ONE SHOT! https://www.freedom-weapons.com/ – Gun Safes and Parent Education Save Lives
As a father, and like the majority of fathers, I wake each day and consider my children, knowing I am going to be able to talk to them, maybe even give them some useful advice, sometimes hear them tell me I’m a dinosaur and most importantly know they’re there to cuddle and love. My greatest fear and I’m sure I speak for all parents who love their children is that certain of my kids should expire before me.
For some, articles on accidental gun deaths and injuries to children and the associated appeals for gun safety is really a recurring theme that has been done so often it no longer has any impact for readers. For families that have experienced the tragedy of child gun deaths and injuries this complacency about gun safety can’t ever be tolerated. Nor can it be tolerated until we stop seeing newspaper headlines like the Associated Press article posted on 14th March 2012.
“Death of Washington boy third gun accident in 3 weeks”
It really is only March 2012 and here we have the tragic story of a three year old that shot himself in the head with a gun left in his parent’s car. Police said the death of the three year old highlights the necessity for a greater knowing of firearm safety and for folks to secure guns. This was the third accidental child shooting in three weeks two which have already been fatal. The week before a seven year old girl was killed when a sibling found and fired a gun left unattended in an automobile and a in February an eight year old girl was critically wounded when a gun fired inside the backpack of a 9-year-old boy as he wear it a desk.
One shot from an unsecured firearm and family life is turned ugly. The reverberations from that single fatal shot aren’t confined to the unimaginable guilt and grief experienced within the four walls of the family home, but has serious psychological, economic, and social consequences on the child’s friends, families, and communities. The occurrence of that one shot can often be traced back to parents incorrectly assuming the youngster is educated about gun safety, misconceptions about children’s capability to tell the difference between a genuine gun and toy gun and a belief the youngster knows not to handle a genuine gun.
M.S. Hardy in his article, ‘A firearm safety program for children: They just can’t say no’, noted; ‘It is difficult to persuade children and adolescents to remain from guns or behave responsibly around them. Young children and the ones in elementary school frequently lack the opportunity to judge their probable risk of injury, identify hazardous situations, spot ways to prevent injury, or apply safety lessons they have learned in a classroom to real life.’
In a single experiment preschool children and their parents attended a session when a officer discussed the dangers of guns and asked children to promise to never touch one. After the session, the kids were videotaped playing in a room where toy and real guns were hidden. Despite their promises, the kids who had attended the class found and played with real guns at virtually the same rate as children who had received no instruction. Compounding this issue are studies that show 85% of parents who own guns usually do not practice safe gun storage.
What this kind of research does indicate is that gun safety education aimed solely at children is not the answer, but rather identifies the necessity for a layered method of gun safety education that not merely includes gun safety education for parents but also for friends and acquaintances that have guns in their home. Keeping children safe from gun accidents starts in the home. Should you have a gun store it unloaded in a gun safe or pistol safe, store ammunition separate to guns and continually reinforce children with the message that guns aren’t toys and are NOT to be touched.