There were, of course, two victims in this week's accidental shooting of an 8-year-old girl at a Bremerton elementary school. Both the girl, and the 9-year-old boy who brought a loaded handgun to school in his backpack. The pictures and accounts of the boy appearing in court in his orange prison jumpsuit are heartbreaking.

According to news reports it sounds like the boy probably got the gun from mother's house, with whom he had visitation over the weekend. But if true, even though she's clearly the person most responsible for this tragedy, it's not clear that she'll be charged with any crime.

In Olympia, the Seattle Democrat who chairs the state Senate Judiciary Committee said there is a lapse in state law. "We do not hold people very accountable in this state for leaving guns around the house with small children," Sen. Adam Kline said.

Kline said that he would consider a bill to address it during the next legislative session next year, but didn't sound hopeful of its chances.

Not hopeful, presumably, because Republicans and some conservative Dems have a strong record of opposing any legislation with a hint of gun control to it, even sensible legislation that attempts to make people responsible for their own deadly weapons.

Whatever. The point is, statistically, a gun in the house is much more likely to be used against you or your family than against an intruder. So if you want to keep your children safer, don't keep a gun in the house, because without access to a gun, there's no way your child can shoot a schoolmate, a neighbor, a sibling, or himself.