What kind of idiot takes a gun to a playground? Scratch that. What kind of idiot takes a gun to a school playground, drops it, and leaves it for a child to find? That’s not just careless. That’s reckless to the point of criminal stupidity.

That’s exactly what happened in Crystal Lake, Illinois. According to police, a 45-year-old man was at South Elementary School’s playground with his child Tuesday afternoon when he somehow dropped his firearm around 3:50 p.m. Another kid stumbled across it and, thankfully, had the sense to tell their parent. The man was still there when the discovery was made.

He was cited for unlawful possession of a firearm in a school zone. A charge that seems light, considering the situation. Let’s be clear, this wasn’t just a lapse in judgment. Bringing a gun into a school zone is already against the law. Dropping it on a playground where kids run, climb, and play? That’s a disaster narrowly avoided.

And here’s the kicker. The man is a Concealed-Carry License (CCL) holder. You’d think that would mean he had at least a baseline level of competence and responsibility with a firearm. In Illinois, you don’t just grab a gun and go. To qualify for a CCL, you need to be at least 21, possess a valid Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card, complete 16 hours of training, including range qualification, and pass a background check with fingerprinting. The idea is that license holders should represent the most ‘responsible gun owners’™. Clearly, that system doesn’t always weed out the careless and the stupid.

This incident is exactly why not everybody should own a gun. People love to scream about ‘mah rights,’ but rights come with responsibilities. And when you screw up this badly, you should lose the privilege. Full stop. Guns aren’t toys, and kids shouldn’t have to be the ones teaching adults basic safety by finding their discarded weapons on a school playground.

If anything, this case should serve as a reminder that concealed-carry laws and training requirements don’t guarantee competence. All it takes is one moment of negligence, and someone’s kid could end up dead. That’s not hyperbole. That’s reality.

Until gun owners are held accountable with more than just a slap-on-the-wrist citation, stories like this will keep happening. And every time they do, it proves the point that not everyone should own a gun, and those who show they can’t handle the responsibility shouldn’t get a second chance.

(Source)

• CCL holder cited after child finds gun at Crystal Lake elementary school playground: police