An argument between two children over puppies turned tragic Saturday when an 11-year-old boy allegedly killed his 8-year-old neighbor with a shotgun, according to authorities in Jefferson County, Tennessee. The 11-year-old has been charged with first-degree murder in the girl’s death, Jefferson County Sheriff Bud McCoig told The Washington Post. Authorities aren’t releasing the names of either child, but Latasha Dyer told ABC affiliate WATE that her daughter, MaKayla, was killed.

Many questions are posed, considering both children in the incident being so young. How did the boy find the gun? Was there a gun safe? Should the boy be tried as an adult? How do you send an 11-year-old child to prison, for life? Sparking yet another gun control debate throughout America, this story is getting quite the attention from the media. Of course people are marking down yet another gun incident to take away guns, but are we looking at the big picture? Honestly, no. We are so adamant that taking the guns away will stop the mass killings, accidents and incidents such as these, but does that mean we take away kitchen knifes too? No. Although, I must agree that it is essential for us to find some way of solving this problem and taking precautions more seriously, but I do not think taking guns away will solve the ‘big problem.’

Along with the debate that arose from the incident, comes parenting questions. These are children, so why was the gun available to the child? Reporters have stated that the boy received the gun from an unlocked gun safe. So why was the gun safe left unlocked? More importantly, why was the gun safe unlocked with a loaded weapon in it? These are questions I cannot answer, but I would love to hear the answers to. Is it time that we start making a gun safety class part of our state curriculum? Personally, I don’t think that is the answer, but a big piece to the puzzle is teaching your child about gun safety if you are going to leave a loaded weapon in your home.

There are many ways that these incidents can be prevented, we just need to actually take the time to go through the process of doing and teaching the precautions. Issues such as gun control are important and for most people, it is a matter of being educated. So educate yourself and the ones around you, we, as a nation simply cannot afford to put out another list of names, stories or incidents such as this one.