Improving the Gun Safety Odds

The airwaves are filled with talk of what to do about the two boys, just 11 and 13 years old, suspected of killing four students and a teacher and wounding a number of others in Arkansas Tuesday. Key topics: How much time would they serve if found responsible? Could or should they be tried as adults?

Scant attention is being paid to something that might help prevent other murderous rampages: national legislation, similar to California’s, that would allow prosecution of irresponsible parents and other adults who leave guns within reach of children under 14. The California law carries a penalty of up to three years in prison.

The Jonesboro case provides an unfortunate example of this need. The suspects allegedly tried to break into the gun vault of the 11-year-old’s father but failed even with a torch and chisel, according to the grandfather. But he did admit on camera Wednesday that his own gun collection was not as secure, and that is where the suspects allegedly obtained at least some of their weapons.

What if they had been blocked twice or three times in their quest? Or delayed for 30 more minutes? Their rage might have cooled a notch, or an adult might have taken notice. There are no guarantees in these sorts of laws, only better odds. They don’t substitute, of course, for grappling with the social breakdowns that produce children capable of killing children.

Restrictions on firearms figure to be a tough sell in parts of the nation where receipt of one’s first hunting rifle is an honored rite of passage. That includes states like Arkansas, where children can own a rifle or shotgun several years before they can vote, drive a car or buy cigarettes.

That’s why it’s important to pursue federal legislation now, as the horror of “fledgling socipaths” again grips the nation. And where better to start than the California congressional delegation, whose state already has such a law?