A word on gun safety to save our kids

The boy was 11 when his mom left him in charge. She had weekend plans away. It came time to put the baby to bed, so the other kids played while the boy struggled. The game was cops and robbers. It doesn’t matter who was whom. It just matters that the boy heard the shot.

The boy ran, and in the rural community, it was forever to find a neighbor with a phone. When he made it back, the house full of kids was chaos. Five-year-old Pammie lay dead.

The boy’s mom eventually turned up. She might have gone to jail. He lost track as he and all the kids ripped from home and dumped into separate foster placements. As he grew up, the trauma of that weekend would echo through the boy’s life. His little sister’s death, that marked the destruction of his family, would leave him feeling unstable, even as he built his own family.

I heard this story in guarded whispers around the Formica kitchen table as I grew up. I maintained a simultaneous awareness of my father’s childhood tragedy and an understanding it wasn’t to be talked about. I grew up knowing that none of the adults from that generation of my immediate family ever really recovered from that long-ago game of cops and robbers.

Guns are a part of our community and our culture. My husband is a retired police officer, so they have always been a part of our daily life. Because of my family experience, I see that guns in the home carry a special liability. The death of a child is an unimaginable tragedy. If you have guns in your home, you have a responsibility to prevent disaster. This means limiting access and being knowledgeable.     

There are plenty of places to learn about gun safety, including hunting safety and concealed carry classes. Adults should learn the rules, model gun safety and teach the youth in your life to take them seriously. Here are the highlights:

• All guns are always loaded. Many accidents happen because someone thought the gun was unloaded.

• Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot. Some guns only need a little pressure on the trigger to fire.

• Never point a gun at something you aren’t willing to destroy. You can’t shoot what you aren’t pointing at.

• Be sure of your target and what is behind it. Be aware of the broader area to avoid unintentional damage down range.

• Be sober when handling guns.

• Lock guns when not in use. Use a trigger lock or a safe to keep guns away from children when you aren’t there to supervise.

Talk to the children in your life about guns. Let them know that television, movies, and video games are not real life. The way guns work there is not how they work for real. Make a game out of seeing where a character is not following gun safety rules. Talk to the people that care for your youth. Ask their friends’ caregivers about guns in the home.

If you want your youth to learn how to use guns, supervise them. Be clear with them that there always needs to be a grown-up in charge when guns are out. Teach them what to do if they find a gun–stop; don’t touch; get a grown-up. Teach them what to do when they are with friends and someone has a gun. Help them practice leaving the area when someone is not following gun safety rules. Give them the confidence to say, “this isn’t safe, and it isn’t cool. I’m leaving.”

Reduce the chances they will need those tools by always storing your guns securely. Children cannot die from guns if they don’t have access to them. Keeping a gun in your purse is not secure if you set it down in your shopping buggy. If the gun is not attached to your body, control access by using a trigger lock or a safe. There are many kinds out there to meet your needs. Many police departments give away gun locks for free. A best practice is also to store ammunition separately.

The steps to preventing child gun deaths in the home are simple. Please do your part to help.   

For more information and a great time, bring your children to our local free gun safety trunk or treat event: Saturday, Oct. 28 from 12:00 to 2 p.m. at the Kentucky Splash Waterpark.

For more information about gun safety, visit https://projectchildsafe.org or go to https://kidshealth.org and search gun safety.