NRA News host Cam Edwards
Media Matters
NRA News host Cam Edwards attacked laws to prevent children from accessing guns by positing that there should be no criminal penalty even when an admittedly careless adult allows a child access to a gun that the child then uses to kill themselves.
On the January 6 edition of NRA News program Cam & Company, Edwards attacked Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America founder Shannon Watts for advocating for state laws that create a criminal penalty for adults that negligently allow children access to firearms. In an interview with USA Today, Watts cited the fact that only 15 states have child access prevention laws and contended, "This idea that a shooting that involves a toddler is accidental is asinine. If I was drinking and driving and hit my son, I would immediately go to jail. But if I left my firearm on the top of the refrigerator and he found it and shot himself, everyone says, what a horrible accident." Edwards responded to Watts' USA Today interview by suggesting that if "you are careless with a firearm and one of your own children accidentally kills themself" that the "horror" of the incident alone would be sufficient punishment for the adult. But in arguing against laws that criminalize negligently allowing children to access guns, Edwards ignores that research has shown that these laws are associated with a reduction in gun deaths among children resulting from accidents and suicide. Mocking Watts' comparison between a child access prevention law and a law that criminalizes killing someone while drunk driving, Edwards said, "We don't have a negligent storage law for alcohol," and, "We don't have a negligent storage law for automobiles, and so I'm not quite sure what she is talking about." But state criminal laws governing the storage of dangerous items are hardly uncommon. For example, Michigan has a number of criminal laws concerning the improper storage of hazardous materials with increased penalties for conduct that endangers the public.
My opinion is that safe storage laws must apply to all. The half-a-million stolen guns a year demand it.
But how the gun nuts can possibly object to the extremely reasonable suggestions of Shannon Watts is beyond me. And when a smart-ass talk show host mocks her it really shows what kind of people they are.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
