Well, it happened again. The news reported this morning that a father was awakened by a noise in his house. He got up, got his gun, and went searching through the house. He saw something and shot one time. Unfortunately, it was not a burglar...it was his young daughter. That one shot killed her. What a tragedy!

This could have been avoided. When I was just married and we had no children, I kept a loaded revolver in my dresser drawer. Of course, at that time we lived in a pretty bad neighborhood. We finally moved to a much better neighborhood, where we have been now for 18 years.

In our present house, we were burglarized twice in a 5 year period, and had a car stolen out of our driveway. The first time they broke in, they stole my gun. I purchased another one, so that I could protect my wife and myself(no children yet).

When my first child was born, I started putting my gun in the top of the closet so that it was way out of reach. The second time we were broken in to, the burglar(s) found that gun and took it also. I never had it replaced. It has been over 15 years since I have had a weapon in my house. Although, I want to protect my family, I guess I'll take my chances and use the billy club that I keep by my bed.

Too many homeowners that have guns do not think before they shoot. When that happens, tragedy is imminent.

Yes. Any time someone, especially a child, gets shot, it is tragic.

However, the Oklahoma "make my day" law clearly states that in order to protect yourself, home, and family, before firing a firearm, you must verbally warn the person to halt and order them and give them a chance to surrender. Otherwise, it is manslaughter. It sounds as if this man did NOT follow the law. Therefore, although not intending (we must presume) to shoot her, he committed manslaughter.

In addition. Firearms in the home are fine. Teach your children they are not toys. Teach them not to touch them. I saw on a mini series one time a man taking a .45 revolver from his son. He told his son to watch him, then pointed the weapon toward a watermelon and then fired. It shattered the watermelon into zillions of pieces, scaring the crapola out of his son. He then told his son to take the weapon and place it where he found it. The son refused. The man then showed his son how to properly handle the weapon, and the son took it. The miniseries was called "Chiefs," and the man was played by Wayne Rogers.

It is NOT the weapon. It is education and disipline. My dad, to this day, has a German Lugar he confisacted from a German soldier in Normandy. I have yet to this day to touch that weapon. Why? I was taught not to... Properly.

Also. Had the man had a trigger lock on the weapon, granted the girl would still be alive. However, had she been an armed intruder with intentions to kill, HE would have been the dead one.

Yes. I feel for the family and they have my sympathy. However, by proper procedure, this could have been avoided.

I totally agree that education and discipline are what's needed when anyone owns a gun. My mother used to tell me that you're always hearing about someone's gun being taken from them and them getting killed. Well, believe me, no one would get that close because the first thing out of my mouth would be "Stop or I'll shoot" and I will. Even though I don't have kids, I still have educated myself concerning my weapon and know the proper way to protect me and my property from intruders. I truly sleep better knowing I could defend myself if need be.

Thanks for sharing this story with us Keith.

I fully agree with everyone here. Education is the key.

Mr. Anderson, I tend to wonder about the "Make My Day" law. Is that really practical. I mean really, if there's a robber in my house, and he's armed, am I really going to sit there and warn the person to hault and surrender? My first instinct would be to protect my family and shoot the intruder.

What people need to do is be more aware of what they're doing. Before you pick up your weapon, make sure it's really an intruder.

Again this all goes back to education. Too many people own fire arms that just don't know what they're doing with them.

Suzi, I think your comments pretty much sum up my thoughts on this issue. I couldn't have stated it better myself.

Regardless, I'm with Keith. The billy club works for me! But to each his own!

Patrick: think about this. You are asleep. Your wife or kids are gone, however, you do not know when to expect them. They come home noisier than usual. You, not knowing they are home, whip out your Smith & Wesson and head for the kitchen. You see a person in the dark, not knowing who it is. You shoot.... You just killed your family.

Or this. You hear something and whip out the Smith & Wesson and go hunting for an intruder. You fire, but this guy turns out to be unarmed. He is dead. You are wearing a set of bracelets crying in a black and white lemo because you killed an unarmed person.

Without following make my day, these can and DO happen. Plus, if you DO warn the person and they pull their Smith & Wesson, you fire first. How many shots do you fire? One? Do you clean out the chamber? Without proper firearms training, which make my day requires, you might just be killed because you did not fire enough rounds to bring the intruder down. One is not enough. That is why you hear about a cop firing six rounds into a suspect.

Make my day is for your protection. Not only for your life, but for your mental health AND your freedom.

Think about it, and...

Yeah, you make good points! I see where you're coming from now. Thanks for the explanation.