Kids and Safe Gun Storage

It is folks like this that give gun owners a bad name. And it is ever worse since he is a State Trooper here in MA and folks think they are experts with guns. . . . .

In a nutshell it is illegal to store a gun in MA without putting it in a safe or putting a trigger lock on it to insure that only “authorized” people can get access to the weapon.

This negligent gun owner just pulled out the magazine (thank God) and put it in a draw. His 12 year old son got the gun (did not put in the magazine), went out and showed it around. When a 5 year old girl did not believe it was real he pointed it at her head and pulled the trigger. Now depending on the reporter some say it was unloaded, some say it did have a bullet in the chamber but the magazine was out of the gun (but stored next to it in the draw). Either way it did not go off and the kid went home. The children called police who went to the kids home and he showed them the unlocked bureau where dad kept the gun.

FYI if there was a bullet in the gun it is only the fact that the gun had a magazine disconnect so it won’t fire without a mag in place that saved this little girl. Based on the TV interviews I saw he had the gun against her head, he was not going to miss. . . .

Both dad and son are in trouble but we will see how much since he is a cop and in MA those in power don’t have to follow the same rules sometimes. . . . We will see.

This really pisses me off because I know a few cops, and have met a number of them in my home town and they are all great guys. One bad apple like this reflects badly on all of them. I hope the press nails this guy for being irresponsible with a gun but does not bad mouth cops in general. I also admit this is a breaking story so we don’t know much about this troopers background but I find it hard to forgive such carelessness with a weapon no matter who you are. . . . I also think this shows off the danger of getting too comfortable with a weapon - then you get sloppy. Again, thank God no one got hurt.