I recently was looking up firearms safety rules for a friend and kept running across articles on how or what to teach your kids about guns. Invariably the articles began with something like "We don't keep guns in our house, but such-and-such percent of homes have guns in them, and this is what you should teach your kids in case they find a gun at someone else's house." They then went on to suggest a set of rules for gun owning parents to follow to keep their kids safe.
I generally agree with many of the suggested rules, and others that are commonly suggested are in reality completely contrary to true safety and security.
I don't know how I could trust someone about firearm safety who opens their article with "We don't keep any guns in our house." Well my wife and I keep many guns in our house, and we have come up with a set of rules we will use with our family.
RULE 1:
KEEP ALL GUNS AS INACCESSABLE AS POSSIBLE TO KIDS, BUT AS ACCESSABLE AS POSSIBLE TO ADULTS. A gun stored on the livingroom floor is dangerous. A gun locked in a safe in the deepest darkest corner of the house is worthless. Trigger locks are a sure way of getting your family killed in an emergency. This is the ultimate in safety for our children because they are safe from our guns without sacrificing our ability to defend them from criminals who would break in.
RULE 2:
STORE ALL GUNS LOADED. Most internet articles suggested keeping ammo separate from the firearms. What are you going to tell a home-invader? "Hold on a second while I go from one end of my house to get the gun to the other end of the house to get the ammo - and oh wait, I have to load it too..." It took me too long just to type that. Not to mention, most accidents happen with a gun that someone thought was unloaded. In my house, that will never be in question. ALL GUNS ARE LOADED, AND TREATED AS SUCH. Only when a gun is to be handled will it be unloaded.
RULE 3:
KIDS CAN SEE THE GUNS AT ANY TIME. Any time the kids ask to see the guns the answer will be "yes." The reason that kids sneak into their parents' rooms to see the guns is because they are curious. This rule will offer an alternative to an unsupervised peek at mom and dad's guns. It will also offer education about how the guns work- a very important step in keeping kids safe.
RULE 4:
USE TOY GUNS, SQUIRT GUNS, CAP GUNS, AIRSOFT, PAINT GUNS, BB GUNS AND REAL GUNS TO TEACH GUN SAFETY. Basic gun safety rules will always be in place at our home. As our kids mature, they will be granted supervised access to progressively more powerful "toys" until they learn to shoot a real gun. This will ensure proper habits and knowlege are in place before they fire a gun for the first time, and give me and my wife feedback with how they handle guns before we ever put one in their hands.
RULE 5:
SHOOT OFTEN. Once my kids have "graduated" to real guns, I plan on taking them shooting quite often. This will continue the education and skill development, which is key in preventing accidents. This will also provide them with the knowlege and skills they will need as future gun owners to keep themselves safe long after they have left my house and have families of their own.
RULE 6:
TEACH KIDS TO REPORT UNATTENDED WEAPONS. This was one of the rules suggested on most of the articles that I agreed with. Our kids will be taught to immediately report all unattended weapons (guns AND knives) to an adult, without touching them.
RULE 7:
TEACH KIDS AN ALTERNATIVE TO LOOKING AT A FRIEND'S PARENTS' GUNS. I will teach my kids an alternative to sneaking a peek at their friend's parents' guns. If invited by a friend to sneek a peek, they will be taught to reply "Instead of sneeking a peek at your dad's guns, let's go to my house. With your parent's permission, my dad will show us his guns and even let us shoot them." Even if the friend's parents wouldn't have it, it avioded the unsupervised playing with guns- and even brought the dangerous situation to light to that steps can be taken to avoid it in the future.
Added to these rules are the basic gun safety rules:
-Guns are ALWAYS treated as loaded until a physical check has been done. Even still, the next rule applies.
-Never point a gun at something or someone you are not willing to destroy or kill, EVEN IF IT IS UNLOADED.
-Never put your finger into a trigger guard until you are ready to fire.
-Always be sure of your target.
-Always be aware of what is behind your target.
-Always be sure guns are unloaded before handling them.
-Double check guns are unloaded before handling, physically examining the breech for a round and double check the magazine has been removed.
