Our local Kansas City NBC affiliate, KSHB-TV, ran a shocking exposé last night on the fact that if your child finds a gun in a box of toys given to them by an adult... they might react as if the gun was a toy.

Really?

I am *so* surprised to find that out.

Whodathunkit?

You should watch the piece by clicking here, before I further prejudice you on the subject. If the link has changed, which can happen as media sites refresh their content - search for "Trigger Test" to find the video.

What have we learned here?

1. The television and movie industry have thoroughly socialized our kids on the use of firearms. Yep.

2. That children, when presented with dangerous items by an adult bringing in toys will treat the item... like a toy, and in a very predictable fashion.

So, the real lesson here is... Adults should be adults and not give their children dangerous items to play with. And, as an extra bonus, adults should not store dangerous items in toy boxes full of toys their children play with.

I have some more tests we could try.

Let's have kids get together and have an adult bring in some bags of candy, which have drug bottles mixed in, and see what happens.

Hey - at that event, let's have some soft drinks in mixed cans and bottles, and put in some poisonous liquids in similar packaging.

Let's set a spread where we have PB&J fixin's laid out, and next to the blackberry jam and grape jelly, we have an open can of axle grease. Oh, heck, put out some bologna and bread and have jars of mayonnaise and lithium grease, too. Just a thought.

Certainly, the kids are only going to hurt themselves, loaded firearms allow them to hurt others. And many of those poisons would be turned down by kids because they don't smell right/taste good, etc. The drugs though... So, how do we handle these things?

Well, we keep the axle grease and lithium in the garage. We keep caustic poisons under the sink and not in the 'fridge. Oft times with "child-proof" latches. We keep our drugs in the drug cabinet, not in the pantry with the candy.

Why? Because kids are still learning about that whole context thing.

A better test (although I'm betting with similar results) would be put the pistol in a playground and see what they do with it.

Another question I have is... how many of those kids have had the "Eddie Eagle" training from the NRA? Be interesting to see the results of a group of kids with that contextual element added. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if there still wasn't a problem with handing children a box of toys with a pistol in it and having them treat it like a toy. Gee, children trust us, eh? It's like, *expected" ainnit?

Really - the lesson learned here is... that adults have to be adults and pay attention to where the dangerous things are. And that is a good lesson from this piece. If you own firearms, and you store them in your children's toybox, you're probably going to have a problem. And you can't assume that because you mentioned it in passing, that it's going to stick. *Especially* if you didn't include... a gun in the discussion. Yep, a real live pistol, so that your child *knows* what a real pistol looks like and feels like. Hard to do if you don't own one, I know.

Right now, I know where all the 200+ Dangerous Objects of Argghhh! are in the house. I know where the loaded one is. I know where the ammo is stored. There are, right now, three weapons upstairs, not in the gunroom. The rifle above the bar, for which there is no ammo in the house. And two pistols in the bedroom, one of which has a magazine in it, but nothing up the spout.

When Prodigal Son produces an heir, the pistols will move into a biometric drawer safe - no, no trigger locks. The vault door will be closed and locked. And the only weapon in the house that is loaded, will be in a biometric safe. Available if needed, but only to those who are allowed to have that access. The only time there may be multiple weapons loaded at the Castle is on a shooting day with multiple firing points open. And never more weapons loaded than people shooting them. And the only loaded weapons are on the firing line.

And anyone who doesn't like those rules simply won't be invited back to a shooting event.

And Prodigal Son's heirs will be safe at the Castle, at least from firearm injury, because the adults know their responsibilities. And make no assumptions about the behavior of children. Your kids are safe at my house. From guns, anyway. They might get ticks, however.

The lesson from the KSHB piece is (have I mentioned "the lesson" enough?)... expect children to be children. Don't be bad adults.

In truth, my buddy Mike L., who pointed out the story since I can't stomach local TV news, took it far more negatively than I did.

I took it as really a rather even piece for the MSM - it attacks the complacency of adults and their assumptions about their children, and didn't sneak in a bit about how you should just get rid of your guns, or that politicians should do something about it - they just said... be an adult, and here's why.

What's your take?

*If you are appalled at the picture of that room that opens this post - I invite you to read the Standard Periodic Disclaimers by clicking here. It really is all legal where I live. Believe it or not.