Feb 6, 2008 11:27 pm US/Eastern
Murders Spark Debate Over Guns In The Home
COCKEYSVILLE, Md. (WJZ) ―
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A picture perfect family is shattered and a 15-year-old is at the center of the crime.
CBS
A picture perfect family is shattered and a 15-year-old is at the center of the crime. Police say he went on a rampage, using his father's gun to kill his parents and brothers inside their home in Baltimore County.
Across this country, thousands of families keep guns in their homes.
Mike Hellgren reports on the dangers--your rights versus your risks.
Nicholas Browning was an all-American teenager--an honor student and a Boy Scout. He lived with two brothers, his dad--a well-respected attorney--and a loving mom.
"They were a model, all-American, apple pie and ice cream family," said Steve Jones, co-chair of the boys' lacrosse program in Cockeysville.
Until one night last week, when police say the teenager snapped and used his father's own gun to kill him, his mother and younger brothers.
He spent the next day-and-a-half with friends, as if nothing had happened.
Police will not say how or if the gun was secured or how Nicholas even got ahold of it.
But had the gun not been in the home, would the Browning family still be alive? It's a question that may never be answered, but this tragedy does highlight the debate over handguns and their dangers in the hands of children.
Daniel Webster is co-chair of John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy.
"If a gun is readily available, you're talking about lethal consequences and real tragedies," he said.
Anti-gun groups point to a 1998 study by the Journal of Trauma that says guns kept in the home for protection are used 22 times more often to kill someone you know rather than kill someone in self-defense.
But the National Rifle Association contends gun accidents are at a record low and guns kept in the home are used against criminals five times more than they are to commit crimes.
Webster says it's rare for a teen to turn a gun on his own family, and most who do have a violent past.
Nicholas Browning had no juvenile record and no known mental problems, but he was at a vulnerable age.
"There's difficulty in impulse control, fully understanding consequences of an act. The brain, frankly, is not fully formed until you're into your young adulthood," Webster said.
Eyewitness News has reported this tragedy is the second time gun violence hit the Browning family.
In 1973, John Browning's younger brother accidentally shot and killed their sister in the family's home.
"Neighbors may say `I had no idea.' Well, a lot of families keep their problems very private," Webster said.
Maryland law requires guns be kept secure and out of the reach of children. With so many questions about exactly what happened inside the Browning's home, it's unclear whether anything could have been done to prevent it.
"I knew Nick, and he wouldn't be able to do something like this," a student said.
"I don't even think I would be close to qualified to explain how something this devastating could happen," one of John Browning's coworkers said.
What is clear is the overwhelming pain from the loss of four lives and another whose fate hangs in the balance.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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