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6 Ways to Make Gun Safety Part of a Child’s Learning Process

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Today’s modern world offers a lot for parents to be worried about, from over-using technology to school yard bullying. Knowing whether your kids know how to safely handle a gun shouldn’t be something parents need to be unduly worried about. The key is to start early with teaching them how to handle guns safely. Here are some tips on teaching gun safety to children.

1. Make gun safety an ongoing topic of conversation. This isn’t the type of conversation you just have once and consider the job done. Whenever the opportunity permits, remind your kids how to handle guns. Many children start “gun play” at a very young age. Let the conversation start then.

As your child gets older, you might discuss things in the paper or on the news and then ask your kids what they would do. Make it something both of you feel comfortable talking about and the rest of the conversations will take care of themselves.

2. Make sure very young children know the gun safety message is “hands off.” They should not be handling guns until they are old enough to be supervised and taught.

3. Allow your kids to handle unloaded guns with your supervision. If guns are treated as being something to keep hidden, not talked about and forbidden items, they may acquire a mystery that makes the kids want to check them out when you’re not around. Supervise while your kids get comfortable touching them, checking to see whether they are empty or not, and pulling the trigger. If it’s less mysterious because they are familiar with it, they’ll be less likely to act unsafely if they have a chance to.

4. Give them some responsibility such as a BB gun. A BB gun is a good “starter” gun to help learn basic responsibility. It should be kept in the home’s gun case or gun safe and treated like a “real” gun. Let them bring it along with you when you take your guns out. Let them see it’s not a “toy” that they can play with however they want.

5. Take them to the gun range with you. Yes, perhaps your time at the range is a time for you to “get away” from it all, but take your young gun owner with you when you can. Be a good example by always pointing the muzzle down and wearing eye and ear protection. Insist that your BB gun holder do the same.

6. Talk about “fantasy” versus “reality.” It won’t take long before your child begins to notice how guns are used in movies, television shows and video games. Have ongoing conversations about the difference between “fantasy” gun usage and “real life” gun usage.

Ultimately, teach your children about gun safety based on facts, not fear. Consistent expectations for their behavior shows that you will not allow anything less than the highest standard of behavior when it comes to guns. Lead by example, make sure your kids know you are always there to answer their questions or concerns, and teach safety!

 

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