Keep Your Children Safe by Teaching Gun Safety

Considering the dangers involved with handling firearms along with the fact that more and more guns are making their way into the wrong hands, gun safety is especially important to teach to children. If a gun is in a home for personal protection it should be stored properly and out of the reach of children. Deaths from firearms are the leading cause of death in children as most of the incidents that cause injury are not intentional. Therefore teaching children about gun safety is extremely important.

There are a large number of children that are injured by guns every year. Even though most injuries by firearms occur in children of the adolescent age many young children and infants are affected as well. If a young child sees a gun, and are not aware that it’s something they shouldn’t touch, they may play with it. This happens far too often in the home and needs to be addressed by teaching gun safety to children early on.

In the United States it is estimated that there are firearms in almost half of the homes. Even if this estimate is inflated it still means there are many homes that have guns, which makes gun safety extremely important. Predominately the firearms are for reasons of safety and protection but it is more likely that you will injure or kill a family member or friend than an intruder in the home.

Considering that there have been so many injuries and death from guns in the home there are now gun safety programs set up to teach parents as well as children the importance of gun safety.  One of the gun safety programs is called the Eddie Eagle program from the National Rifle Association (NRA). This safety program tells children step by step how to deal with a gun if they come across one, the steps are, Stop! Don’t Touch, Leave the Area, and Tell an Adult. This simplistic method is one that should be taught to all children, as all three steps are important aspects in gun safety. There is a program called “Keep Your Family Safe from Firearm Injury” that is sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics. This gun safety program is for the parents as it urges them that the best gun safety measure is to not have a firearm in the house.

Safe storage of a gun should be a priority if choosing to have a gun in the home. A safe or even a locked drawer should be used, as anything without a lock on it is unsafe. Children are inquisitive and will look in places all over the house. If a lock is in place it takes away the chance that the child will be able to find the firearm. Our local township sponsors a gun safety program that offers free gun locks to local homeowners. These are steel cable-type locks, and once in place, no one can fire the gun. This is probably the safest thing you can do for gun safety in the home. Even if a child found the gun, the lock would render the weapon useless.

Keeping your children safe and sound is not only your responsibility it needs to be your priority. Becoming more informed about how to keep your gun stored far away from small hands is essential.