How to teach your children to stay away from weapons and guns

With close to a third of American households owning guns, guns pose a potential danger to children, and parents should take responsibility for the fact that teaching their children gun safety is a very important job so that they know how to stay away from weapons and avoid accidental gun accidents.

Children are more or less curious and they will encounter guns in your house or in a friend’s house, and if children have the right knowledge on how to stay away from guns, they will have the ability to take the right measures.

You can come up with scenarios to role play and have your child practice what they should and should not do when they encounter a gun, and your child can remember what you imparted to them in the actual scenario of discovering a gun. After this kind of training, your children will be more comfortable later when they are faced with real situations regarding guns.

If children will be visiting their friends’ homes, before your child visits their friends, they should ask if they have guns and how they store them, or even arrive early to check them out, so as to minimize the chances of your child being exposed to unsecured firearms at their friends’ homes.

Children love toys, such as Transformers, Ultraman, knives, or toy guns. Children should be taught how to distinguish between real guns and toy guns so that they know the dangers of real guns and the dangers they can pose if not handled carefully so that they behave well when they encounter real guns.

Young boys, in particular, maybe more interested in guns, and a blanket ban on guns may only intensify their curiosity. If you have guns in your home, allow your children to handle them in your home with your permission and supervision, teach them to check that the magazine and chamber are empty, show them how to point the gun in a safe direction, and your children will learn all the necessary gun handling skills.

All of this will greatly improve your child’s safety when faced with weapons and guns.