I won't argue that, L. That's why my family makes DAMNED sure all of the kids -- boys and girls -- attend (and pass!) hunter safety courses as soon as they're old enough. That's why all of the firearms are securely locked up and any ammunition is stored seperately, in a locked container. Perhaps that's why our family's last gun "accident" occurred in 1948 -- when my uncle, a veteran of the Pacific Theater, fired a .22 bullet into the ceiling of my grandmother's kitchen.

That's also why my mother sent all of her kids to gun safety classes when we turned 12 -- in her words, "There are a lot of guns out there, and I want you kids to know which end the bullet comes out of."

A parent who lets a child get ahold of a firearms -- loaded or not -- without adequate adult supervison is criminally negligent.

As for fireworks -- why, we'd NEVER EVER think of those things! We'd never cut up duds and remove the powder, either. We wouldn't remove the bullets from .22 cartridges and pour out the powder, either. We spent most of our youth on our knees in prayer ("Dear Lord, if you let my eyebrows grow back and don't let 'em find out....").