Sep 16, 2015 2 min read

Last month, we noted on this page that about one of every six Washington County adults now holds a permit to carry a concealed weapon on his or her person or in a vehicle, and we suggested that those people would be safer leaving their guns at home.

We are confident that the vast majority of gun owners understand that pistols, rifles and shotguns are dangerous weapons that need to be stored properly in the home and kept out of the reach of children.

Nevertheless, there are unfortunate exceptions.

Last week, a Ford City couple was charged with child endangerment for behavior that even the most ardent defenders of the right to bear arms should find appalling.

In August, a 6-year-old boy was shot by his 9-year-old stepbrother in the Armstrong County town 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The child, shot through the collarbone, survived but has not yet regained the use of the fingers of one hand. He is lucky to be alive.

According to state police, the boys’ father routinely left two loaded pistols on the kitchen counter. Because one of them, a .380 caliber Ruger, was equipped with a laser pointer, the boys were permitted to play with it. The father, Christopher McNeely, told police that he left the guns’ magazines loaded but would check to make sure there were no rounds in the firing chamber.

While the father was asleep upstairs and his wife, Crista McNeely, was at work, the older boy was pointing the laser at the family’s dog and at the floor when the gun fired, police said.

After obtaining a search warrant, police found and removed several rifles, shotguns and 8,600 rounds of ammunition from the 9-year-old’s bedroom, where they were stored.

Could anyone defend the actions of these parents? We’d think not, but then again, it wouldn’t surprise us if the National Rifle Association were to cite the charges as yet another infringement of freedom.