YOUR CHILD AND GUNS
Dr. Joyce W. Teal
Even people who don’t read newspapers or listen to newscasts have probably heard about the six-year-old child who shot the teacher. Few people, if any, know how the child got access to the gun or who the adult(s) are who made it possible for this to happen.
According to Harvard Health, every day, 78 children, teens, and young adults are injured or killed by guns in the U.S. The risk of death by suicide is four to 10 times higher in homes with guns. Firearms are used in 50% of all suicides, and 42% of youth suicides. One in three homes with children in the U.S. has a gun. Children as young as 3 years old may be strong enough to
SHOOT A GUN.
It’s important to teach your children the basic rules of behavior around guns, even if there’s no gun in your home. If you or your child is around a gun or a person with a gun, you should:
- Stop what you’re doing. Upon seeing a gun, your child should instinctively stop what he or she is doing and focus on the gun and who is holding And this won’t happen if you have not prepared your child for the situation before it happens.
- It’s important to teach your children the basic rules of behavior around guns. Don’t wait until it happens. If you or your child is around a gun or a person with a gun, you should teach your child to say something like, “Let’s go do something else. Let’s go do something outside.”
- Your child doesn’t need to preach or lecture friends about gun They just need to remove him or herself from the situation.
- Instead, they should stop what they are doing, leave the area, and find an adult to alert them of the gun’s
- Reiterate that playing with guns carries consequences, and that’s why it’s important not to handle them without adult consent and supervision. If nothing else, your child should understand this point
No one needs to tell you that a gun is a very powerful and potentially deadly machine. But it is also a predictable, machine. There’s no need to be afraid of a gun, but just like driving a car, using a stove, or operating any machine, it’s important to follow the same basic rules every time you use it. You won’t always agree with everyone about guns, and that’s okay.
If you have a gun in your home, store the gun unloaded and locked up. Do not give your child or teen the passcode or keys to access the gun. Make sure that your child or teen understands that it is never okay to handle a gun without a responsible adult there. Teach your child or teen to assume a gun is loaded and never to point a gun at someone.
Finally, accept that safety is everyone’s responsibility. Whether you do it in a class or at home, teaching gun safety is an important parental duty, even for the anti-gun parent. If every parent would take a few minutes and teach their child what to do when they come in contact with a firearm, then accidental child gun deaths in America would drop precipitously.
