Talking to Your Neighbors about Gun Safety 6/2010
When our children go to another house to play, we may ask the parents to limit the snacks, limit the TV, and make sure they have sunscreen on if they go outside. But very few think to check if there is a gun in the house and how it's stored. 40% of all U.S. households with children have guns in the house, and 25% of those guns are kept loaded. So, chances are your child will be, or has already been, playing in a home with a gun.
Talking to You Neighbors
Before you send children over to play at a friend's house, ask their parents whether they have a gun in the home, and if so, how it is stored. All guns should be unloaded and locked. The ammunition should be locked and stored separately. Hiding guns or putting on the "safety" is not enough. There are countless tragic stories of kids finding guns that parents thought were well hidden.
The Asking Saves Kids (ASK) Campaign offers these suggestions:
Ask it along with other questions you might normally discuss before sending your child to someone's house: Is there a sick child in the house? If there anything in the home that could affect your child's allergies?
Be factual, not emotional. Explain that more than 40 percent of homes have guns and that many are left loaded and unlocked. Explain that you just want to make sure that your child is in a safe environment.
If there is a gun unsafely stored, or the parent will not tell you, you can choose to not allow your child to play in that house. Instead, you can invite that friend to play at your house.
To ensure the safety of children, we need to make sure all gun-owning homes where our children visit or play do three things:
Unload and lock up their guns
Lock and store ammunition separately
Hide keys where kids are unable to find them.
Talking with Your Children
It is vital that parents talk to their children about guns, but this can be a difficult conversation to have. The discussion must be age-appropriate and offer children clear instructions about avoiding guns without adult supervision. Children can be exposed to a good amount of violence by the media, especially from TV and movies. It is important to teach children that this is not real and that guns cause real injuries. Emphasize to children that they should never touch a gun and should always tell an adult if they come across one. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends repeating this message periodically to keep children from forgetting. All parents must take common sense steps to protect children both by talking to them about guns and by unloading and locking all guns so that a child or teen cannot access them without direct adult supervision.
Additional Online Resources
Gun Safety Tips (http://www.dshs.wa.gov/ca/safety/gun.asp) — Resources from Washington State Social & Health Services.
Gun Safety For Kids and Youth (http://med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/guns.htm ) Resources from University of Michigan Health System.
KidsHealth on Gun Safety (http://kidshealth.org/) KidsHealth explains Gun Safety to kids.
National Rifle Association on Gun Safety (http://www.nrahq.org)
Click here for the NRA Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program.