She started shooting when she was 4.5years old and has been doing so ever since. She is 21 now and just purchased her first pistol in her name. I bought her 2 when she was yonger as well as several rifles. He hunts and is going to Africa with me next year.
I do lock up most of my firearms now (3 large safes) but not ammo. If someone wants to kill so bad they will find a way. Also that kid was about to be commited and was on a "drug therpy" at the time. If you research things you will find that a large number of the people who have do this type of thing were also on a program such as his. That is part of the PC and let someone else(thing) do my job as a parent in raising my child attitude. The easy way out for too busy parents and sometimes dictated by the state to do so.
Also If a person in the school had a permit to carry they could have ended it quickly but your gov will not permit it. We have school gun-free zones. All this does is make sure some nut has a free pass to do more harm.

[SuperSet]

If the mother had survived, I think she should be in jail right now. She knew something was wrong with her kid, told the babysitter to never turn his back on him, and still trained him and didn't secure her firearms. She is culpable. So were Cho's parents before they slipped town and went back to Korea. It all starts in the home.

[DTatum]

So... it's OK to leave guns sitting around as long as your kids are "good".... which is certainly the case in most parents minds until their kids do something "bad"...

@SuperSet... had her son not killed 26 people, she could have come on this forum and said the exact same thing bill_k_lopez and DivernHunter have said... Until a crime is committed, everyone's a law abiding "good guy"... whose parents did a great job raising them with guns sitting out in the open...

[Divernhunter]

I might add to what I had said before. IF I had someone living in my home or who visited it that for whatever reason(unstable,drunk,doper,thief type etc) my firearms would all be locked up. As it stands I now live alone and I have 3 large safes full because I do not want to come home to find them missing.I do not lock up ammo/reloading supplies as I would need another locked room for that AND it is not needed. The firearms locked up is enough.
I do agree that if you start getting a number of firearms you should buy a quality safe to store them. Just to protect your investment in the firearms and prevent thief. I do not think that doing so would really reduce the gun related crime that much.

As a former teacher I have to partly diagree about the education problem being the result of dumb parents. It has more to do with the PC gov rules and regulations and not really allowing the teachers to teach. Especially not allowing good values,such as 1) do not steal, 2) the world owes you nothing, respect and "self-estem"is earned not given to you, 3) work for what you want, 4)be responsible for your actions etc to be taught as an sidebar to the other education subject. This is the result of the good-doers-PC type-I know what is good for you than you do-type of people who run the schools/gov and make the laws and regulations.
Then of course you have the parents who have been brought up as such who's poor child can do no wrong and it is someone's others than thier's or their kids fault that he/she did or did not do something that is wrong. In fact whatever it was that was wrong should not be wrong and it is all the fault of the teacher. So jump on the teacher and blame them. Instead of admiting the child did wrong and after the child getting a just punishment at school the child get more once how. No the child is told oh you poor victum instead so that it incourages more of said behaivor.
When I grew up if I got into trouble at school whatever happened to me at school was the least of my worries. I was more concerned able that spanking and other things(grounded,not being able to shoot my firearms etc) when I got home. Try that nowdays and see what happens. The parent will have a visit from the cops and "child protection" people and then the fun begins. I must say in todays world my and many other GOOD parents would be behind bars for "child abuse" by todays standards. I also will say that I got very few spanking that I did not deserve and did not get many more that I should have. While this is true, I do not believe I ever was abused and it did me no perment harm in ANY way. I actually am glad my parents raised me as they did. I have a great amount of respect for them as parents, role models and people. I have learned to treat other better than many of the people who are raised with the more modern ways. I am not mad at the world(just the gov and PC/good-doers/tree-hugger people), would never consider killing other people would help anything in anyway, and consider myself responsible for my own actions.
The crime problems including the killings is the result of the social PC decay of values and gov intervention into our lives, the way people are raised and view themselves as well as others in our society.
When someone drives a car down a sidewalk killing a bunch of peole I do not here how all cars should be banned or even locked up so that only one person can get to them. Heck you PC people have even made it ok for drunks to drive again and again even after they hurt people. They still can drive without a lic. People on different mind altering drugs get to drive and get to hurt/kill people and there is no great uproar.----Why not?

Probably because there are too many of them and it would not be PC to do so.

[RobGR]

Sorry, but points 1, 2, 3 and 4 all pertain to parenting. A teachers role is to teach subject matter, not teach your children how to have manners.

As for gov PC, I couldn't agree more. No Child Left behind is a failure. Our public schools offer an opportunity for kids to make something out of their lives. It is a privilege, not a right, but something any 1st world nation should offer. I honestly don't give a damn whether or not some kids go to school, in fact, if they don't see the opportunity that has been given to them (values instilled by good parenting), then they just better accept washing dishes for a living. The Entitled Generation needs a reality check.

[Divernhunter]

Yes it is parenting which is not practiced today. "Parents" leave it for someone else to do and when they try the parents come after them and not support them. Actually"parenting" involves the mother/father(which is hard with a 50%+ divorce rate, relatives, neighbors,TEACHERS(since the child spends as much or more time with them than they do the parents), etc. In the days when I was young it was more than just the parents. Nowdays the parents do not want to take the responsiblity and do not allow other to, as in the past, so the child grows up they way so many are today. This has gone that direction over the years so that the children of those are now a problem what is getting out of hand for the rest of us.
This is not everyone mind you but enough to become a real problem for society.

If one opens their eyes and thinking they will see it as I have from a young adult/teacher/father to a well raised child and stepfather to 2 others that are a waste of air and raising their children to be even a bigger waste. I am now considered old(61) and continue to see the progression. I have had to deal with it from several points of interest. That was one main reason I quit teaching. Too much politics and not enough teaching being done with no respect for the teacher/adults by students as well as parents. Heck many of the students and parents do not even have respect for themselves.
NO it takes more than just parents to raise a child. But parents alone can screw up one, especially when they have no decent values themselves or shurk their responsiblity to the child. Then many of those children pass along the same mind-set to their children when they grow up or get knocked up at 14.

My 2 Cents

[TeddyBallgame]

we shouldn't have to lock our doors, but we know we should

we shouldn't have to need keys for our cars, but, we know what would happen if they didn't...remember what would happen if you stole a mans horse?

we shouldn't have to safeguard our firearms in our homes, but, in todays world its a must

my dad kept his little .38 special in a drawer by his bed, it had a lock, but, almost any similar key would open it, lol...i was probably about 9 or 10 when he first let me start handling it...but, even before then, without his teachings, I already knew guns were not toys and needed special attention...he taught me how to check it, it was a revolver and to never aim it at anyone...my dad was by no means a gun expect, but, he knew enough to teach me something

I keep my Marlin 30-30 in my closet in a rifle case...its not locked up, guilty, but, I have no ammo in the house for it either...if i want to use it, i'll have to go buy some...it wont fit in my safe, and, im not buying a huge gun safe for one rifle...now if i get my AR or AK, things might change

[myk]

how can you won guns and not have them locked up along with the ammo. sandy hook would not have happened if those guns and ammo were locked away. the kid tried buying guns but couldnt, so where else would he get them? if they were locked away, he wouldnt.

apparently yest another kid was shot after an argument with a friend. the shotgun shell was in a kitchen drawer and he just grabbed it and put it into the shotgun he grabbed from inside. i mean people cant be this stupid can they?

obama and all these libs should stop blaming guns and start blaming parents for their incredible negligence.

How? Well a lot of people are so comfortable in the American tradition that is gun ownership that they don't acknowledge the inherent dangers of a firearm. I mean, there are people on here arguing that the founding fathers never locked up their guns, and their children had free access, so why should we be any different now, or something to that effect. Meanwhile you've got families that have owned guns from one generation to the next, so they end up becoming part of the scenery in the living room as opposed to being seen as a tool of death.

Back in simpler times we didn't need seat belts in cars, toys didn't need to pass a "drop test," and guns didn't need to be locked up any more than you did your favorite pair of shoes, but times have changed. Responsible gun ownership means securing your weapon and equipment in as strong of a container as you can afford, and keeping everyone around them safe at all times...

[SPROCKET]

The way I see it, my guns are my responsibility, whether they are in my hands or in another state. This means I make a reasonable effort to control who has access to them at all times. While thinking on this topic, I was reminded of this.

[redcliff]

Blaming parents for the mass shootings is a lot like blaming the guns. There are evil people in the world, whether self made or made by mind alterring drugs.

Yes, if you have a mentally unstable child you most definitely should lock up your firearms. But the parents are not the "biggest problem". The person pulling the trigger is the biggest problem.