child gun safety

[lucky1]

I can not find any statistics of child related gun accidents (in the home) where the firearm was stored a properly. Does anyone know of a study? Every study I could find is flawed in some way (i.e. including everyone under the age of 24, gang related crime, etc.)

[LorDiego01]

Penn & Teller's B.S. episode on Gun Control (Search for "Penn & Teller" on Google Video) quote it at somewhere around 150 a year.

[Archiver]

Is it a trick question? If the gun is stored properly there SHOULD be ZERO accidents...otherwise it WAS stored improperly! Right?

[Siobhra]

And what do you call an accident?
My grandson got hurt in a gun accident this last Sunday with my gun.

He ran up to hug me and banged his head on my gun which was on my hip. He got a little black and blue mark on his forehead.

[DrakinClaw]

You can never have to much safety with firearms and children, being single and owning, is completly different, than having a child and also owning a firearm. There are a whole new list of rules one must follow to make sure you and your family are safe. Just make sure it not too hard to get at if you needed to in a rush Im glad your grandson didnt get too hurt, at least a black and blue will disapear
Drak

[Frenchy]

When I was growing up in Northern Quebec, there where 3 things that stood by the entrance door, 1: Dad's 30-06, 2: my .22 cooey and my .177 air rifle. There where other guns around the house for hunting, but these where the ones right near the door for shooting every day.

As most people at the time had hunting rifles in their homes, my friends where not attracted to play with them, as they all had their own.

I was allowed a new box of .22 per week, and a 500 pellet box as well, the .22 was for when dad or an other adult was there to watch, the .177 any time I wanted.

There where rules, and if I did not obey these rules, they did not remove the rifle, they only did not replenish my ammo that week.

Did any one get hurt with them during my youth? No, but a cousin of mine did receive a rock behind the head once. We would take baseball bats and bat small rocks into the lake some 150 feet down and 75 feet away, I was not aiming at him, he simply ran across the path I was batting at.

Tin cans were my target of choice, Mind you 12 gauge hulls made nice targets too during hunting season.
What I am basically saying is that having guns in our home, even if they where in the open and bullets right next to them was not unusual, and not a safety hazard, not one of my friends would of thought of pulling a gun on some one else because we where shown how to use them, and what not to use them on, IE: pointing at people, would get the gun removed, never happened to me, birds and squirrels where out, One rule was if you don’t intend on eating it, and its not a snake, mouse or rat, don’t shoot it windows meant a good spanking and no ammo for a while, and anything else was on the spot judgment. Generally a severe spanking and no ammo, some times even removing of the ammo I already stockpiled.

When we moved to Florida, I was 7 years old, the first thing I missed was being able to shoot. I couldn’t even have my pellet gun there. When I returned from Florida, I was 12, and a Pellet gun is the first thing I asked for. As I was living with my sister and Brother in Law who believe in Hunting, I was given my pellet gun back. Same one I had before. Same rules applied, and I remembered them well, still do to this day.

Dad had a .32 pistol, I remember playing with it once, then being allowed to watch as he shot it at some thing close by, and then getting a good spanking for playing with a gun I was not authorized to touch. A good spanking to me meant much more then words did, unless they came from my mom, her words usually sounded like “Dad will be home Friday…” this meant I had a spanking coming… One nice thing about mom, I usually was able to do a good deed, and she would “forget” about Friday… Washing the floor on my knees was a good deed, cabin was 40’ X 32… but it kept the ammo in its place and the “Friday” threat would disappear. Only one member of my family in Canada hides the gun he owns, (a brother in law) As a Mater of fact, last time I was there, I found it under the mattress I was sleeping on, kind of lumpy. He had forgotten he hid it there, My other Brother in Law and my Brother both display theirs in gun cabinets and never worried about the “kids” getting in to them, as their kids also had guns and respected them.

Gun safety is not about hiding guns, its about teaching people how to use them responsibly, its about respecting others and respecting a tradition. A child that knows he can participate in shooting and learn the responsibilities of maintaining his gun, and know the rights to this gun can be removed, will not be a danger in the home. I believe once a child is at the proper age to learn, learning what a gun is, and how to use one should be a basic step in his/her education. Teach them properly at that age and it will stay with them for ever.

[Tomcat088]

I know alot of people will disagree, but my home was sort of the same way Frenchy. I grew up in West Texas, where all of us had guns, and had always been shooting guns. I fired a .223 at age 3 with my dad helping me shoulder it he had his shoulder behind mine, and me lining up the sights and firing. Growing up my dad never had a gun safe, and nobody would have ever thought of breaking into our house (neighbors might have shot someone if they were, lol). I was always taught not to touch a gun or go near a gun unless my parents were around to supervise it and handed it to me. Don't go show my friends our guns or let them touch it. As I got older I too had a bb and pellet gun which I could shoot when I wanted as long as I was safe and not killing things that I didn't eat. Not once did a dog, cat, window or anything else get shot or broken that I would have gotten in trouble for. When I get older and have children though, I will own a gun safe and have most of them put up. Partly because someone could come in and steal them, but also because my children's friends, nieces/nephews, etc, might come over who have no experience with guns and bad things could happen. I do think it's interesting though that you can be raised with guns lying around and no incidents arise from this, because to some people this is impossible. I think that the safest safety is what's between your ears and if you take care of that, then it drastically reduces the things that can happen.