I Agree with other comments that gun education is important, as it can prevent careless mistakes. but any parent who keeps guns in the house where small children can get them without anyone noticing is a moron. YDI for doing that and not expecting an accident.

also, guns don't kill people. PEOPLE kill people. don't blame the gun. blame the PERSON holding it, or in this case, the person careless enough to let someone who had no idea what they were doing get a hold of it. regardless, fact is there are bad people out there and if they really want to kill someone, even if we took away all the guns, those people would still find a way. a knife, a baseball bat, even an ice sickle can be deadly. point is, it all comes down to the responsibility and fault of the person committing the crime.

also, does number 14 think there's a chance in hell that the airline security would even THINK about letting this person get on a plane the same day after bringing a gun through the airport? EVEN if it was a mistake.

wow the people here are. . .bigoted, it almost seems. A BB gun is not a huge deal. As long as you teach your kids proper gun safety -- for ANY gun -- what's the problem? Keep the ammo locked up in a safe, keep the gun unloaded: no problem. There's having a healthy respect and fear for dangerous weapons (ie, never pointing it at anyone, keeping it unloaded, keeping gun and ammo in separate places), and then there's unreasonable fear. C'mon people, we keep extremely sharp knives in easy to reach places that a curious kid could reach if s/he really wanted to. So why don't you hear about kids killing themselves by accident with butcher knives? Because we teach them that knives are dangerous and shouldn't be touched. Keep the same attitude with guns and you have no problem. In fact, if you keep the ammo locked up the gun would be less dangerous than the knife. Sometimes, sheesh. That's cute. Sucks for you, but cute nontheless. I agree with the other poster to have a chat with your son and tell him that next time talk to you before adding anything to your luggage (or purses, or wallets or whatever for anyone he might think to do that for).

A bb gun is capable of killing an animal, or sending a person to the ER - not life threatening, but can cause injuries you wouldn't want to ignore and that wouldn't be treated at your local doctors office either. If your 5 year old son had access to a bb gun at any time, you deserved this

Everyone saying "guns are bad": NO. Guns are not bad. Guns are not good either. Guns are tools. Tools are morally neutral.

I'm from the south, and I had my own BB gun when I was 5. My dad taught me to shoot and taught me the rules of gun safety. All of my friends have similar stories. None of us have ever had any accidents with weapons, and now I'm a military officer who has used weapons extensively. If all parents taught their kids gun safety and responsible weapons handeling, then there would be A LOT less accidents/incidents.

Well that's karma telling you that your family shouldn't leave out a BB gun where your 5 year old can get to it.

aww!!! thats so cute! but you have to teach him not what things he can or can't touch

Sweet kid, but it's hard to teach children things like that. Just be happy he's very thoughtful, and whatever you do, do not yell at him. Talk to him firmly, but don't yell at him for that. He was just being a good kid.