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First I feel horrible for the families involved here. I can't imagine anything more heart-wrenching that to be one of the parents unless it would be one of the kids.
Ustwo, your point is well taken. I saw a statistic yesterday that the national average for 16-year olds involved in fatal accidents is roughly double that for 18-year olds. Pretty scary. That aside, I think that any adult with a gun in the house should be required to attend firearms safety classes with any children living in the house or demonstrate that they've taught firearms safety to the kids. I would argue that it should be a part of any licensing requirement. The NRA is the first to tell you that all kids that could even conceivably access guns unsupervised should know how to safely handle them. Maybe requiring safety classes is overkill, but there are dozens of kids hurt or killed every year when they or a playmate encounter a gun, legally owned or not.
Gunsafes and trigger locks are wonderful inventions and should be used at home under pretty much all circumstances. Remember that guns are most likely to be used against a member of a household than an intruder.
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