Subject: misc.kids FAQ on Firearms Safety & Children
Date: 3 Oct 1995 14:15:00 GMT
Summary: No matter how we feel about firearms, it is imperative
     that we teach our children the basics of firearms safety.
     Even if there is never a gun in your home, there may be one
     in a friend's, neighbor's or a relative's home. If you have
     children, you should read this FAQ.

Posting-Frequency: monthly
Last-Modified: 02 Oct 95
Version: 2.1

                   Misc.kids Frequently Asked Questions
                         Firearms Safety & Children

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Collection maintained by: Patrick Casey (jpcasey@indiana.edu) and
   John Gunshenan (jpg@bbn.com)
Last updated: 02 Oct 95
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Copyright 1995, Patrick Casey and John Gunshenan. Use and copying of this
information are permitted as long as (1) no fees or compensation are
charged for use, copies or access to this information, and (2) this
copyright notice is included intact.
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For a list of other FAQ files, look for the FAQ File Index posted
regularly to misc.kids.

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Firearms Safety & Children

Compiled by Patrick Casey (jpcasey@indiana.edu) and John Gunshenan (jpg@bbn.com)

--------------------------------

PREFACE

Owning a firearm is a very personal choice; in the document that follows,
we make no attempt to persuade the reader to own or not own them.

No matter how we feel about firearms, it is imperative that we teach our
children the basics of firearms safety. Even if there is never a gun in
your home, there may be one in a friend's, neighbor's or a relative's
home. Not teaching your children the basics of firearms safety is like not
teaching them how to swim, or not teaching them to avoid hazards such as
hot, sharp or pointed things. Children are curious. When it comes to
firearms, uninformed children are likely to get hurt! Let us not let our
politics blind us to ways to enhance the safety of our children.

INTRODUCTION

We are not experts in child firearms safety; we are simply two readers of
the rec.guns newsgroup who felt a FAQ should be developed on this subject.
One of the rec.guns readers suggested that we cross-post this FAQ to the
misc.kids newsgroup, as our FAQ is addressed to parents who do *not* own
firearms as much as to those who do.

Patrick is the father of two children (ages six & eight). John has a
two-year-old, and is also an NRA Certified Instructor and a "We are AWARE"
instructor (AWARE = Arming Women Against Rape and Endangerment). What we
offer below are simply our opinions. However, if you have children or own
firearms, we suggest that you think about the issues that follow.

While Patrick and John are the compilers of this FAQ, we are not its
authors. Credit in that department goes to the various authors listed at
the end, and to the many rec.guns readers who helped develop it. This is a
much better document for all the time, energy, and keystrokes donated by
the rec.guns readership.

--------------------------------

CONTENTS

o  Children & Guns: Some Basic Facts
o  For Parents
o  For Gun Owners, Even Those Without Children
o  For Gun Owners With Children
o  Gunproofing Your Children
o  Additional Resources

CHILDREN & GUNS: SOME BASIC FACTS

Department of Justice data indicate that there are over 200 million
firearms in the United States, with guns present in roughly 50% of US
households (the percentage is higher in rural areas, lower in cities).
Even if you do not own firearms, chances are you have been in houses where
firearms were kept. If you have children, chances are they too have been
in houses where firearms were kept. Don't expect to be told that there are
firearms in the house. Because of the current political climate, many gun
owners are quite discreet about their ownership and tend not to advertise
it.

According to the National Safety Council, 230 children under the age of 15
were killed in firearms-related accidents in 1991, the latest year for
which figures are available. Since 1930, the number of annual fatal
firearms accidents has decreased 55%, while the population has doubled and
the number of privately owned firearms has quadrupled (National Safety
Council, U.S. Census, BATF). While this decline in accidents is good, 230
accidental fatalities is 230 too many. What follows are some things you
can do -- as a parent or as a gun owner -- to "gunproof" your children,
and to "childproof" your guns.

FOR PARENTS

Like it or not, guns are out there in the world. They are a fact of life,
regardless of whether we keep firearms at home. With guns present in
roughly 50% of US households, your child is likely to encounter a gun at
some point in his or her youth. They may be playing in grandma's attic,
walking down an alley, or playing in the woods. They may be playing at a
friend's house, where the friend says "Hey let's play with my Dad's gun!"
Just as you teach your children about safety with respect to hazardous
materials they are likely to encounter -- electrical outlets, household
chemicals, swimming pools -- so you should teach them the basics of
firearms safety. The most basic gun safety message for children is the
Eddie Eagle message. It is:

        If you ever see a gun laying out, even if you think
        it may be a toy ...

                          -- Stop!
                          -- Don't touch
                          -- Leave the area
                          -- Tell an adult

There is no perfect age to talk with your children about gun safety. You,
the parent, must be the judge (Patrick's children learned the Eddie Eagle
message at age four). For many, a good time to introduce gun safety is
when your child starts acting out "gun play" or asking questions about
guns. Answer his or her questions simply and straightforwardly. If you
don't know the answers, contact a knowledgeable person (for an example of
what can happen by *not* teaching children about firearm safety, send mail
to Patrick).

The great advantage of teaching your children about gun safety is that it
applies outside one's own home and teaches a crucial life skill; its
Achilles' Heel is peer pressure. That is why childproofing the guns in
one's home is also essential.

Guns are just one among the many hazards kids may encounter in a home. The
only way to tell if a home is child-proofed is to talk with the people who
live there. You really have to openly discuss this. Discreet investigation
will tell you whether the outlets are covered, and whether there are
knives stored openly where kids can get them. Some folks take this a step
or two further, and they discreetly look through medicine cabinets and
cupboards for hazards.

Discreet investigation will not tell you whether there are hazards stored
in a bedroom drawer, for instance. A night stand drawer might contain
hazards like medicine, scissors, or a gun. You can't investigate all the
possibilities without violating the privacy of your hosts.

I think you have to talk about childproofing with the homeowner. I don't
see any other alternative. Most folks would be happy to tell you about
what is and is not childproof. If you raise the issue in a positive and
polite tone of voice, I can't imagine how any reasonable person would take
offense. If they do take offense, I'd watch my kid every second they're in
that house.

I'd start by saying something like, "Can we talk about childproofing for a
minute? I'm sure your house is generally safe for kids, but my daughter is
*really* good at getting into things. You wouldn't believe some of the
"childproofed" things she's gotten into. Can we just chat about this for a
moment?"

First, I'd ask about any known hazards that I should keep my kids away
from. Things like this: The shed in the yard is full of power tools. The
sewing room has pins and needles in it, but we keep it locked. The kids
aren't allowed to play in area XXX for reason YYY.

Then, I'd go over the standard list of concerns, chemicals & cleaners,
medicine, sharps (knives, scissors, sewing pins & needles, etc.), fragile
glassware on low shelves or tables, swimming pool, busy roads nearby, hand
& power tools, and guns.

I'd present this in an apologetic tone. "Look, we try to train her, but
she's only 2 and she sometimes gets into things she shouldn't. I don't
want her to break your fragile glassware, may I move it to a higher shelf,
just while she's here?" "I don't mean to pry about guns, but you'd be
amazed at how many homes have guns in them! Half the homes in the country!
In this day and age, people feel like they need to protect themselves.
etc, etc. So do you have any in the house? How are they secured?"

Note that you're not asking where they are, or if they're loaded. You're
just asking if they're locked up somehow so that the kids can't get to
them. If they tell you, "Don't worry, the guns are unloaded", that's a
very bad sign. Most firearms accidents happen with guns that were thought
to be unloaded.

You may encounter someone who has guns and doesn't know about firearms
safety, how to properly secure their guns, or even how to tell if they're
loaded. A classic example of this is a widow who has her husband's guns in
the house, but doesn't know the first thing about them. In that case, you
can help them out by pulling info from the rec.guns FAQ, or putting them
in touch with a group like AWARE (e-mail info@aware.org). The rec.guns FAQ
is accessible via anonymous FTP at flubber.cs.umd.edu (get the file
/rec/FAQ/FAQ1) or via World Wide Web at
http://www.teleport.com/~dputzolu/)

Even if you do all these things, there might be a gun in the house that
one of the kids found in an alley & brought home without telling the
parents. The only way to guard against this is to "gunproof your children"
(see below). You want to do what you can to prevent your kid from
encountering a gun without proper supervision, but you have to realize
that you can't control everything. You have to teach your kid to behave
safely around hazardous materials and devices. 

FOR GUN OWNERS, EVEN THOSE WITHOUT CHILDREN

If you choose to own a gun, you must take personal responsibility for
securing it from unauthorized handling, whether by children, guests,
neighbors, or criminals. If you choose to have a gun in your house, every
member of your household should be trained in basic gun safety.

If you choose to keep a loaded gun available for protection, you have a
special (and in some places, legal) obligation to keep that gun secured
from unauthorized handling. This means keeping a solid lock between your
guns and any visitors, whether children or adults. That can be the lock on
your front door (no unsupervised visitors allowed inside, where loaded
guns are out and available), a bedroom door (no visitors allowed in the
bedroom), a closet, a gun cabinet, a safe, or a lock box. The choice is
yours, but choose something.

If you choose to keep a loaded firearm for protection, carefully consider
where to keep it. It is often recommended to keep the gun on your body
when you are awake. This can resolve the dilemma - at the expense of some
extra effort - at least for handguns, at least when you are awake. But
many people cannot or choose not to carry their firearms, so the question
of safe storage arises.

If you keep a firearm near your bed, you want to make sure you'll be wide
awake when you pick it up, so keeping it too close to your bed may be a
problem. You may want to use a lock box, one that you can open by touch,
quickly, under stress, in the dark.

FOR GUN OWNERS WITH CHILDREN

In the home, nothing can or need be left to chance. There is no reason or
excuse for exposing children to danger from firearms in the home.
Obviating this danger by discipline and readily available safety measures
is the first responsibility of the gun owner with children. This can be
done, even if you keep or carry a loaded firearm readily available for
defense. The few terrible circumstances of children killed or injured with
a parent's gun betray unconscionable and utterly avoidable safety
violations, failures of discipline and responsibility. If you have
children, and if you choose to own firearms, you have an obligation to
teach your children about gun safety.

There are lots of approaches that don't work, such as:

-- Hide it (they'll find it)
-- Get a gun that's too hard for a child to operate (they'll use tools 
   or full-body leverage to operate it)
-- Get a gun with a magazine safety & keep the magazine on you (God help 
   you if they ever get hold of a magazine)
-- Fancy gadgets such as plastic rods, rubber bands, pinch-to-open 
   trigger guards, etc. On the one hand, you can still make some things 
   "go bang" with many of these, and most manufacturers do not intend 
   their products to be used on loaded firearms. On the other, over-
   reliance on these devices tends to underestimate the ability of 
   children to find keys, use tools, etc. (see below for Lyn Bates' 
   excellent article "Keeping the Piece")
-- Always keep the gun on your person (and hope you never dream about 
   having a gun fight)

Trigger locks can be of some help. They are inexpensive, easy to install,
and provide some level of safety. They are much better than relying on
"hiding" your weapon or doing nothing at all, but don't rely on them
exclusively. You don't want to use them on loaded weapons, and most of
them don't prevent weapons from being loaded. If you rely on them
exclusively, what will happen when your child finds the key? Also bear in
mind that keys may be hard for you to manipulate in the dark, or under
stress. But trigger locks can be effective with small children, and in
conjunction with other safety measures.

Similarly, a lockbox or gun cabinet can be helpful; just beware of relying
on them exclusively. They can be opened by a 12-year-old using simple,
household tools (again, see "Keeping the Piece" below).

The most secure way to store firearms is no doubt a safe. Borrowing
liberally from Henry Schaffer's excellent summary "Gunsafes" (the full
text of "Gunsafes" is available on the rec.guns FAQ server, see above),
gun safes are made of fairly heavy gauge steel, with special attention
paid to hinges, multi-point locking devices, pry-resistance, hard-to
defeat locks, and weight. The low end of the safe category will weigh a
few hundred pounds and will cost perhaps $600 - $1,000 depending on how it
is outfitted. The casual burglar with a crowbar -- or an inquisitive child
-- is unlikely to be able to penetrate this type of safe. At the same
time, a safe is virtually impossible to access quickly, under stress, and
in the dark.

A $600, 250+ pound safe may be pretty close to childproof, but many people
can't afford them. The next step down from safes is a "gun cabinet," with
prices starting at about $100. Again, using Henry's overview, these are
metal cabinets, built about as strongly as an office file or stationary
cabinet, with a key lock which latches the door. They can be opened with a
crowbar/prybar, or with an ordinary drill, but this type of entry would
show obvious damage. In this case you would be counting on a child's
reluctance to damage the cabinet as a deterrent. However a break-and-enter
burglar who is after the VCR, jewelry (and who probably carries a crowbar)
will not be deterred by this and will probably get the cabinet open in a
very few minutes. In this same category should be included the
neighborhood teenager-gone-bad type of criminal. Like safes, they are
difficult to access quickly, under stress, and in the dark.

Both safes and cabinets have the drawback that you can't open them in a
hurry, under stress, in the dark. Better in that respect are lockboxes.
There are several good ones on the market with fast-access, push-button,
combination locks that are reasonably child-resistant and easy to
manipulate in the dark (again, see "Keeping the Piece" below). However, in
our opinion, there is only so far you can go with "childproofing the gun."
Even better is "gunproofing your children."

GUNPROOFING YOUR CHILDREN

"Gunproofing your children" means teaching them that guns are not toys,
and teaching them firearms safety and responsibility. Nothing left to a
child's discretion is fail-safe, especially where peer pressure may reign.
But training your children in the basics of firearms safety gives them a
better chance of escaping danger or harm should they ever encounter a gun
beyond your control, a better chance than children still in the thrall of
fatal curiosity, awe, and ignorance.

In movies and television, guns are icons of power. The good guys have
them, and use them to restore right and order. Even on the old "Adam 12"
TV show, these two quintessential Officer Friendly types had more
gunfights in one season than most big city police do in their whole
careers. Not only does the mass media present a distorted view of the
frequency of firearms use, it is even worse when it comes to teaching
judicious use, proper sporting use, and gun safety.

For small children, the first thing to teach them is the Eddie Eagle
message (stop, don't touch, leave the area, tell an adult). This can be
taught as early as age three or four. As they get a little older -- and
after they understand and practice the Eddie Eagle rules -- teach them the
basics of safe firearms handling.

There are four firearm safety rules taught by Jeff Cooper of the American
Pistol Institute. Follow these rules and you cannot ever have a mishap.
Even if you violate one of them, you are still all right; it takes
multiple errors to cause an accident.

-- All guns are always loaded
-- Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy
-- Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target
-- Be sure of your target and what's beyond it

(for more on these basic points, send mail to Patrick)

Many gun owners use the natural curiosity of their children as an
opportunity to teach gun safety. At Patrick's house, for example, the
children can see and handle firearms whenever they ask. We first review
the Eddie Eagle rules, then the golden rules of firearms safety. Then the
guns come out. Questions are often asked -- how does this part work? what
does that do? If any safety rules are broken -- even inadvertently -- the
guns get put away.

Another good thing to do early on -- and repeat from time to time -- is to
take the children to a shooting range to demonstrate what a gun will do to
a milk jug, liter-sized Coke, or watermelon. Children know that the people
they see getting shot in movies are actors, and that after "getting shot,"
they later get up and go home. Shoot a water-filled milk jug with a .357
pistol or a 12-gauge shotgun. Have the child hold that (shredded) milk jug
up to their chest. Help them understand that, while shooting can be lots
of fun and a recreational activity they can practice into their 90s, guns
are not toys; their power must be respected.

Also, think about using cleaning as an opportunity to teach gun safety. If
you try to 'hide' your gun cleaning by always doing it after the children
go to bed, you will only increase their curiosity (they'll eventually
catch you anyway). Don't do things that encourage them to get into the
guns when you're not around. I almost always clean my guns when the
children are around, and they often ask to help. Here's another chance to
go over the Eddie Eagle rules, the golden rules of safety, and to respond
to their natural curiosity (also a way for mother or father to get some
free help). Allowing the children to assist in such a 'grown up' activity
may also increase their general maturity level, build pride in competence,
and improve general safety awareness and practice. A note of caution
though ... if your children help with gun cleaning, make sure they wash
their hands with soap afterwards. While most of what you clean up is
powder residue, be especially careful about the small amounts of lead that
might be cleaned out. If the children help with cleaning, make sure they
wash their hands and faces -- with soap -- afterwards.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Here are some sources of additional information.

---  The Eddie Eagle program is a set of non-political gun safety 
     materials designed specifically for children. The materials 
     includes coloring books, posters, videos, as well as instructors 
     materials. They are available in three levels (pre-school to grade 
     1; grades 2-3; grades 4-6) in both English and Spanish. For her 
     role in developing Eddie Eagle, NRA vice president Marion Hammer 
     received the National Safety Council's 1993 Citation for 
     Outstanding Community Service for leadership in program 
     development. The program has also received commendation from the 
     American Legion's National Committee on Education, is endorsed by 
     the Police Athletic League and is used by ntous organizations 
     such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America. Schools, law 
     enforcement agencies and civic groups interested in the Eddie Eagle 
     Gun Safety Program can contact the NRA at 1-800-368-5714.

---  "Keeping the Piece" is an excellent article on children and gun 
     storage, written by Dr. Lyn Bates and published in "Women&Guns" 
     magazine, June 1993. (Back issues cost $3; phone: 716-885-6408) 

---  "Gunproof Your Children," by Massad Ayoob, Police Bookshelf, 1986, 
     $4.95, phone: 800-624-9049

---  "Kids & Safety" (chapter 8 of "Armed & Female," by Paxton Quiqley, 
     E.F. Dutton, 1989, $4.99)

---  "Gun Safety" (chapter 16 of "In the Gravest Extreme," by Massad 
     Ayoob, Police Bookshelf, 1980, $9.95, phone: 800-624-9049)

---  "Children and Guns: Sensible Solutions," by David Kopel, 1993, 
     Independence Institute, phone: 303-279-6536, $12.00

---  "A Parent's Guide to Gun Safety," 1992, available at no charge from 
     the National Rifle Association. Call 1-800-368-5714 and ask for the 
     Safety and Education Division.

---  "Home Firearm Safety," 1990, $2.25, Safety and Education Division, 
     National Rifle Association. Call 1-800-368-5714 and ask for the 
     Safety and Education Division.

---  "Firearms Responsibility in the Home," available from Beretta
     U.S.A., Accokeek MD, phone: 301-283-2191

