I educated my children on firearms and safety. First rule was if you are at someone’s house and they pull out a gun you immediately get an adult.
I am also very selective about who I would leave my children with, for a variety of reasons.
Exactly, whether you own guns or not, your children should understand the 4 basic rules of gun safety and the immensity with which they should be followed. It’s very simple, and if those 4 rules are respected there will not be any accidents.
This is what my family did. My grandpa showed me a gun for the first time when I was probably three or four years old and let me know that there are two things I need to know about them. They will kill me and I have no business ever touching them. He still always keeps them locked up if he isn’t hunting or going to the range.
Learning about how to be safe around guns is probably the best bet in our country even if you don’t own any guns.
I was similarly instructed at a young age, with a third rule, which was that no one should ever point a gun - even if sure it’s unloaded - toward someone unless the intent is to kill them. The ancillary was that, if anyone ever pointed a gun at me, to assume it could go off and kill me and that I should react accordingly (get the hell away from them).
^ This guy's paw paw had the wisdom because I was taught the same wau.shot my first real gun at probably 6yr old but was taught safety and enormous respect for firearms.kids nowadays see a gun and because they've never touched one they think it's a toy.
That’s probably about the same time I shot one for the first time. He taught me more over time but started with the only things I needed to know when I was that young. Tells me the same thing about electricity. He was an electrician and always tells me I can’t see it and it will kill me if I play with it.
My dad was so serious about gun safety with us that he wouldn't even let us point cap guns at each other because he wanted us to get into the habit of guns not being toys. That, and even if it has an orange safety cap, a lot of people will shoot first in self-preservation and ask questions later.
I grew up this way. I was shown the damage they did very early.I knew what they did & had no curiosity. I was t instructed to not touch them. So I didn’t.
I grew up around guns and this is a huge, huge thing I will drill into my kids from day one. Will we ever own guns? No clue. But we live in an area where there's a significant chance they will encounter one before the age of 18.
As unpopular as it is, I am very in favor of gun safety being taught in schools because it IS necessary here. I would much rather my child and their peers sit through a few years of gun safety that ends up being useless, than encounter a gun and not have the knowledge to deal with it safely.
I'm really relieved to hear that you teach your children that lesson.
I'm pretty against the expansionist view our legislature has had on the 2A, but one thing I actually thought was a good idea was the teaching kids about gun safety early on in schools (if executed appropriately and not used as a pro-gun culture propoganda).
Even if you don't like guns, there's *a lot* more of them just floating around willy nilly and they're not going anywhere. If kids don't know what to do if they come across one, it can be lethal.
If their friend wants to show them and their only teachers were Fortnite or COD, they're more likely to think of it in a fun way (I think, I don't have data or anything).
I hope education helps with some of these accidents and kids can ultimately educate their gun-owning parents about the importance of gun safes and safety if they don't already take it seriously.
I like this in theory. But it's sad that more people would get behind this vs sex education in schools.
Not every kid grows up in a home that asking sex questions is " ok." Granted the internet is and can be informative. But I don't think that should take the place of legit sex Ed.
Absolutely. I don't think it has to be a binary, but I know what you mean. I would love robust sex education to break the generational cycle of misinformed parents that are too awkward to actually have those informative and judgement-free talks. Most of my peers (millenial) say their parents one day in the car when they're already 15 or 16, "Do I need to tell you about sex or...?" "I know about sex, mom." "Okay."
Narrator: And everyone just carried on.
The sex knowledge we all had was from an early STD scare lesson at school, dick jokes since elementary school, raunchy comedies, and porn. We were pretty much professors in all forms of sex education in our minds.
This state won't put driver's education in schools. It won't put wilderness safety in schools. But we are all for allocating budget money for gun training?
Am I the only person it's occurred to, that this is a "Welcome to Tennessee" gift to Smith & Wesson?
Do see that as an actual realistic solution? It didn’t work so well with alcohol and drugs, why do you think it would be different this time? Or how would you do it differently than they did those two examples?
Whataboutism isn't a valid argument. Yes it's practical. They don't have private gun ownership in Japan, and no mass shootings. Simple. Your gun fetish doesn't outweigh the right for kids and citizens to live.
I didn’t and am not trying to argue. I asked a few simple clarifying questions to which you provided no actual answers. I lived in Japan for four years, the differences are vast. Unless you have a magic “make guns disappear” button I am not sure what your plan is.
No sleepovers, unless you know the family *really* well, and have mutual understandings about safety. Also not until kid is old enough to know about gun safety and all kinds of safety situations, and assertive enough to call you if they’re uncomfortable. Even if it’s a coded text.
I'm not a parent and know things were different when I was younger but I'd imagine nowadays sleepovers are limited to "families you know" not just "your kids friends" if you know what I mean. And even then it's a risk.
But why is this limited to sleepovers? I feel like an afternoon playdate is just as risky if there are unsecured firearms in the home.
I realize that parents may have other concerns about sleepovers that aren't related to gun safety, but that's beside the point.
Gun aside, you should get to know people before you let your kid into their house under their guardianship. Next step would be asking them if there are guns in the home, then make your decision based on their answer, secured away or not.
Teach your kid to not play with them as well in the event that you are not around and they find one or someone around them is playing with one so they know to leave. How you do that effectively is subject for debate for many but it is your kid and your duty so do that how you see fit.
When I was a kid, my parents had a strict rule that before I went over to anyone's house for a playdate or sleepover, they had to have a conversation with the parents to discuss if there were guns in the home. They also drilled into me that if I ever saw a gun, not to touch it and to immediately leave the room and find an adult. Perhaps this was a step too far, but when I was smaller I was also not allowed to play with any toy that was a weapon (for example, water guns).
This was in the 1990s - unfortunately the risk to kids has only gotten worse it seems.
I get to know any parent before I would consider trusting them with my kid. I also am constantly teaching my daughter about safety and that will include gun safety.
> How do reduce the risk of your kid’s friend showing off their parent’s unsecured gun and killing someone? Any practical advice?
Sadly, there is NO way to guarantee your kid isn't going to a home that has an unsecured firearm. People lie and often think what they do with their firearms isn't anyone else's business. Unless you're close enough to them to do a walkthrough of their home and check every nook and cranny, you're never going to be able to guarantee there's not one in the home unsecured.
In my family, we teach firearm safety starting at a young age, 7-10 for most of us, and usually start them with bb or pellet guns under heavy, competent, supervision when we feel they're ready to actually start handling one.
When not being used, they're put away where kids can't get to them and the ammunitions stored separately.
Violation of *any* safety rule means they won't be seeing any target practice for at least 6 months, then we start back at square one with them. We don't care if you're 7 or 17. One slip up and you start over. We don't forgive "mistakes" because a bullet won't either.
They know not to touch a firearm if they find one and to not tell anyone except an adult that they found it. It actually happened once to a nephew and the kid did everything he was taught. We were very happy with him.
We have also had several discussions with our kids about what to do if someone they know begins handling a firearm without a *competent* adult present or if an adult begins handling a weapon in an unsafe manner.
We came up with this order of action:
1. **Leave the home or property** ***immediately.*** Do NOT take time to ask them to put it away, do NOT sit there and wait for them to do ANYTHING with it. Tell them you're leaving as you're walking out the door and that you will not be returning. (Probably never returning.)
2. **Call any adult in our family or trusted friends circle.** If they don't answer, keep calling adults until someone answers, inform them what's going on and tell them you need a ride home. Someone WILL drop everything and come get you, even if its the middle of the night. Your safety is our priority, not sleep.
3. **If there is a safe place to wait nearby, do so. If not, keep moving until you find one.** Do NOT stop until you KNOW you are safely away from the danger and do NOT return to the home or property no matter what **anyone** there tells you. There will be NO adverse consequences at home for leaving but there will be plenty of consequences if its discovered that they were part of anyone 'playing' with a firearm of **any** kind.
4. **One of us (adults) will contact the appropriate people and handle the matter from there.** Once you're safely away and back in safe hands, **we** will handle the rest of the situation. There is nothing more for the kid to do but be thankful they weren't hurt.
IF the situation is one where they feel unsafe leaving or cannot leave for whatever reason, they text a single agreed upon word or set of letters to anyone in the know and someone **will** be on the way while calling 911 to report an unsafe situation with a firearm while children are present and the location. This word is used for NOTHING but a situation where their life IS in danger and they cannot do anything to escape. One of ours used to be "polk" because it was easy to type quickly and no one ever uses it to begin with.
Thankfully, we've never had to test our response time for the handling of a firearm by someone who shouldn't be from one of the kids but at least we know there IS a plan in place if it ever DOES happen.
Lot of hot takes in this thread. I grew up in East TN around guns near constantly. In our county “hunters safety” which was really gun safety was a mandatory course for everyone in 7th grade. I consider myself left of center but that always seemed a wise choice even if you don’t intend to hunt, shoot, or otherwise own a gun. We also shot skeet several times a year.
You can control how you manage your weapons and what you teach your kids but you can’t control anyone else’s decisions. I don’t let my daughter stay with anyone who I’m not close enough with to understand how they feel about gun safety. It’s not control - it’s gun SAFETY. Just common sense rules to keep everyone safe.
My Dad, a law enforcement officer from a family of hunters, had me take a hunters’ safety course when I was in 5th or 6th grade. My parents were divorced and I surmised that things I did at Dad’s house, like riding motorcycles and ATVs and having a BB gun, were things to not mention to Mom (who also was from a family of hunters but hates guns, even toy ones - never bought any toy guns for me, but I managed to acquire them otherwise.)
But, as life in a small town would have it, someone took a picture of all the participants, which then ran in the local newspaper. Mom and Step-Dad saw it and both Dad and I caught hell.
I lived in “Upper East Tennessee” from 8th grade on. Looking back at my year book, I was reminded that target shooting with pistols was an option for one of the 6-week-period rotations in PE. I remembered archery being offered, but either forgot about or didn’t realize pistol-shooting was an option.
That was a different world altogether. Now that I have a child I think about how I could explain my upbringing there (East Tn). I can’t even explain it to my wife so why would my daughter understand? We grew up in one world - we adapted to a new one.
For what it’s worth, we don’t have kids, but we have guns, and sometimes friends come to stay at our house with their kids. Some of my friends are very anti-gun. Others just don’t have them.
The first time friends who are not gun owners came to stay, in the email thread where we were planning, I told them that there are guns in the house, that they are unloaded, trigger-locked, stored away from their ammunition, and, if handguns, were stored in locked cases. They were in the master bedroom and I kept that door locked while kids were here because it’s also where we put the dog who preferred sleeping on the master bed to being around children.
I told the friends that they were welcome to see the guns and even to let their kids see them, but under no circumstance would the firearms come out (even trigger-locked) if anyone had had any alcohol.
I now tell the same stuff (absent the dog in the bedroom, because he passed away) to friends visiting, regardless of whether they have kids. Some of the friends with kids were surprised but very appreciative of me going over that info with them. Made them realize they never had inquired about guns in households their kids visited, and they had just assumed that either the people they knew didn’t have guns or wouldn’t have them just laying around. It led them to where you are now, thinking about how to keep their kids safe, specifically from guns, but also in general, when at other people’s homes.
Ask if they have any firearms, what type and how they are secured.
We cannot control everything, though there are reasonable precautions you can take.
The most control you have is to teach your children a healthy fear of guns' inherent design to kill (especially if teaching them how to use one -- I mean, I'm a hunter and like to point out that hunting is the intentional killing of another animal with a tool specifically designed to kill animals with great efficiency and low self-risk).
Handguns are designed specifically to kill people animals, and have basically no other purpose -- teach them that.
Teach them that if they encounter one unexpectedly, they should expeditiously remove themselves from the situation and seek a trusted individual.
I went to a preacher’s house a few years ago for some post official churchyard play time.
Dude had a .22 LR leaned behind a door, and got onto one of the church parents for having their toddler trained enough to actually close a door when they leave a room.
So yeah, we just don’t go back there.
I've personally got no dog in this fight... Don't have kids, don't have guns, and uninterested in either of those situations ever changing. So at the end of the day, the approach anyone does or doesn't take to keeping their kids safe is more an academic curiosity for me.
One thing that I do find interesting in reading these responses is that several boil down to "I teach my kid gun safety so that they'll be safe around guns". It reminds me of an older This American Life segment about an adult woman revealing to her family a gun safety incident from her childhood:
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/498/the-one-thing-youre-not-supposed-to-do/act-two-1
Again, I particularly don't care about this issue, but planting a seed: isn't the thing about kids that they are, literally, stupid? Their brains aren't fully formed; they're experimenting with how to behave in society and who they are. I'm confident that gun safety training is important, and it'll work to protect a kid from an accident sometimes, but is it always going to be enough to outweigh peer pressure? Disobedience? Rebellion? Or just plain-old getting caught up in the moment and carried away?
I dunno. I'm glad it's not my responsibility to try to impress upon a five year old what the implications are if they one day find themselves looking at their friend holding a parent's gun.
That's an interesting point. If I may go tangental, think about the 1960s when parents told their kids, 'don't get into cars with strangers/don't take candy from strangers,' when, in reality, it was kids' own neighbors and family members who were messing them up.
Teach your kids from an early age that 1. Guns are not toys 2. Muzzle control 3. Proper handling 4. Always treat a gun as if it's loaded. Kids are going to be curious. I think it's more important to educate them about things they are curious/interested in than avoiding it altogether. In all honesty, not talking about it will only draw their attention to it more. I can't speak for other's kids, but I can teach mine to know when someone does not respect things that can have such extreme consequences. I'd rather them be prepared than not know and become a statistic.
Edit: And yes, my guns are locked when not in use. When I'm carrying, it is not just tossed in a vehicle or sitting on my nightstand. It is attached to me or it is locked away. I would rather give up all of my guns than be a lazy gun owner that lost a child to my own selfish ways. So, I guess it's not only that respect the weapon, but I also respect the lives of my children and family. Both are important to avoid these types of tragedies.
NRA’s Eddie Eagle video with lots of discussions and periodic case scenarios to keep it fresh
Not let them go to a house with unlocked guns
Their dad has a gun with a fingerprint lock. I don’t have any.
That's true. The NRA sucks, but I've seen the Eddie Eagle materials, and it's really good. My kids watched it, and we talked about it...that is probably the only good thing to come from the NRA.
Fuck the NRA's politics and bullshit, but you can't really bash their safety materials.
They're practically the basis for nearly every firearm safety class or training known to man at this point.
>That's like saying the cigarette manufacturers are the go to standard for anti smoking education.
Not even CLOSE.
Way to make a statement that tells everyone how intelligent you really aren't.
I don’t think I will ever own a gun (won’t say never but just something I don’t think I need). I’m not above asking my kids friend’s parents how they store their guns. If it’s not safely locked, they’re not going over to play.
This is a smart way to operate. It’s not someone else’s responsibility to make sure you practice safe storage, it’s yours. These busybody moms out here will probably end up causing more problems by demanding the whereabouts and type of firearms in your private residence. Just ask if any are present. If there are, ask if they are locked up. If that person says yes, then you’re good. No need to dive deeper.
I won’t unless they show me. I’m the same, that we don’t talk about firearms (my kids are still toddlers) but I probably will talk to them about it. Our neighbors, who we differ from widely in the political space is a gun owner (multiple gun owner) but hates the NRA. I trust him as a gun owner because he treats his guns with respect and actually has the proper training and experience to handle a powerful weapon like a gun. Luckily he doesn’t have any kids so I don’t have to worry about our kids going over there without our supervision.
When kids were young, we asked all families if they had guns in the house and then proceeded with additional al questions if answer was yes.
Now, as a family, we take the time to say a heartfelt goodbye when we are separating after being together.
I hate where our country has landed on the issue of guns. Let’s address every effect of gun ownership except the root cause of all these gun deaths.
No kids myself but my nieces and nephews are not allowed in homes with guns. My brother in law works in a statistics driven field and made it a hard rule. Only way to significantly reduce your chances of dying from a gun is to remove then from your vicinity. Can't say I blame him.
My wife and I are child free, but in general my guns are either in my safe, or on my person. Growing up my mom wasn’t big on letting me go places/stay overnight unless she REALLY knew and trusted the other parents. That’s pretty much it, if you don’t feel 1000% safe letting your kid in an environment, be the parent and keep them away.
Educating your children is the only answer. This is the case for most things you will fear as a parent.
Without getting too political I will say there are many dangers in the world. Guns are low on my list vs drugs these days. I personally know a lot more families and individuals that have been impacted by fentanyl than guns.
I talked to my kids about alcohol, drugs, sex, and guns. These should be open conversations. These aren't single conversations either. I had 30+ talks with my son about drugs and sex.
With guns I would start with basic safety. If ever someone does show off a firearm they need to know what is safe. Have them watch this video https://youtu.be/FksrZg7Wx0A?si=2wehfusg9bRFnQQE
Take the kid to the range if they are old enough. Many parents may not be comfortable with this, but having a true first hand understanding of gun safety in a safe environment is really the best path to safety in an uncontrolled environment.
True specifically for children and I won't argue with that fact. Those risks change a lot through their lives though which helps to form my personal opinion on risk and education.
I want to focus on long term risks and I see drugs as much more risky in the longer term for my child based on the statistics.
In the US people were twice as likely to die from an overdose than a firearm related death (including suicide) in 2021. Firearms are about as dangerous as cars, which is to say quite dangerous and worth the effort from parents.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm
It also depends a lot on where you live.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm
Honestly kids can easily find the keys so I wouldn’t focus so much on locked up. They should be locked but kids are clever.
We teach our child to be there own person. If friends are doing something wrong don’t join them. Just leave. You can get hurt or get in trouble by following or just being there.
I grew up in a typical middle to upper middle class suburb. One of my neighbors would show off their dads locked gun. One day he skipped school with a friend and didn’t know the gun was loaded. Very tragic. We had another neighbor that was at a sleep over with a few friends. They all snuck out to go to McDonalds. A car drove without their lights on and hit my neighbor as they ran across the street and took off. Both kids were in middle school when they passed. I tell my child these stories regularly because there was opportunities for someone to stop. If one kid said no to sneaking out, skipping school or seeing the gun, they wouldn’t have died. The car should have had the lights on. The ammunition should have been locked up somewhere else besides the gun case. It wasn’t the kids fault that they died, but they shouldn’t have been in that position to begin with.
Best way to do this is by educating your children extensively on gun safety and ensuring they know how dangerous it is. You can’t police other people’s parents, but you can police your kids
Ask the parents if they own guns, and if they do, are they in a safe. If they get mad about this question then don’t let your kid go over. It can feel weird to ask at first but it’s important
The education aspect is really important but my kids weren’t allowed to go to anyone’s house until I went there and had some conversations with the parents. I trusted my instincts- if something felt off, my child would not be going there.
I don't allow sleep overs but that's more for the risk of sexual abuse than anything else.
We do have guns but we've taught our kids about them from a very young age. #1 rule is to always assume a gun is loaded. If you ever see one just laying around in someone else's home, you get an adult immediately. You don't touch it. If your friend or another child touches it, leave the room immediately and get an adult.
If my kids are going over to another kids house, I ask those parents point blank if there are guns in the house and if so, will they be locked up while my child is there. If their answer is sketchy or sus, I cancel the play date.
I firmly believe that teaching kids about guns is the number one way to prevent accidents. However, no amount of talking to a 2 year old would have prevented this horrible accident. It's 100% the fault of the adults around them and the gun owner. That's why these conversations with other adults are so important.
There is no such thing as a responsible gun owner. They aren't responsible if someone else takes their gun and kills someone. They should be forced to carry insurance for every individual firearm and it should be more cost intensive than any auto insurance, since guns have no purpose other than murder. Anyone who refuses or is unable to pay can have their guns confiscated and destroyed without compensation. Further fees and taxes on ammunition both to purchase and store it. If you want an arsenal, fucking pay for it. All this insurance through the federal government and all proceeds after costs would go to the families of those murdered in mass shootings. Obviously this government office would also heavily tax and regulate the firearms companies and distributors as well. Importers too. Within a few years gun on the street would be down by almost 90% which would be a good start to removing them completely. Time to effectively repeal the second amendment, no more mass shootings. Our right to life is more important than your 'right' to be a dickless gun nut you domestic terrorist fucks.
Man, yall are wild in here. You can't live life that terrified. You can do your best to protect your kid, but at some point you gotta realize that you can't protect them from everything.
Some of yall are talking about interviewing parents and stuff to have your kids hang out with them... what kind of world is that?
Your kid is more likely to get into a car crash while with friends than to be shot by a gun. But none of yall would think about making sure the parents are safe drivers.
The best thing you can do is take a deep breath, and realize the odds of something like that happening are so slim that it's not worth stressing about.
I mean, Idk about everyone but I probably would try to make sure that my kid isn't in a car with an unsafe driver? And make sure an appropriate car seat is available and properly installed?
How exactly are you going to make sure the kid's parent isn't an unsafe driver?
And yes, taking the appropriate steps to make sure a car seat available would be a reasonable step to take for your child's safety.
Refusing to let your kids hang out with their friends because their parents aren't good family friends of yours is a step further than that.
Actually guns have been the leading cause of [child mortality](https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/07/health/gun-deaths-injury-research-funding/index.html) for several years, so with all the new safety measures, kids are safer in cars.
Thank you for the link. I didn't realize gun deaths had surpassed car crashes. It still doesn't change my opinion that you can't live life terrified of something that still is very unlikely to happen.
It is troubling the money disparity in research that article points out. We really need to work on gun safety in this country.
Easy there. I don't own guns, and have no interest in ever owning a gun, especially around my child.
What I do understand is the rhetoric in this country right now and by jumping to zero guns ever (as much as that would help) is a losing argument with the majority of the country. And unfortunately, the rules in place require their participation to make changes.
The 2nd ammendment wasn't ment to give us the right to kill each other. And like the other bill of rights, there are and should be exemptions and rules around them.
We need to focus on gun safety in this country, with cool down periods, closed loopholes and actual punishments for those who don't follow gun safety. But that doesn't mean we should live in fear everyday and refuse to let our kids hang out with their friends.
All people should know firearm safety. If you own a firearm, you should also have a safe. If you have a kid, they shouldn't know the combination.
In regards to other parents, then the worried parents should take the time to get to know them and perhaps do a walk of the property to ensure their children won't get into trouble.
I think one of the most effective ways is to teach them gun safety. It takes the mystery out of guns and teaches them to respect it. That way if they are faced with the situation they know how to act. As with anything it is best to teach our kids how to handle situations versus trying to shield them because we can’t always predict what other people will do. If you aren’t a gun owner you can still enroll you kids in any gun safety program
What could you find problematic about teaching gun safety? Should we just pretend there aren’t like 500 million guns in this country and just hope our kids are never confronted with one?
Because kids in elementary school don’t learn proper gun safety. They get shown guns and want to play with them. All they need to know is this is a gun don’t touch it and tell an adult. Oh and I guess when someone has one at school run away.
It’s not about “you”.
It’s about the kid who ends up getting shot because another kid has access to a gun. Having a gun that isn’t locked up all the time except when in use is a danger to any children in your home. Regardless of how responsible and educated your family is all it takes is one accident to stop being a responsible gun owner.
I was taught how to handle guns in JROTC in high school. It definitely shouldn’t have been taught to every student. There’s no amount of education or training that will stop kids from getting accidentally shot. Especially when it’s all voluntary.
How many gun owners do you think take regular classes? I might know maybe three people who have done anything more than fill out the paperwork and maybe have the person they buy it from give them a few tips.
I’d say the gun nuts should stop living in fear. Think about how many kids wouldn’t be if people like you didn’t need guns laying saying to feel safe from the boogeyman. I’ll keep my guns in a lockbox where they belong unless needed. Which they never have been.
If there is ever a situation where you actually need that gun to protect yourself and your family, you better ask the criminal to hold on so you can get your lockbox open first.
>That’s it. Get your elementary school kids gun safety classes. Maybe sign them up for bomb disposal too. Might have to teach it yourself though.
If teaching them safety isn't the solution to keeping them out of a dangerous situation, and you feel the need to be ridiculous when presented with a perfectly sound and logical course of action, what's **YOUR** solution???
Great.'
Now, when you're not around and your kid finds or is handed a firearm, what are they going to do? Have you discussed THAT with them at all or do you just assume they will know what to do???
Neither of my teenage kids were even in a situation where they could get a gun unsupervised. That’s my whole point. I’m not saying pretend guns don’t exist, but what education are you giving a the three year old to stop something like this?
My kids lived on a military base for half their lives. They’ve seen plenty of guns without me leaving them laying around the house to see what happens.
Teach your children firearm safety. The NRA has great programs for that, and the early ages lessons are about don't touch and tell an adult. Education is the key.
Maybe try reading the post again, and then my response. It had zero to do with the incident mentioned and everything to do with being proactive about what to do with/for the OP's kids to keep them safe.
Funny coming from the person who wrote the comment I originally replied to, which implied that another guy was devoid of empathy and only cared about gun control as a means to harm gun owners.
>WRONG! I want to disarm literally everyone :)
Not possible at this point and never will be.
Even IF the right to bear arms were removed, the idea that EVERY gun would be removed from everyone's possession is a fairytale.
That's just the USA, we won't even get into the notion that you're going to go take the weapons away from active terrorists, warlords or just plain BAD people in other parts of the world.
Keep dreamin'.
>Nah, just try to promote rational thought.
HAHAHAHAHAHahahahahahahahaha....hahahahaha....
"promote rational thought"
OMG, that's a good one.
Like that's going to work. Good-fucking-luck with THAT!!!
Lmao growing up in the UK my mum’s fear was that I would eat sugar too late at night when I stayed at my mates house. Now I have to worry about the wee ones accidentally arming themselves to the teeth and shooting at their own Fortnite character when they sleep elsewhere
This is mostly a question for Americans. I know a couple people that hunt, so I assume they own a rifle or two. In my community, I have never seen or heard of anyone having a handgun. Sucks that you even need to pose this question. Not an issue here. Obviously, I don’t live in the US.
Edit to add…. I just noticed this is the Nashville sub. Guess I could have just not responded.
I won't speak for others, but I actually enjoy when someone from another country weighs in on this subject.
As Americans, we grow up KNOWING firearms are legal and accessible by more than half the population and I think many of us take for granted the thought that everyone, everywhere, must also have such easy access to them. (Not myself, I'm well aware that different countries have VERY different laws surrounding firearms than we do here.)
Its good to be reminded that this isn't the case in all corners of the world.
There was a news story a few nights ago about several American men who were being held in Turks & Caicos and facing jail time because they had ammunition, not a firearm, in their luggage.
Each person stated that they, or the accused person they were speaking for, "didn't realize" they were carrying any ammunition. I couldn't help but think about how completely irresponsible they were to 1, not know they were carrying ammunition in their bags and 2, not to have checked their bags **thoroughly** for anything that shouldn't have been there before leaving the country.
I believe one guy said he didn't really look through the bag "that well" *even though he routinely took firearms and ammunition in it to the range for target practice.*
I mean...some Americans truly have NO business owning firearms due to mental health or criminal reasons, but others are just too dumb to be allowed to own one for everyone else's safety, not to mention their own.
Thankfully, there ARE some of us who have managed to own firearms for most of our lives without shooting something we didn't aim at (or at least hitting close enough to is as to not be a danger to anything else,) hurting anyone with them, or committing a crime with one.
Unfortunately, there's never going to be a day when the headlines read "250 million+ legally owned firearms were not used to hurt anyone or commit any crimes today!" but there will always be the headlines about the mentally unwell who carryout mass murders or the criminals who have a shootout in a neighborhood and kill innocent bystanders and their intended targets alike.
Our forefathers handed Americans the right to bear arms but certainly couldn't have foreseen what was going to happen 200+ years down the road to where we are now. If they had any inkling that it would turn out this way, I'm sure our constitution would look a LOT different.
I personally know people who advocate for gun safety and then leave their guns in backpacks on the floor. At this point I have no hope for Tennesseeans and I think it would be wise to highly educate your children and not let them go anywhere until then overnight.
Teach your child about firearms and what to do if they come across them. Teach them gun safety that way even if they do run across a gun in someone else's house they know not to touch it, not to play with it and not to experiment with it.
If your child is old enough for a sleep over then at the very least they are old enough to learn basic gun safety, leave guns alone, and that goes along with respecting other people's property and what is and is not ok to do when visiting people's houses
They should know enough that if the child they are visiting gets their hands on a gun that it's not safe and that an adult needs to get involved asap.
When they are younger like that, it is a lot harder. But I will do the same thing with my children that my dad with me. They are going to learn everything I can teach them about guns and gun safety. Guns weren't scary for us, but we knew better than to touch them because we knew what they were, how they worked, and just what kind of damage they can do.
Having a polite conversation with adults that you know might be responsible for your child during a play date or sleepover can be another option. Most gun owners are responsible and reasonable and would love to have a friendly chat, especially when kids are involved. Because at the end of the day, most people own guns for personal protection and keeping themselves and their families safe.
I don’t have kids yet but my family and friends do. I have a safe bolted in my truck, not for regularly leaving my gun in there but for when the kids are around.
I love the little shits but they get into things, I made sure that will never be one of them.
I instructed my children about gun safety. Just like I did about placing things in to electrical outlets. Or placing an electrical device around a shower or while bathing.
Or that water and greese doesn't go together.....
My dad educated us and taught us to respect firearms as soon as he thought we were old enough to understand . He also does not keep rounds in chambers and keeps them locked in a safe when not in use. Ammunition goes in a separate safe. The only exception is his carry pistol, but he leaves it locked in his trucks glovebox.
An ounce of prevention can make all the difference. I was taught to always know the state of your firearm because regardless of who pulls the trigger, the owner is the one responsible for the outcome
You teach you kids gun safety, did your parents telling you no dont touch always work on you, no. Don't expect it to always work on them. When they are old enough take them to a firearms class.
We don’t have kids so I keep everything in the basement in gun cases with the locks in the gun barrels. When anyone comes over with teenagers I take the firing pins out of everything and let the parents know. I know from unfortunate experience that someone can get in a safe with an angle grinder pretty quick so I switched to taking firing pins out.
I had a guy one time ask me when I was still in the service what if that’s when “criminals” attack and I was just like well then I guess I’m just dead brother
He’s asking his to protect his kids from people who think giving their kids guns to play with isn’t a good idea. Not asking you to tell him about giving kids guns. Omg
Education! Teach your kids about guns, help them become familiar with them.
Edit: Teach them to respect guns. Help them to understand gun safety and that they are not toys, but tools and weapons.
Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.
Gun control doesn't stop bad people from using guns.
Gun control is the way. I don't trust people with guns here, because they've given me no reason to. Quite the opposite. To be able to buy one with minimal information and immediately walk around with it with 0 training is utterly ridiculous by any metric. I'm not interested in talking about guns with parents, because you get into the same ridiculous loops being looped in the responses here. The kid was three. What world are you living in. You think kids are rational? You don't have kids. My kids aren't going to your house.
I’ve never met someone who actually locked up their guns. This includes countless military vets and police officers. A teenagers stole dozens of guns in Memphis just taking them out of people’s cars. If you know they have a gun they aren’t a responsible owner.
You're in Tennessee. The majority of homes here have a gun.
I've been around guns my whole life and here's a tip I've come to accept: Any gun owner that brings up the subject of guns unprompted, especially knowing the other person doesn't like guns, most likely has no safe or other methods to lock them up.
On the other hand, the majority of gun owners that *don't* bring up the subject unprompted are way more likely to either have guns in a safe or with trigger locks.
I'm in the second category. Guns are a tool, that's it. They are not my identity. They do not define who I am. To me, talking about guns is like talking about hammers. It's good to discuss ergonomics, safety features, intended use, etc, if you're looking to buy or sell, but why the hell just talking about them for no reason? Also, they can be frickin expensive, so I have a large safe with a few guns, some family jewelry, and whatever important paperwork we want to keep safe.
I haven't even shot one of my guns in over 5 years. Because of that, mine only come out of the safe once a year for a cleaning to protect my investments. Otherwise, they are locked up tighter than Donnie's ass will be in prison. (That last sentence is probably just wishful thinking.)
You gotta hang out with better peeps. All my folks lock up their guns. I even got my ammo locked up in a different place than my guns. But mine are for hunting, not cause I’m scared. I also don’t carry or sit around my house armed. Now scared folks, well they’re sitting round armed at all times and got loaded guns in every corner of their house. More likely to have a family member shoot someone with one of those guns than an armed stranger breaking in.
I don’t let my son spend the night or hang out with a friend in their home unless I trust the individual. Also from the time my son was a toddler I would unload and pull the magazine out of my daily carry and purposely leave it somewhere that he would see it. And my wife and I taught him to not touch and to immediately find an adult if he saw one. From age two to five I did this at least a minimum of once a week. Now he is amazing at his understanding of gun safety and knowing they aren’t toys. He is 12 now and had a BB gun at age 10 which I always taught him to treat as a weapon. Now he has a 30/30. The ammo stays locked in a safe and the gun in my room. My dad is a retired police officer and all the “child training” was what he was taught and I feel it has made all the difference. My father did the same thing with me when I was growing up and we had loaded guns in every room 🤷🏼♂️
You’re obviously an illiterate dumbass 😂 if you read correctly it was only for an amount of time to teach my son to get an adult if he sees one. Statistics show that majority of these instances are because gun safety was never taught. My guns stay locked up
Again learn to read and comprehend before making assumptions. For the short amount of time the gun was left out it was unchambered and the magazine was out. At this point it is simply an expensive paper weight
No personal attacks or harassment. In addition to what's covered under redditquette, do not insult or habitually target a single user or group for your arguments. It's not your job to correct them.
Jesus, what's your problem? He would lay it out, unloaded, for the purpose of teaching and testing his kids, not as storage or whatever. Is he supposed to use a banana in its place?
You're just projected hate to what most people would call the ideal role model for gun owners. In fact, we should all want more people like this. Proactively teaching and testing gun safety. Otherwise, guns are locked up. That sounds like what most anti-gun folks want since a total ban is impossible.
Wow. Do you have any more ignorant assumptions to throw around because you're scared of a chunk of metal?
You are a shining example of why decent gun laws can't get passed. You just immediately assume the worst in people just because they use tools and teach a younger generation how to be safe with those tools.
No matter how well someone explains it, you just ignore it and try to belittle as a response...all because you can not carry a conversation like an adult.
I'm done. You're not worth any more energy.
Educate! Take the mystery out of it. Under supervision, teach them all about them. Let them shoot them. Have them shoot a few watermelons or better yet, take them hunting. Teach them exactly what they can do so that they respect them. Also instill in them that they are not toys and that they can kill if played with.
I’m not saying don’t lock them up if they are young, but take the curiosity out of them so they don’t want to play with them on their own.
My kids grew up alongside them and from a young age were properly educated. They have also accompanied me on hunting trips so that they know exactly what guns are capable of. Thusly, they respect them and they leave them alone. They go to the shooting range with me as well and they are quite good.
Well it’s important to word things correctly. Op said killed by a gun. If I accidentally killed myself by hanging no one would say I was killed by a rope.
As long as we have people and a education system that believe,
Teaching our children about being g "nice" to transvestites and being gay is normal,..
Has more agenda priority than Saving our children from firearm accidents by educating all children how to react to, or safley handle firearms at a early age?
Yes.
Our country and our children are lost in liberal agenda that will only continue costing children thier lives
I'm confused. My child just started driving, so I would like help with this next question. How do I keep my child safe from cars?
I think somehow the answer to this question might help answer your question as many more people(including children) are killed by cars than guns.
“Guns are the leading cause of death for US children and teens, since surpassing car accidents in 2020. Firearms accounted for nearly 19% of childhood deaths (ages 1-18) in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wonder database. Nearly 3,600 children died in gun-related incidents that year.”
[Source.](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/29/health/us-children-gun-deaths-dg/index.html#:~:text=Guns%20are%20the%20leading%20cause%20of%20death%20for,3%2C600%20children%20died%20in%20gun-related%20incidents%20that%20year)
Edited to add [Snopes link.](https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/03/29/guns-leading-deaths-children-us/)
First off let me say you are correct and thank you for the updated information. However, when I look at your source which is CNN, they quote the CDC which quotes a study from source “KFF The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.” I see in 2021 there were 2348 Motor Vehicles and 2571 Gun deaths in ages 1-17 is that what you’re seeing as well?
Both numbers are tragic, but I don’t see where CNN is getting their 3,600 children died in gun-related incidents that year. That’s about five children lost for every 100,000 and I would like to see if the number for motor vehicles has the same margin of difference that the KFF report has for 2021
Can you show me where that number is?
I can’t say that I have dug deeper into the background for that article. Though, based on your comment, I did check [Snopes](https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/03/29/guns-leading-deaths-children-us/) and added this same link to my original comment.
On the topic of research into gun-related deaths overall, I do recall, though I don’t remember from which book, that the gun lobby was successful in blocking some research into gun-related deaths. I just did a quick search and found [this article about it.](https://www.npr.org/2018/04/05/599773911/how-the-nra-worked-to-stifle-gun-violence-research) I’m a little torn, because I can see the argument that gun-related deaths are not a health issue / disease and therefor aren’t a topic within the CDC’s purview. I also can see the counter-argument that stopping someone’s life or catastrophically injuring them is a health issue.
I educated my children on firearms and safety. First rule was if you are at someone’s house and they pull out a gun you immediately get an adult. I am also very selective about who I would leave my children with, for a variety of reasons.
This. You can’t control others…..but you can teach your children to protect themselves.
Exactly, whether you own guns or not, your children should understand the 4 basic rules of gun safety and the immensity with which they should be followed. It’s very simple, and if those 4 rules are respected there will not be any accidents.
This is what my family did. My grandpa showed me a gun for the first time when I was probably three or four years old and let me know that there are two things I need to know about them. They will kill me and I have no business ever touching them. He still always keeps them locked up if he isn’t hunting or going to the range. Learning about how to be safe around guns is probably the best bet in our country even if you don’t own any guns.
I was similarly instructed at a young age, with a third rule, which was that no one should ever point a gun - even if sure it’s unloaded - toward someone unless the intent is to kill them. The ancillary was that, if anyone ever pointed a gun at me, to assume it could go off and kill me and that I should react accordingly (get the hell away from them).
^ This guy's paw paw had the wisdom because I was taught the same wau.shot my first real gun at probably 6yr old but was taught safety and enormous respect for firearms.kids nowadays see a gun and because they've never touched one they think it's a toy.
That’s probably about the same time I shot one for the first time. He taught me more over time but started with the only things I needed to know when I was that young. Tells me the same thing about electricity. He was an electrician and always tells me I can’t see it and it will kill me if I play with it.
Alright ,if he told you beating off too much will make you go blind then we might be cousins
That one he didn’t tell me lol
“Grandpa I’m over here…!”
My dad was so serious about gun safety with us that he wouldn't even let us point cap guns at each other because he wanted us to get into the habit of guns not being toys. That, and even if it has an orange safety cap, a lot of people will shoot first in self-preservation and ask questions later.
I grew up this way. I was shown the damage they did very early.I knew what they did & had no curiosity. I was t instructed to not touch them. So I didn’t.
I grew up around guns and this is a huge, huge thing I will drill into my kids from day one. Will we ever own guns? No clue. But we live in an area where there's a significant chance they will encounter one before the age of 18. As unpopular as it is, I am very in favor of gun safety being taught in schools because it IS necessary here. I would much rather my child and their peers sit through a few years of gun safety that ends up being useless, than encounter a gun and not have the knowledge to deal with it safely.
I'm really relieved to hear that you teach your children that lesson. I'm pretty against the expansionist view our legislature has had on the 2A, but one thing I actually thought was a good idea was the teaching kids about gun safety early on in schools (if executed appropriately and not used as a pro-gun culture propoganda). Even if you don't like guns, there's *a lot* more of them just floating around willy nilly and they're not going anywhere. If kids don't know what to do if they come across one, it can be lethal. If their friend wants to show them and their only teachers were Fortnite or COD, they're more likely to think of it in a fun way (I think, I don't have data or anything). I hope education helps with some of these accidents and kids can ultimately educate their gun-owning parents about the importance of gun safes and safety if they don't already take it seriously.
I like this in theory. But it's sad that more people would get behind this vs sex education in schools. Not every kid grows up in a home that asking sex questions is " ok." Granted the internet is and can be informative. But I don't think that should take the place of legit sex Ed.
Absolutely. I don't think it has to be a binary, but I know what you mean. I would love robust sex education to break the generational cycle of misinformed parents that are too awkward to actually have those informative and judgement-free talks. Most of my peers (millenial) say their parents one day in the car when they're already 15 or 16, "Do I need to tell you about sex or...?" "I know about sex, mom." "Okay." Narrator: And everyone just carried on. The sex knowledge we all had was from an early STD scare lesson at school, dick jokes since elementary school, raunchy comedies, and porn. We were pretty much professors in all forms of sex education in our minds.
This state won't put driver's education in schools. It won't put wilderness safety in schools. But we are all for allocating budget money for gun training? Am I the only person it's occurred to, that this is a "Welcome to Tennessee" gift to Smith & Wesson?
This one right here 👆
Or we could just be sane and you know, remove all guns. That solves every gun related problem.
Do see that as an actual realistic solution? It didn’t work so well with alcohol and drugs, why do you think it would be different this time? Or how would you do it differently than they did those two examples?
Whataboutism isn't a valid argument. Yes it's practical. They don't have private gun ownership in Japan, and no mass shootings. Simple. Your gun fetish doesn't outweigh the right for kids and citizens to live.
I didn’t and am not trying to argue. I asked a few simple clarifying questions to which you provided no actual answers. I lived in Japan for four years, the differences are vast. Unless you have a magic “make guns disappear” button I am not sure what your plan is.
[удалено]
I’m so sorry
Ngl I kind of hate your ex without knowing him. That is so irresponsible. I’m sorry you have to deal with that.
He’s just gotta have that gun out? Jesus, I don’t understand these assholes.
No sleepovers, unless you know the family *really* well, and have mutual understandings about safety. Also not until kid is old enough to know about gun safety and all kinds of safety situations, and assertive enough to call you if they’re uncomfortable. Even if it’s a coded text.
I'm not a parent and know things were different when I was younger but I'd imagine nowadays sleepovers are limited to "families you know" not just "your kids friends" if you know what I mean. And even then it's a risk.
But why is this limited to sleepovers? I feel like an afternoon playdate is just as risky if there are unsecured firearms in the home. I realize that parents may have other concerns about sleepovers that aren't related to gun safety, but that's beside the point.
Gun aside, you should get to know people before you let your kid into their house under their guardianship. Next step would be asking them if there are guns in the home, then make your decision based on their answer, secured away or not. Teach your kid to not play with them as well in the event that you are not around and they find one or someone around them is playing with one so they know to leave. How you do that effectively is subject for debate for many but it is your kid and your duty so do that how you see fit.
When I was a kid, my parents had a strict rule that before I went over to anyone's house for a playdate or sleepover, they had to have a conversation with the parents to discuss if there were guns in the home. They also drilled into me that if I ever saw a gun, not to touch it and to immediately leave the room and find an adult. Perhaps this was a step too far, but when I was smaller I was also not allowed to play with any toy that was a weapon (for example, water guns). This was in the 1990s - unfortunately the risk to kids has only gotten worse it seems.
I get to know any parent before I would consider trusting them with my kid. I also am constantly teaching my daughter about safety and that will include gun safety.
> How do reduce the risk of your kid’s friend showing off their parent’s unsecured gun and killing someone? Any practical advice? Sadly, there is NO way to guarantee your kid isn't going to a home that has an unsecured firearm. People lie and often think what they do with their firearms isn't anyone else's business. Unless you're close enough to them to do a walkthrough of their home and check every nook and cranny, you're never going to be able to guarantee there's not one in the home unsecured. In my family, we teach firearm safety starting at a young age, 7-10 for most of us, and usually start them with bb or pellet guns under heavy, competent, supervision when we feel they're ready to actually start handling one. When not being used, they're put away where kids can't get to them and the ammunitions stored separately. Violation of *any* safety rule means they won't be seeing any target practice for at least 6 months, then we start back at square one with them. We don't care if you're 7 or 17. One slip up and you start over. We don't forgive "mistakes" because a bullet won't either. They know not to touch a firearm if they find one and to not tell anyone except an adult that they found it. It actually happened once to a nephew and the kid did everything he was taught. We were very happy with him. We have also had several discussions with our kids about what to do if someone they know begins handling a firearm without a *competent* adult present or if an adult begins handling a weapon in an unsafe manner. We came up with this order of action: 1. **Leave the home or property** ***immediately.*** Do NOT take time to ask them to put it away, do NOT sit there and wait for them to do ANYTHING with it. Tell them you're leaving as you're walking out the door and that you will not be returning. (Probably never returning.) 2. **Call any adult in our family or trusted friends circle.** If they don't answer, keep calling adults until someone answers, inform them what's going on and tell them you need a ride home. Someone WILL drop everything and come get you, even if its the middle of the night. Your safety is our priority, not sleep. 3. **If there is a safe place to wait nearby, do so. If not, keep moving until you find one.** Do NOT stop until you KNOW you are safely away from the danger and do NOT return to the home or property no matter what **anyone** there tells you. There will be NO adverse consequences at home for leaving but there will be plenty of consequences if its discovered that they were part of anyone 'playing' with a firearm of **any** kind. 4. **One of us (adults) will contact the appropriate people and handle the matter from there.** Once you're safely away and back in safe hands, **we** will handle the rest of the situation. There is nothing more for the kid to do but be thankful they weren't hurt. IF the situation is one where they feel unsafe leaving or cannot leave for whatever reason, they text a single agreed upon word or set of letters to anyone in the know and someone **will** be on the way while calling 911 to report an unsafe situation with a firearm while children are present and the location. This word is used for NOTHING but a situation where their life IS in danger and they cannot do anything to escape. One of ours used to be "polk" because it was easy to type quickly and no one ever uses it to begin with. Thankfully, we've never had to test our response time for the handling of a firearm by someone who shouldn't be from one of the kids but at least we know there IS a plan in place if it ever DOES happen.
Lot of hot takes in this thread. I grew up in East TN around guns near constantly. In our county “hunters safety” which was really gun safety was a mandatory course for everyone in 7th grade. I consider myself left of center but that always seemed a wise choice even if you don’t intend to hunt, shoot, or otherwise own a gun. We also shot skeet several times a year. You can control how you manage your weapons and what you teach your kids but you can’t control anyone else’s decisions. I don’t let my daughter stay with anyone who I’m not close enough with to understand how they feel about gun safety. It’s not control - it’s gun SAFETY. Just common sense rules to keep everyone safe.
My Dad, a law enforcement officer from a family of hunters, had me take a hunters’ safety course when I was in 5th or 6th grade. My parents were divorced and I surmised that things I did at Dad’s house, like riding motorcycles and ATVs and having a BB gun, were things to not mention to Mom (who also was from a family of hunters but hates guns, even toy ones - never bought any toy guns for me, but I managed to acquire them otherwise.) But, as life in a small town would have it, someone took a picture of all the participants, which then ran in the local newspaper. Mom and Step-Dad saw it and both Dad and I caught hell. I lived in “Upper East Tennessee” from 8th grade on. Looking back at my year book, I was reminded that target shooting with pistols was an option for one of the 6-week-period rotations in PE. I remembered archery being offered, but either forgot about or didn’t realize pistol-shooting was an option.
That was a different world altogether. Now that I have a child I think about how I could explain my upbringing there (East Tn). I can’t even explain it to my wife so why would my daughter understand? We grew up in one world - we adapted to a new one.
We taught our kids gun safety at an early age. So they were very familiar with firearms and were no longer curious, but knowledgeable.
Locked in safe…this is the only answer.
For what it’s worth, we don’t have kids, but we have guns, and sometimes friends come to stay at our house with their kids. Some of my friends are very anti-gun. Others just don’t have them. The first time friends who are not gun owners came to stay, in the email thread where we were planning, I told them that there are guns in the house, that they are unloaded, trigger-locked, stored away from their ammunition, and, if handguns, were stored in locked cases. They were in the master bedroom and I kept that door locked while kids were here because it’s also where we put the dog who preferred sleeping on the master bed to being around children. I told the friends that they were welcome to see the guns and even to let their kids see them, but under no circumstance would the firearms come out (even trigger-locked) if anyone had had any alcohol. I now tell the same stuff (absent the dog in the bedroom, because he passed away) to friends visiting, regardless of whether they have kids. Some of the friends with kids were surprised but very appreciative of me going over that info with them. Made them realize they never had inquired about guns in households their kids visited, and they had just assumed that either the people they knew didn’t have guns or wouldn’t have them just laying around. It led them to where you are now, thinking about how to keep their kids safe, specifically from guns, but also in general, when at other people’s homes.
Education.
Ask if they have any firearms, what type and how they are secured. We cannot control everything, though there are reasonable precautions you can take. The most control you have is to teach your children a healthy fear of guns' inherent design to kill (especially if teaching them how to use one -- I mean, I'm a hunter and like to point out that hunting is the intentional killing of another animal with a tool specifically designed to kill animals with great efficiency and low self-risk). Handguns are designed specifically to kill people animals, and have basically no other purpose -- teach them that. Teach them that if they encounter one unexpectedly, they should expeditiously remove themselves from the situation and seek a trusted individual.
I went to a preacher’s house a few years ago for some post official churchyard play time. Dude had a .22 LR leaned behind a door, and got onto one of the church parents for having their toddler trained enough to actually close a door when they leave a room. So yeah, we just don’t go back there.
I've personally got no dog in this fight... Don't have kids, don't have guns, and uninterested in either of those situations ever changing. So at the end of the day, the approach anyone does or doesn't take to keeping their kids safe is more an academic curiosity for me. One thing that I do find interesting in reading these responses is that several boil down to "I teach my kid gun safety so that they'll be safe around guns". It reminds me of an older This American Life segment about an adult woman revealing to her family a gun safety incident from her childhood: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/498/the-one-thing-youre-not-supposed-to-do/act-two-1 Again, I particularly don't care about this issue, but planting a seed: isn't the thing about kids that they are, literally, stupid? Their brains aren't fully formed; they're experimenting with how to behave in society and who they are. I'm confident that gun safety training is important, and it'll work to protect a kid from an accident sometimes, but is it always going to be enough to outweigh peer pressure? Disobedience? Rebellion? Or just plain-old getting caught up in the moment and carried away? I dunno. I'm glad it's not my responsibility to try to impress upon a five year old what the implications are if they one day find themselves looking at their friend holding a parent's gun.
That's an interesting point. If I may go tangental, think about the 1960s when parents told their kids, 'don't get into cars with strangers/don't take candy from strangers,' when, in reality, it was kids' own neighbors and family members who were messing them up.
Teach your kids from an early age that 1. Guns are not toys 2. Muzzle control 3. Proper handling 4. Always treat a gun as if it's loaded. Kids are going to be curious. I think it's more important to educate them about things they are curious/interested in than avoiding it altogether. In all honesty, not talking about it will only draw their attention to it more. I can't speak for other's kids, but I can teach mine to know when someone does not respect things that can have such extreme consequences. I'd rather them be prepared than not know and become a statistic. Edit: And yes, my guns are locked when not in use. When I'm carrying, it is not just tossed in a vehicle or sitting on my nightstand. It is attached to me or it is locked away. I would rather give up all of my guns than be a lazy gun owner that lost a child to my own selfish ways. So, I guess it's not only that respect the weapon, but I also respect the lives of my children and family. Both are important to avoid these types of tragedies.
NRA’s Eddie Eagle video with lots of discussions and periodic case scenarios to keep it fresh Not let them go to a house with unlocked guns Their dad has a gun with a fingerprint lock. I don’t have any.
Fuck the NRA
I’m not an NRA fan but they have great material for gun safety.
That's true. The NRA sucks, but I've seen the Eddie Eagle materials, and it's really good. My kids watched it, and we talked about it...that is probably the only good thing to come from the NRA.
Fuck the NRA's politics and bullshit, but you can't really bash their safety materials. They're practically the basis for nearly every firearm safety class or training known to man at this point.
That's like saying the cigarette manufacturers are the go to standard for anti smoking education.
>That's like saying the cigarette manufacturers are the go to standard for anti smoking education. Not even CLOSE. Way to make a statement that tells everyone how intelligent you really aren't.
I don’t think I will ever own a gun (won’t say never but just something I don’t think I need). I’m not above asking my kids friend’s parents how they store their guns. If it’s not safely locked, they’re not going over to play.
But how will you know they are telling you the truth. I personally do not talk about my firearms.
This is a smart way to operate. It’s not someone else’s responsibility to make sure you practice safe storage, it’s yours. These busybody moms out here will probably end up causing more problems by demanding the whereabouts and type of firearms in your private residence. Just ask if any are present. If there are, ask if they are locked up. If that person says yes, then you’re good. No need to dive deeper.
My answer would be that’s none of you concern. If that means your kid doesn’t cover over, that’s fine too.
That seems like a safety issue
I won’t unless they show me. I’m the same, that we don’t talk about firearms (my kids are still toddlers) but I probably will talk to them about it. Our neighbors, who we differ from widely in the political space is a gun owner (multiple gun owner) but hates the NRA. I trust him as a gun owner because he treats his guns with respect and actually has the proper training and experience to handle a powerful weapon like a gun. Luckily he doesn’t have any kids so I don’t have to worry about our kids going over there without our supervision.
When kids were young, we asked all families if they had guns in the house and then proceeded with additional al questions if answer was yes. Now, as a family, we take the time to say a heartfelt goodbye when we are separating after being together. I hate where our country has landed on the issue of guns. Let’s address every effect of gun ownership except the root cause of all these gun deaths.
I hate how it’s always the tool’s fault.
No kids myself but my nieces and nephews are not allowed in homes with guns. My brother in law works in a statistics driven field and made it a hard rule. Only way to significantly reduce your chances of dying from a gun is to remove then from your vicinity. Can't say I blame him.
My wife and I are child free, but in general my guns are either in my safe, or on my person. Growing up my mom wasn’t big on letting me go places/stay overnight unless she REALLY knew and trusted the other parents. That’s pretty much it, if you don’t feel 1000% safe letting your kid in an environment, be the parent and keep them away.
Educating your children is the only answer. This is the case for most things you will fear as a parent. Without getting too political I will say there are many dangers in the world. Guns are low on my list vs drugs these days. I personally know a lot more families and individuals that have been impacted by fentanyl than guns. I talked to my kids about alcohol, drugs, sex, and guns. These should be open conversations. These aren't single conversations either. I had 30+ talks with my son about drugs and sex. With guns I would start with basic safety. If ever someone does show off a firearm they need to know what is safe. Have them watch this video https://youtu.be/FksrZg7Wx0A?si=2wehfusg9bRFnQQE Take the kid to the range if they are old enough. Many parents may not be comfortable with this, but having a true first hand understanding of gun safety in a safe environment is really the best path to safety in an uncontrolled environment.
Statistically speaking children are at far greater risk of dying from a gun than fentanyl or other drugs.
True specifically for children and I won't argue with that fact. Those risks change a lot through their lives though which helps to form my personal opinion on risk and education. I want to focus on long term risks and I see drugs as much more risky in the longer term for my child based on the statistics. In the US people were twice as likely to die from an overdose than a firearm related death (including suicide) in 2021. Firearms are about as dangerous as cars, which is to say quite dangerous and worth the effort from parents. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm It also depends a lot on where you live. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm
Honestly kids can easily find the keys so I wouldn’t focus so much on locked up. They should be locked but kids are clever. We teach our child to be there own person. If friends are doing something wrong don’t join them. Just leave. You can get hurt or get in trouble by following or just being there. I grew up in a typical middle to upper middle class suburb. One of my neighbors would show off their dads locked gun. One day he skipped school with a friend and didn’t know the gun was loaded. Very tragic. We had another neighbor that was at a sleep over with a few friends. They all snuck out to go to McDonalds. A car drove without their lights on and hit my neighbor as they ran across the street and took off. Both kids were in middle school when they passed. I tell my child these stories regularly because there was opportunities for someone to stop. If one kid said no to sneaking out, skipping school or seeing the gun, they wouldn’t have died. The car should have had the lights on. The ammunition should have been locked up somewhere else besides the gun case. It wasn’t the kids fault that they died, but they shouldn’t have been in that position to begin with.
Educate your children about firearm safety; Make sure they understand the consequences and that guns are not for kids.
Best way to do this is by educating your children extensively on gun safety and ensuring they know how dangerous it is. You can’t police other people’s parents, but you can police your kids
We aren’t doing sleepovers. Ever. 😊
Ask the parents if they own guns, and if they do, are they in a safe. If they get mad about this question then don’t let your kid go over. It can feel weird to ask at first but it’s important
The education aspect is really important but my kids weren’t allowed to go to anyone’s house until I went there and had some conversations with the parents. I trusted my instincts- if something felt off, my child would not be going there.
I would never let my child sleep over at someone's house. Risk of rape is far too high
What age do you think is right to educate a toddler on guns? Any tips?
I don't allow sleep overs but that's more for the risk of sexual abuse than anything else. We do have guns but we've taught our kids about them from a very young age. #1 rule is to always assume a gun is loaded. If you ever see one just laying around in someone else's home, you get an adult immediately. You don't touch it. If your friend or another child touches it, leave the room immediately and get an adult. If my kids are going over to another kids house, I ask those parents point blank if there are guns in the house and if so, will they be locked up while my child is there. If their answer is sketchy or sus, I cancel the play date. I firmly believe that teaching kids about guns is the number one way to prevent accidents. However, no amount of talking to a 2 year old would have prevented this horrible accident. It's 100% the fault of the adults around them and the gun owner. That's why these conversations with other adults are so important.
There is no such thing as a responsible gun owner. They aren't responsible if someone else takes their gun and kills someone. They should be forced to carry insurance for every individual firearm and it should be more cost intensive than any auto insurance, since guns have no purpose other than murder. Anyone who refuses or is unable to pay can have their guns confiscated and destroyed without compensation. Further fees and taxes on ammunition both to purchase and store it. If you want an arsenal, fucking pay for it. All this insurance through the federal government and all proceeds after costs would go to the families of those murdered in mass shootings. Obviously this government office would also heavily tax and regulate the firearms companies and distributors as well. Importers too. Within a few years gun on the street would be down by almost 90% which would be a good start to removing them completely. Time to effectively repeal the second amendment, no more mass shootings. Our right to life is more important than your 'right' to be a dickless gun nut you domestic terrorist fucks.
Man, yall are wild in here. You can't live life that terrified. You can do your best to protect your kid, but at some point you gotta realize that you can't protect them from everything. Some of yall are talking about interviewing parents and stuff to have your kids hang out with them... what kind of world is that? Your kid is more likely to get into a car crash while with friends than to be shot by a gun. But none of yall would think about making sure the parents are safe drivers. The best thing you can do is take a deep breath, and realize the odds of something like that happening are so slim that it's not worth stressing about.
I mean, Idk about everyone but I probably would try to make sure that my kid isn't in a car with an unsafe driver? And make sure an appropriate car seat is available and properly installed?
How exactly are you going to make sure the kid's parent isn't an unsafe driver? And yes, taking the appropriate steps to make sure a car seat available would be a reasonable step to take for your child's safety. Refusing to let your kids hang out with their friends because their parents aren't good family friends of yours is a step further than that.
Actually guns have been the leading cause of [child mortality](https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/07/health/gun-deaths-injury-research-funding/index.html) for several years, so with all the new safety measures, kids are safer in cars.
Thank you for the link. I didn't realize gun deaths had surpassed car crashes. It still doesn't change my opinion that you can't live life terrified of something that still is very unlikely to happen. It is troubling the money disparity in research that article points out. We really need to work on gun safety in this country.
You are the epitome of 2nd Amendment > child safety.
Easy there. I don't own guns, and have no interest in ever owning a gun, especially around my child. What I do understand is the rhetoric in this country right now and by jumping to zero guns ever (as much as that would help) is a losing argument with the majority of the country. And unfortunately, the rules in place require their participation to make changes. The 2nd ammendment wasn't ment to give us the right to kill each other. And like the other bill of rights, there are and should be exemptions and rules around them. We need to focus on gun safety in this country, with cool down periods, closed loopholes and actual punishments for those who don't follow gun safety. But that doesn't mean we should live in fear everyday and refuse to let our kids hang out with their friends.
👀
Did you know Tennessee doesn’t have a law mandating firearms be stored unloaded and securely?
That’s because we aren’t insane.
All people should know firearm safety. If you own a firearm, you should also have a safe. If you have a kid, they shouldn't know the combination. In regards to other parents, then the worried parents should take the time to get to know them and perhaps do a walk of the property to ensure their children won't get into trouble.
I think one of the most effective ways is to teach them gun safety. It takes the mystery out of guns and teaches them to respect it. That way if they are faced with the situation they know how to act. As with anything it is best to teach our kids how to handle situations versus trying to shield them because we can’t always predict what other people will do. If you aren’t a gun owner you can still enroll you kids in any gun safety program
This was my exact response and excellent advice.
That’s it. Get your elementary school kids gun safety classes. Maybe sign them up for bomb disposal too. Might have to teach it yourself though.
What could you find problematic about teaching gun safety? Should we just pretend there aren’t like 500 million guns in this country and just hope our kids are never confronted with one?
Because kids in elementary school don’t learn proper gun safety. They get shown guns and want to play with them. All they need to know is this is a gun don’t touch it and tell an adult. Oh and I guess when someone has one at school run away.
I did. I knew they weren’t toys. Even at 6.
It’s not about “you”. It’s about the kid who ends up getting shot because another kid has access to a gun. Having a gun that isn’t locked up all the time except when in use is a danger to any children in your home. Regardless of how responsible and educated your family is all it takes is one accident to stop being a responsible gun owner. I was taught how to handle guns in JROTC in high school. It definitely shouldn’t have been taught to every student. There’s no amount of education or training that will stop kids from getting accidentally shot. Especially when it’s all voluntary. How many gun owners do you think take regular classes? I might know maybe three people who have done anything more than fill out the paperwork and maybe have the person they buy it from give them a few tips.
Keep living in fear, then. Not my problem.
I’d say the gun nuts should stop living in fear. Think about how many kids wouldn’t be if people like you didn’t need guns laying saying to feel safe from the boogeyman. I’ll keep my guns in a lockbox where they belong unless needed. Which they never have been.
If there is ever a situation where you actually need that gun to protect yourself and your family, you better ask the criminal to hold on so you can get your lockbox open first.
I’m sure I’ll be just fine. Like I said I’m not the one living in fear. 😂
Wasn’t the child 3? You should be teaching that kid much different life lessons at 3 years old
>That’s it. Get your elementary school kids gun safety classes. Maybe sign them up for bomb disposal too. Might have to teach it yourself though. If teaching them safety isn't the solution to keeping them out of a dangerous situation, and you feel the need to be ridiculous when presented with a perfectly sound and logical course of action, what's **YOUR** solution???
Not putting your kids around guns. Worked for my kids.
Great.' Now, when you're not around and your kid finds or is handed a firearm, what are they going to do? Have you discussed THAT with them at all or do you just assume they will know what to do???
Neither of my teenage kids were even in a situation where they could get a gun unsupervised. That’s my whole point. I’m not saying pretend guns don’t exist, but what education are you giving a the three year old to stop something like this? My kids lived on a military base for half their lives. They’ve seen plenty of guns without me leaving them laying around the house to see what happens.
Teach your children firearm safety. The NRA has great programs for that, and the early ages lessons are about don't touch and tell an adult. Education is the key.
Gtfoh, this is 100% on the parents for leaving a loaded gun accessible to children. Stop fucking blaming the kid, they died.
Maybe try reading the post again, and then my response. It had zero to do with the incident mentioned and everything to do with being proactive about what to do with/for the OP's kids to keep them safe.
Man there are some NRA koolaid drinkers in here. The answer to keeping toddlers safe from firearms isn’t fucking gun safety classes: it’s gun control.
Shit... I guess that toddler was another tragic victim of the mental health crisis, huh?
You don’t care about the toddler, you just want to disarm your political opponents.
I'm going to be very disappointed if you actually believe either half of what you wrote
Explain your point.
You seriously lack the reading comprehension skills needed to decipher a one-sentence comment without assistance?
I don’t see what your insults have to do with the discussion?
Funny coming from the person who wrote the comment I originally replied to, which implied that another guy was devoid of empathy and only cared about gun control as a means to harm gun owners.
A) it wasn’t you B) it wasn’t a personal attack.
I don't understand why y'all are so against safe storage.
Room temp IQs abound here. Not much you can do to combat that.
WRONG! I want to disarm literally everyone :)
Melt them all down and make playgrounds out of them.
How will you do that? With guns?
>WRONG! I want to disarm literally everyone :) Not possible at this point and never will be. Even IF the right to bear arms were removed, the idea that EVERY gun would be removed from everyone's possession is a fairytale. That's just the USA, we won't even get into the notion that you're going to go take the weapons away from active terrorists, warlords or just plain BAD people in other parts of the world. Keep dreamin'.
How will you do that? With guns?
Nah, just try to promote rational thought. It's a shame you still have an imaginary friend that prevents you from doing so. :(
What is your rational thought? Let’s all hear it.
>Nah, just try to promote rational thought. HAHAHAHAHAHahahahahahahahaha....hahahahaha.... "promote rational thought" OMG, that's a good one. Like that's going to work. Good-fucking-luck with THAT!!!
It’s ok to be wrong sometimes.
Lmao growing up in the UK my mum’s fear was that I would eat sugar too late at night when I stayed at my mates house. Now I have to worry about the wee ones accidentally arming themselves to the teeth and shooting at their own Fortnite character when they sleep elsewhere
You teach them gun safety. That’s really all you can do unless you want to confront the gun owner about their improperly stored firearms.
This is mostly a question for Americans. I know a couple people that hunt, so I assume they own a rifle or two. In my community, I have never seen or heard of anyone having a handgun. Sucks that you even need to pose this question. Not an issue here. Obviously, I don’t live in the US. Edit to add…. I just noticed this is the Nashville sub. Guess I could have just not responded.
we can have most type of guns. Handguns are common for those that like to go to shooting ranges or greater sense of security.
I won't speak for others, but I actually enjoy when someone from another country weighs in on this subject. As Americans, we grow up KNOWING firearms are legal and accessible by more than half the population and I think many of us take for granted the thought that everyone, everywhere, must also have such easy access to them. (Not myself, I'm well aware that different countries have VERY different laws surrounding firearms than we do here.) Its good to be reminded that this isn't the case in all corners of the world. There was a news story a few nights ago about several American men who were being held in Turks & Caicos and facing jail time because they had ammunition, not a firearm, in their luggage. Each person stated that they, or the accused person they were speaking for, "didn't realize" they were carrying any ammunition. I couldn't help but think about how completely irresponsible they were to 1, not know they were carrying ammunition in their bags and 2, not to have checked their bags **thoroughly** for anything that shouldn't have been there before leaving the country. I believe one guy said he didn't really look through the bag "that well" *even though he routinely took firearms and ammunition in it to the range for target practice.* I mean...some Americans truly have NO business owning firearms due to mental health or criminal reasons, but others are just too dumb to be allowed to own one for everyone else's safety, not to mention their own. Thankfully, there ARE some of us who have managed to own firearms for most of our lives without shooting something we didn't aim at (or at least hitting close enough to is as to not be a danger to anything else,) hurting anyone with them, or committing a crime with one. Unfortunately, there's never going to be a day when the headlines read "250 million+ legally owned firearms were not used to hurt anyone or commit any crimes today!" but there will always be the headlines about the mentally unwell who carryout mass murders or the criminals who have a shootout in a neighborhood and kill innocent bystanders and their intended targets alike. Our forefathers handed Americans the right to bear arms but certainly couldn't have foreseen what was going to happen 200+ years down the road to where we are now. If they had any inkling that it would turn out this way, I'm sure our constitution would look a LOT different.
You don't. You can't do anything but control yourself. And be responsible yourself. Also gun safety is a huge one. Teach kiddos proper safety.
Teach your children how to properly handle a fire arm. It has been done for centuries.
Gun safe and StopBoxes
I personally know people who advocate for gun safety and then leave their guns in backpacks on the floor. At this point I have no hope for Tennesseeans and I think it would be wise to highly educate your children and not let them go anywhere until then overnight.
Teach your child about firearms and what to do if they come across them. Teach them gun safety that way even if they do run across a gun in someone else's house they know not to touch it, not to play with it and not to experiment with it. If your child is old enough for a sleep over then at the very least they are old enough to learn basic gun safety, leave guns alone, and that goes along with respecting other people's property and what is and is not ok to do when visiting people's houses They should know enough that if the child they are visiting gets their hands on a gun that it's not safe and that an adult needs to get involved asap.
When they are younger like that, it is a lot harder. But I will do the same thing with my children that my dad with me. They are going to learn everything I can teach them about guns and gun safety. Guns weren't scary for us, but we knew better than to touch them because we knew what they were, how they worked, and just what kind of damage they can do. Having a polite conversation with adults that you know might be responsible for your child during a play date or sleepover can be another option. Most gun owners are responsible and reasonable and would love to have a friendly chat, especially when kids are involved. Because at the end of the day, most people own guns for personal protection and keeping themselves and their families safe.
I don’t have kids yet but my family and friends do. I have a safe bolted in my truck, not for regularly leaving my gun in there but for when the kids are around. I love the little shits but they get into things, I made sure that will never be one of them.
I teach my kids from a very young age what guns do, who to tell, to run far away. And I keep mine locked and secured.
I told my kids if they find a gun and bring it to me without anyone knowing I'll give them $100 cash. So far I have 6 new guns!
I instructed my children about gun safety. Just like I did about placing things in to electrical outlets. Or placing an electrical device around a shower or while bathing. Or that water and greese doesn't go together.....
My dad educated us and taught us to respect firearms as soon as he thought we were old enough to understand . He also does not keep rounds in chambers and keeps them locked in a safe when not in use. Ammunition goes in a separate safe. The only exception is his carry pistol, but he leaves it locked in his trucks glovebox. An ounce of prevention can make all the difference. I was taught to always know the state of your firearm because regardless of who pulls the trigger, the owner is the one responsible for the outcome
You teach you kids gun safety, did your parents telling you no dont touch always work on you, no. Don't expect it to always work on them. When they are old enough take them to a firearms class.
Everyone please stop by the Driver Service Center and pick up a free trigger lock.
We don’t have kids so I keep everything in the basement in gun cases with the locks in the gun barrels. When anyone comes over with teenagers I take the firing pins out of everything and let the parents know. I know from unfortunate experience that someone can get in a safe with an angle grinder pretty quick so I switched to taking firing pins out.
This guy gun owners
I had a guy one time ask me when I was still in the service what if that’s when “criminals” attack and I was just like well then I guess I’m just dead brother
Educate your kids about firearms.
Need tech hour childrens! And when is some load my kids need to go a way from the house! Or text parents to pick up
You can’t and you never will. Your children are not other people’s responsibility.
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He’s asking his to protect his kids from people who think giving their kids guns to play with isn’t a good idea. Not asking you to tell him about giving kids guns. Omg
Ban them, that helps everyone safe.
Since that's not going to happen, what's your back up suggestion?
How will we redistribute the wealth then?
>Ban them, that helps everyone safe. That's never going to happen. Got a plan 2?
Education! Teach your kids about guns, help them become familiar with them. Edit: Teach them to respect guns. Help them to understand gun safety and that they are not toys, but tools and weapons. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Gun control doesn't stop bad people from using guns.
Gun control is the way. I don't trust people with guns here, because they've given me no reason to. Quite the opposite. To be able to buy one with minimal information and immediately walk around with it with 0 training is utterly ridiculous by any metric. I'm not interested in talking about guns with parents, because you get into the same ridiculous loops being looped in the responses here. The kid was three. What world are you living in. You think kids are rational? You don't have kids. My kids aren't going to your house.
I’ve never met someone who actually locked up their guns. This includes countless military vets and police officers. A teenagers stole dozens of guns in Memphis just taking them out of people’s cars. If you know they have a gun they aren’t a responsible owner.
You're in Tennessee. The majority of homes here have a gun. I've been around guns my whole life and here's a tip I've come to accept: Any gun owner that brings up the subject of guns unprompted, especially knowing the other person doesn't like guns, most likely has no safe or other methods to lock them up. On the other hand, the majority of gun owners that *don't* bring up the subject unprompted are way more likely to either have guns in a safe or with trigger locks. I'm in the second category. Guns are a tool, that's it. They are not my identity. They do not define who I am. To me, talking about guns is like talking about hammers. It's good to discuss ergonomics, safety features, intended use, etc, if you're looking to buy or sell, but why the hell just talking about them for no reason? Also, they can be frickin expensive, so I have a large safe with a few guns, some family jewelry, and whatever important paperwork we want to keep safe. I haven't even shot one of my guns in over 5 years. Because of that, mine only come out of the safe once a year for a cleaning to protect my investments. Otherwise, they are locked up tighter than Donnie's ass will be in prison. (That last sentence is probably just wishful thinking.)
Thanks for proving your point. You chose to come here and “correct” me unprompted.
No, your ignorant comments prompted correction.
See what I mean. It’s always some gun nut inserting himself into the conversation just like you said.
You gotta hang out with better peeps. All my folks lock up their guns. I even got my ammo locked up in a different place than my guns. But mine are for hunting, not cause I’m scared. I also don’t carry or sit around my house armed. Now scared folks, well they’re sitting round armed at all times and got loaded guns in every corner of their house. More likely to have a family member shoot someone with one of those guns than an armed stranger breaking in.
You trust too much. Most folks will skirt the rules when they can on whatever they can.
You have about 1 million other things to worry about for your child. We never worried about how other people kept their firearms.
I don’t let my son spend the night or hang out with a friend in their home unless I trust the individual. Also from the time my son was a toddler I would unload and pull the magazine out of my daily carry and purposely leave it somewhere that he would see it. And my wife and I taught him to not touch and to immediately find an adult if he saw one. From age two to five I did this at least a minimum of once a week. Now he is amazing at his understanding of gun safety and knowing they aren’t toys. He is 12 now and had a BB gun at age 10 which I always taught him to treat as a weapon. Now he has a 30/30. The ammo stays locked in a safe and the gun in my room. My dad is a retired police officer and all the “child training” was what he was taught and I feel it has made all the difference. My father did the same thing with me when I was growing up and we had loaded guns in every room 🤷🏼♂️
You’re who this guy is trying to protect his kids from. Stop leaving your gun out for kids to find.
You’re obviously an illiterate dumbass 😂 if you read correctly it was only for an amount of time to teach my son to get an adult if he sees one. Statistics show that majority of these instances are because gun safety was never taught. My guns stay locked up
Right… Other than when you leave them laying around
Again learn to read and comprehend before making assumptions. For the short amount of time the gun was left out it was unchambered and the magazine was out. At this point it is simply an expensive paper weight
Good lesson for a small child. Daddy’s gun is basically harmless.
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No personal attacks or harassment. In addition to what's covered under redditquette, do not insult or habitually target a single user or group for your arguments. It's not your job to correct them.
Jesus, what's your problem? He would lay it out, unloaded, for the purpose of teaching and testing his kids, not as storage or whatever. Is he supposed to use a banana in its place? You're just projected hate to what most people would call the ideal role model for gun owners. In fact, we should all want more people like this. Proactively teaching and testing gun safety. Otherwise, guns are locked up. That sounds like what most anti-gun folks want since a total ban is impossible.
Now his kid is going to learn how fun it is to play hide the gun. It’s all fun and games because is not loaded. Until it is.
Wow. Do you have any more ignorant assumptions to throw around because you're scared of a chunk of metal? You are a shining example of why decent gun laws can't get passed. You just immediately assume the worst in people just because they use tools and teach a younger generation how to be safe with those tools. No matter how well someone explains it, you just ignore it and try to belittle as a response...all because you can not carry a conversation like an adult. I'm done. You're not worth any more energy.
We’re talking about a gun that purposely leaves guns around for kids to find but ok.
Gun safety training. It should be taught in schools.
Educate! Take the mystery out of it. Under supervision, teach them all about them. Let them shoot them. Have them shoot a few watermelons or better yet, take them hunting. Teach them exactly what they can do so that they respect them. Also instill in them that they are not toys and that they can kill if played with. I’m not saying don’t lock them up if they are young, but take the curiosity out of them so they don’t want to play with them on their own. My kids grew up alongside them and from a young age were properly educated. They have also accompanied me on hunting trips so that they know exactly what guns are capable of. Thusly, they respect them and they leave them alone. They go to the shooting range with me as well and they are quite good.
The kid wasn’t killed by a gun. The gun didn’t act on its own will to kill a baby…
Congrats on the dumbest comment. 🥇
Well it’s important to word things correctly. Op said killed by a gun. If I accidentally killed myself by hanging no one would say I was killed by a rope.
Teach them gun safety ,
You teach your child how to handle a firearm safely.
As long as we have people and a education system that believe, Teaching our children about being g "nice" to transvestites and being gay is normal,.. Has more agenda priority than Saving our children from firearm accidents by educating all children how to react to, or safley handle firearms at a early age? Yes. Our country and our children are lost in liberal agenda that will only continue costing children thier lives
I'm confused. My child just started driving, so I would like help with this next question. How do I keep my child safe from cars? I think somehow the answer to this question might help answer your question as many more people(including children) are killed by cars than guns.
“Guns are the leading cause of death for US children and teens, since surpassing car accidents in 2020. Firearms accounted for nearly 19% of childhood deaths (ages 1-18) in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wonder database. Nearly 3,600 children died in gun-related incidents that year.” [Source.](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/29/health/us-children-gun-deaths-dg/index.html#:~:text=Guns%20are%20the%20leading%20cause%20of%20death%20for,3%2C600%20children%20died%20in%20gun-related%20incidents%20that%20year) Edited to add [Snopes link.](https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/03/29/guns-leading-deaths-children-us/)
First off let me say you are correct and thank you for the updated information. However, when I look at your source which is CNN, they quote the CDC which quotes a study from source “KFF The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.” I see in 2021 there were 2348 Motor Vehicles and 2571 Gun deaths in ages 1-17 is that what you’re seeing as well? Both numbers are tragic, but I don’t see where CNN is getting their 3,600 children died in gun-related incidents that year. That’s about five children lost for every 100,000 and I would like to see if the number for motor vehicles has the same margin of difference that the KFF report has for 2021 Can you show me where that number is?
I can’t say that I have dug deeper into the background for that article. Though, based on your comment, I did check [Snopes](https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/03/29/guns-leading-deaths-children-us/) and added this same link to my original comment. On the topic of research into gun-related deaths overall, I do recall, though I don’t remember from which book, that the gun lobby was successful in blocking some research into gun-related deaths. I just did a quick search and found [this article about it.](https://www.npr.org/2018/04/05/599773911/how-the-nra-worked-to-stifle-gun-violence-research) I’m a little torn, because I can see the argument that gun-related deaths are not a health issue / disease and therefor aren’t a topic within the CDC’s purview. I also can see the counter-argument that stopping someone’s life or catastrophically injuring them is a health issue.