Should 5-Year-Olds Own Guns?

Two-year-old Caroline Sparks loved playing outside, singing, and her 5-year-old brother, who accidentally shot her to death last week with the .22-caliber rifle he got for his birthday.

CNN reports the children's mother had stepped outside for just a few minutes when the accident occurred. It was the third time in about a month that someone was shot to death by a child under 6.

The boy's gun was a Crickett rifle marketed specifically for young children as "my first rifle," the CNN story said. The gun stocks come in colors such as pink and blue.

Officials in Kentucky noted that gun ownership among young children is common in the area.

“It’s a normal way of life, and it’s not just rural Kentucky, it’s rural America – hunting and shooting and sport fishing. It starts at an early age,” Cumberland County, Ken., Judge Executive John Phelps said in an Associated Press article in the National Post. “There’s probably not a household in this county that doesn’t have a gun.”

Is a rifle an appropriate gift for a 5-year-old? Is any age too young to own a gun? What's the best way to teach children to use weapons responsibly? Share your thoughts in the comments below.