Gun Safety Guide

Protect Your Children - Empty and Lock Your Guns
By Vincent Iannelli, M.D., About.com
Updated: June 14, 2006
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by Kate Grossman, MD
Most parents are concerned about the safety of their children, and do their best to provide them with a safe environment, including using car seats, seat belts, life preservers, bicycle helmets and gates on stairs, etc. Too many parents forget about gun safety though.
Having a gun in your home, especially if it is not stored properly, can be a significant risk factor for injury and death in children. In fact, firearm related injuries are a leading cause of death in children, and include deaths from unintentional injuries, homicide and suicide.
Between 1994 and 1998, 6,287 children committed suicide with a firearm and an additional 1,896 children were killed by unintentional gun injuries in the United States. All together, 23,776 children under age 19 died from a gun related injury during these years, which is equal to 13 children a day. (source: CDC National Injury Mortality Statistics1)
An even larger number of children are hurt by nonfatal gun related injuries. Although gun related injuries peak in adolescence, they can affect infants and younger children too. Younger children are most likely to be injured, either shooting themselves or a playmate, after playing with a gun that they have found in the home, not realizing that the gun is real or that it is loaded.
It is estimated that there are guns in half of all of the homes in the United States. Although most of these guns are purchased for safety reasons, it is important to keep in mind that a firearm in the home is much more likely (up to 43 times more likely in some reports) to kill or injure a family member or friend than an intruder.
Because of the number of injuries from guns, which many say has reached epidemic levels, programs have been developed to educate parents and children about gun safety. These include the Eddie Eagle gun safety program from the National Rifle Association, which educates children who find a gun to 'Stop! Don't Touch. Leave the Area. Tell an Adult.' The American Academy of Pediatrics also has a 'Keep Your Family Safe from Firearm Injury' program that educates parents about gun safety and advises 'the safest thing is to not have a gun in your home, especially not a handgun.'
Many parents incorrectly assume that their child is educated about gun safety, can tell the difference between a real gun and a toy gun, and would know not to handle a real gun. A study in the June 2001 issue of Pediatrics showed this to not be true.
In this study, 'Seeing is Believing: What Do Boys Do When They Find a Real Gun?,' 29 groups of boys aged 8-12 years were observed in a room where a gun was hidden. Many of the children found and handled the gun, and half of the children actually pulled the trigger.
Most of the children that handled the found gun and pulled the trigger had previously received gun safety education. This study helps to prove that to keep your children safe and prevent firearm related injuries, it is important to restrict their access to guns, either by not having a gun in the home or by storing it properly.
Proper storage of a gun includes keeping the gun in a gun safe, lock box, or a locked cabinet or drawer. The gun should also be stored unloaded with the bullets locked separately.
A gun put in a shoe box on the top shelf of a closet is not considered to be a safely stored gun. Neither is a gun placed under the mattress or somewhere else where your child 'would never look for it.' Children are naturally curious and if a gun is not stored properly, there is a good chance that a child may find it and injure himself or someone else.
Other steps you can take to ensure gun safety include:
Use a gun lock or trigger lock.
Make sure that your children do not have access to the keys used to lock your guns and bullets.
Teach your children to not handle guns without adult supervision.
Avoid letting your children play with realistic toy guns and nonpowder firearms, such as pellet guns, air guns, air rifles and BB guns.Even if you don't have a gun in your own home, it is important to educate your children about firearm safety in case they discover a gun outside the home or in the homes of their friends. They should know the 4 steps of the Eddie Eagle gun safety program, including:
Stop!
Don't Touch.
Leave the Area.
Tell an Adult.You should also discuss gun safety with other parents or family members if your child spends time in their homes. It is not enough to assume that if they do have guns in the house, then they have them stored properly.
As the American Academy of Pediatrics states in their book, 'Injury Prevention and Control for Children and Youth,' the 'risks of hangun ownership outweight the benefits.' If you have children in your house, then consider getting rid of your guns. If you must have a gun in the house, then at least learn to store it properly.
If you do decide that you want to get rid of your guns to protect your children, you can look to see if a gun 'buy back' type program is available in your area. Or call the non-emergency number of your local police department and ask if they will pick it up.
Many communities also have free gun lock and/or trigger lock give away programs.