“I see no purpose in punishing this family any further.” That’s District Attorney J. Bradley Smith pronouncement after Wendy Brock and Roger White Jr. watched their son climb into their truck (which they were washing in the drive), retrieve his father’s handgun and shoot himself.
It’s part of a large usatoday.com article entitled Added agony: Justice is haphazard after kids’ gun deaths. The McPaper’s post raises an important question: do laws punishing adults for negligence when children misuse unsecured firearms serve any practical purpose?
Every state has laws against parental neglect. Aren’t those enough? And even if they aren’t, don’t so-called “child access prevention laws” put us an unconstitutional slippery slope towards greater gun control?