Drizzt
Member
Precautions can keep guns away from kids
A man shows his 14-year-old stepdaughter one of his unloaded handguns, and the first thing she thinks is, "What would it be like to pull the trigger?"
As if reading her mind, the man said, "Satisfy your curiosity now."
After double checking that the gun was not loaded, he handed her the weapon. The girl pointed the gun at a wall and pulled the trigger. Afterward, the gun was nestled again in its hiding place. There was no trauma, no tragedy, just a story more than 20 years after the fact.
But what if the girl had found the gun on her own, as children and teens are wont to do, and no adult was present? What if the gun had been loaded? The ending of the story might have been different.
Adults keep guns for many reasons, including personal protection and sports. But children and free access to guns don't mix.
Ideally, children would stay away from guns when warned or tell an adult if they see a gun. But anyone who has seen a 3-year-old use a chair and climb cabinets to get to a candy jar knows otherwise. Adults should not underestimate a child's ability to get into things they shouldn't, even (or especially) when warned.
Gun safety education can help, but it is also a good idea for gun owners to take safety precautions when storing firearms. It makes sense to keep the weapon and ammunition separate, keep the gun in a locked cabinet and use gun locks.
Increased gun safety awareness might be having an effect. Firearm deaths per 100,000 people have decreased over the past three decades. The overall rate went from 13.1 in 1970 to 10.4 in 2003, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
For children, the results are more mixed. Deaths for age 14 and under decreased, but fatalities increased slightly for ages 15 to 19. The center's tables don't specify whether the deaths were accidental or intentional.
Accidental shootings make up a small portion of gun deaths for ages 19 and under, according the National Safety Council. But no family wants to be one of those statistics, no matter how infrequent.
One way to reduce gun deaths is to take Project ChildSafe up on its offer of free gun locks. Today is the last day the organization is giving away the devices at the Tippecanoe Mall.
Another way is for parents and children to learn more about gun safety. A Google search on child gun safety yields more than 16 million hits.
Safety measures can be a bit of a hassle. But preventing gun accidents is worth the inconvenience.
Gun lock giveaway
Project ChildSafe will continue to give away gun locks today. A representative of the organization will be at the inside entrance to Dick's Sporting Goods from noon to 5 p.m.
For more information, go to www.projectchildsafe.org.
Other programs
Eddie Eagle (National Rifle Association): www.nrahq.org/safety/eddie/
Common Sense about Kids and Guns: www.kidsandguns.org
http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060607/OPINION01/606070302
A man shows his 14-year-old stepdaughter one of his unloaded handguns, and the first thing she thinks is, "What would it be like to pull the trigger?"
As if reading her mind, the man said, "Satisfy your curiosity now."
After double checking that the gun was not loaded, he handed her the weapon. The girl pointed the gun at a wall and pulled the trigger. Afterward, the gun was nestled again in its hiding place. There was no trauma, no tragedy, just a story more than 20 years after the fact.
But what if the girl had found the gun on her own, as children and teens are wont to do, and no adult was present? What if the gun had been loaded? The ending of the story might have been different.
Adults keep guns for many reasons, including personal protection and sports. But children and free access to guns don't mix.
Ideally, children would stay away from guns when warned or tell an adult if they see a gun. But anyone who has seen a 3-year-old use a chair and climb cabinets to get to a candy jar knows otherwise. Adults should not underestimate a child's ability to get into things they shouldn't, even (or especially) when warned.
Gun safety education can help, but it is also a good idea for gun owners to take safety precautions when storing firearms. It makes sense to keep the weapon and ammunition separate, keep the gun in a locked cabinet and use gun locks.
Increased gun safety awareness might be having an effect. Firearm deaths per 100,000 people have decreased over the past three decades. The overall rate went from 13.1 in 1970 to 10.4 in 2003, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
For children, the results are more mixed. Deaths for age 14 and under decreased, but fatalities increased slightly for ages 15 to 19. The center's tables don't specify whether the deaths were accidental or intentional.
Accidental shootings make up a small portion of gun deaths for ages 19 and under, according the National Safety Council. But no family wants to be one of those statistics, no matter how infrequent.
One way to reduce gun deaths is to take Project ChildSafe up on its offer of free gun locks. Today is the last day the organization is giving away the devices at the Tippecanoe Mall.
Another way is for parents and children to learn more about gun safety. A Google search on child gun safety yields more than 16 million hits.
Safety measures can be a bit of a hassle. But preventing gun accidents is worth the inconvenience.
Gun lock giveaway
Project ChildSafe will continue to give away gun locks today. A representative of the organization will be at the inside entrance to Dick's Sporting Goods from noon to 5 p.m.
For more information, go to www.projectchildsafe.org.
Other programs
Eddie Eagle (National Rifle Association): www.nrahq.org/safety/eddie/
Common Sense about Kids and Guns: www.kidsandguns.org
http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060607/OPINION01/606070302
