[Rodney King]

You can help protect your own families by being prudent about your own guns, but what can you do to protect them when they go to a friend's house

You can teach them how to properly handle firearms. That way, when the dufus kid says "let's play with my dad's gun", your kid will say no. If the dufus kid pulls it out anyway, your kid can say "Wait, let me check to make sure that it is not loaded" and he will know how to do so.

[neefer]

I couldn't agree with you more. Educate children about firearm use is what adults can do about it. Remember this post? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/550029/posts.
I wrote the teacher of that 4th grade class a letter about the "evils" of toy guns: On Memorial Day, my family took the children outside after dinner to “play” with cap guns. Three adults supervised five children ranging from ages 4 to 6 years. If one of the children did not abide by the rules, their gun was taken away. Those rules were: Don’t fire in the garage or when you’re near someone else because it’s too loud. Hold your arms out straight and away from yourself when you fire. Aim at something, like a tire, and never at another person. Collectively my family feels that toy guns are a necessity to teach children respect and proper use of a firearm before they’re old enough to use one.

[Crustacean]

Or, even better, you can train and arm your kids so that they are in a better position to return fire.

[Marysecretary]

He did know how to handle firearms safely. All the boys were taught by their father and grandfather. I'm not sure how the accident happened, but ....