10 Things You Should Be Doing if You're a Gun Owner AND a Parent

Here are ten simple and painless precautions you should be taking if you are acting as a responsible parent and gun owner. Children are often fascinated by guns and as such they tend to be very curious about them. Like many aspects of raising your children, if you don’t address their questions and curiosity they will look for answers elsewhere. Here are ten concepts that can help you approach the subject of firearms safety with your children. Look at them through your lens and determine how best to approach them for your situation and family. Put politics and emotion aside and let's go over things you can do to help your children lead safer lives.

1. Take responsible steps to deny access by children to dangerous substances or instruments. This should be common sense. Sometimes sense isn't that common. "Deny access" means lock them up. Your gun or guns should be stored safely and inaccessible to "ANY" unauthorized person. You have a moral and often times a legal requirement to secure them. Projectchildsafe.org will give you a free gun lock. 

   
   

2. Any ammunition you have should be stored safely and separately from your gun. A gun without ammunition is an expensive club. For our purposes here that’s a good thing. 

   
   

3. Talk to your children about guns and gun safety. Once is not enough. At what age should you talk to them about it? I don't know. You are the parent and you understand their level of curiosity and understanding better than anyone. I think sooner is better than later. Taking the mystic and glamor out of the subject should make them less curious and less apt to handle a gun when you aren't there.  Your guns are locked up, but who knows what the situation is at other homes they may frequent. 

   
   

4. Teach them to "STOP" if they see a gun. Simply "stopping" can buy them precious time to flip through their mental rolodex to retrieve the information you have been teaching them on the topic. 

   
   

5. "DON'T TOUCH IT'. A firearm that is not disturbed will not fire. Tell your child not to touch it or pick it up. 

   
   

6. "RUN AWAY".  Just because your child knows better than to touch a gun doesn't mean that who they are with does. They have to know that you expect them to get away from it.  They will only know if you’ve told them before it happens. 

   
   

7. "TELL A TRUSTWORTHY ADULT". Unfortunately adult doesn’t always equate to trustworthy. Your children need to know that you expect them to tell an adult about the gun. Make sure they understand that if they should find a gun stuck in the couch at their friend's house it's ok for them to simply leave. It's ok to be perceived as rude when it comes to their safety, regardless of the social pressure at the time.  

   
   

8. Make sure your children understand the difference between real and make-believe as it pertains to toy guns, whether you allow your children to have them or not. There are toy or non-firing replica guns available that look identical to the real thing. There are obviously grave potential problems with your child carrying or playing with one in public. Find a way to get the message across to them that guns can be very dangerous. 

   
   

9. When they are mature enough, and you are comfortable enough, take them shooting. There are numerous programs where your child can learn in a safe environment. Go to a shooting range and ask if you aren't sure where to start. If you have a gun in your home and you aren't comfortable shooting it, learn or get rid of it.  

   
   

10. TRAIN YOUR KIDS. It's easier to train your kids than it is to train a gun. All that your children have, especially when they leave your home and supervision, is the knowledge and guidance you have given them. Children will get information one way or the other. It's your responsibility to insure they get the proper information from you, or they will surely get the wrong information somewhere else.   

Shawn Pappas is a 22 year law enforcement veteran. Shawn has served in numerous assignments such as Patrol, Field Training Officer and Narcotics Detective. He is state certified as a Firearms, Defensive Tactics, Driving, and General Topics Instructor. He currently supervises the training unit of one of the largest sheriff's offices in the United States. Shawn is also a staff instructor for Suarez International where he teaches the defensive use of handguns. For more information see Suarezinternationalstore.com. He can be reached at excellencetrainingperformance.com.