Gun Safety for Kids: Why It's Important to Teach Them Early On

[scorpa]

I suppose I should clarify that in my class the guns were to be touched only by the instructor, we did not even get to hold them in the classroom situation. Most of our classroom stuff was determinging what kind of gun was what by looking at pictures, learning about different types of actions...ammunitions ect. Once we were outside we were taught to properly handle the firearms, and shoot them. Our instructors had to take many courses in how to properly demonstrate firearms handling and so on, and were never so stupid as the guy in the video.

I think that teaching gun safety to such young children should consist only of if you see a gun don't touch it, assume it's loaded and can hurt or kill. There is no need to actually show it to a group of what I am assuming were city children, who really have no reason to be exposed to firearms of any kind. As a child all of our firearms were always kept in a locked safe that to this day I do not know where the key is kept. If for any reason a gun was kept out, it was never loaded, and we KNEW there would be huge consequences for touching it.

I have no problem with teenagers/young adults learning to properly handle a gun. I don't know a single family without at least one firearm, and you should at least know how to properly safe the gun when you are around them so much.

In my area there have never been any gun related injuries, deaths or anyting of negative nature ever occur. People are educated about the subject and know what is safe and what is not. In my opinion, and this is only my opinion, it is when people are uneducated about proper handling that things become a problem. That being said the guy in the video is an idiot, should not have been teaching that class, and should never be allowed to teach again. Walking around pointed the gun completely defeated the purpose of what that class was, to tell the children about the dangers of guns and what to do if they find one. Sorry if my reply is a bit all over the place but I'm between classes right now and am in a bit of a hurry :)

 

[DaveC426913]

Why have the gun in the class in the first place?
Bravado?
Safest way to deal with guns is to ban them.

We could bury our heads in the sand...

It was a gun/violence education class.

 

[J77]

We could bury our heads in the sand...

What, and ignore the fact that the more people owning guns means more people getting shot?

 

[DaveC426913]

What, and ignore the fact that the more people owning guns means more people getting shot?

By this you seem to be suggesting that gun awareness is equivalent to making guns more prevalent.

And that not teaching citizens will somehow take guns off the streets?

 

[J77]

By this you seem to be suggesting that gun awareness is equivalent to making guns more prevalent.

And that not teaching citizens will somehow take guns off the streets?

No, I believe that people shouldn't have guns in the first place.

Teaching people how to use guns responsibly is a side issue.

And if that teaching has anything to do with self-defence, it won't work.

I remember when I first started karate when I was younger - the instructor got some rubber knives out and said to us, "what would you do if someone came at you with a knife". Everyone was like, "Kick it out" - Jackie Chan style. The instructor laughed and said he'd run like hell and advised us to do the same.

Guns aren't safe things, so what's the point of a gun safety lesson?

 

[Cyrus]

Thank god you don't make the laws.

 

[shmoe]

Guns aren't safe things, so what's the point of a gun safety lesson?

To teach kids that they aren't safe.

You can go on about how you think guns should be banned, but in a country where they are not, gun safety/awareness lessons are a darn good idea. I know at least a couple of times when I was in grade school police officers came into talk to us about gun safety. It was not a lesson in how we should handle guns safely, mostly warnings to stay away from the things as well as a few gruesome tales of kids accidentally shooting their friends with guns they found in their uncles closest to let us know they aren't toys.

 

[Moonbear]

To teach kids that they aren't safe.

You can go on about how you think guns should be banned, but in a country where they are not, gun safety/awareness lessons are a darn good idea. I know at least a couple of times when I was in grade school police officers came into talk to us about gun safety. It was not a lesson in how we should handle guns safely, mostly warnings to stay away from the things as well as a few gruesome tales of kids accidentally shooting their friends with guns they found in their uncles closest to let us know they aren't toys.

Exactly, and that sort of safety lesson I support. What the officer in the clip was doing was something entirely different.

Sadly, it IS likely that at least one of those kids will come across a gun while playing, especially if they are living in a city. One of the people I went to grad school with has a husband who is a landscaper. When raking leaves and trimming shrubs around apartment buildings, he DID find a gun and box of ammo stashed in the shrubs. It was a pretty bad area of town known for drug dealing, and no doubt that was stashed there by someone who didn't want the cops to find it on them. It just seems pretty lucky that it wasn't some kid out playing who found it first.

So, yeah, kids don't need to learn to handle guns, but they do need to know that when they see one lying somewhere that a gun shouldn't be, they shouldn't touch it, and not to assume it's a toy!