How in the world did the father allow this? At least f the girl had been educated, she might have known not to touch a gun, even if it somehow DID get within reach of her.
I realize that I'm just speculating, but this tragedy obviously could have been avoided in several different ways.
Having said that, I don't believe in punishing parents for a horrible accident such as this. There's nothing worse than the grief they're already experiencing, and there's consequently no need for society to pile on...
My kids knew about gun safety at a young age. I had taken my daughter shooting when she was around four and bought her a cricket 22lr. I could leave a gun out and my daughter would not touch it. My son, who is younger than my daughter, is a different story. I taught him gun safety but I kept everything locked up when he came along. I did not take him shooting until he was ten. I did not trust him to listen to me.
Perhaps the only punninshment in such cases would be that they could not get a gun permit for a set amount of years, and then after classes. I agree, they should not be locked up for it. Very little remains secret these days when the incident involves children and violence due to abuse or negligence. Now everybody knows about one of the worst days in the life of this family.