While guns are vilified by many, they're tools for saving lives. Yes, they can be used to hurt innocent people, but that's not what they're intended for no matter how much some people try to claim otherwise.

Flare guns, however, are very different. They're not weapons, they're signaling devices. They're for safety, particularly on boats.

That doesn't mean you can leave them lying around, though, which some folks found out the hard way.

A 2-year-old boy was rushed to the hospital after he shot himself with a flare gun in West Little River on Thursday, Miami-Dade Police said.

The child, named Justin, somehow got hold of a flare gun while work was being done on a boat that appeared to be parked in the backyard of a residence on Northwest 103rd Street and Northwest 32nd Place, police said.

The child's grandfather said the flare burned the boy's finger and then bounced off his chest.

The child was taken to the hospital by helicopter and was in critical condition, though the boy's grandfather says he's doing OK and may be able to come home soon.

There was no indication if the kid was being supervised at the time or just what happened beyond him pulling the trigger.

But flare guns, while not weapons, aren't exactly friendly with human skin.

Let's understand that something like a flare gun can't be kept under lock and key. When you need it, you need it right then. Having to fumble with keys in an emergency is the last thing you need to do. You need to have immediate access...well, immediately.

Sounds kind of familiar, when you think about it.

Anyway, a flare gun is also not a weapon. It's a tool for sending a distress signal. It lets people know not just that someone's in trouble but where to find them, but locked away, it does nothing.

And somehow, a kid gained access to the thing. No, we don't know how, but I can't help but think that if this had been a firearm--and no, kids who get hold of firearms aren't automatically going to kill themselves or others. Plenty don't get a scratch and others only get injured--the report would be filled with all kinds of people talking about how guns should be legally required to be locked up.

But, it was a flare gun.

Regardless of any political considerations, I'm glad the child is doing alright and will be home soon. I hope there wasn't any lasting damage and that the recovery will be swift and total.

This does remind us, though, to take care with anything that can be dangerous when small children are nearby. Curious hands will find a way to get hold of just about anything you don't want them to have, after all. We spend so much of their early life trying to keep them alive, immediately followed by a stage when they're robust enough to survive the routine and seem determined to find out just how immortal they have become.

The answer is, "Not very, but let's not demonstrate that, K?"

Let's hope this boy, and the adults supervising him (assuming there were any) learned the limits and won't test them in the future.