Children and Firearms Safety

Can firearms be kept safely at homes with young children? Yes, with proper precautions. Millions of North Americans have guns at home and do so safely. Around one-half of homes in the US possess guns as do about one-third of homes in Canada. Thanks to a widespread culture of safety, in Canada and the United States, firearms can be owned safely by anyone willing to take responsibility and learn appropriate safety procedures. The risks of firearm ownership have been exaggerated. Again and again.

Young children should be taught not to touch firearms, and when they are old enough to accept more responsibility, they should be taught how to handle firearms safely. Statistics show that children face minimal risk from firearms in the home with responsible parents. The five leading threats to children under 10 years of age are drowning, suffocation, poisoning, house fires, and of course traffic accidents.

Children and firearms safety:

Firearm ownership imposes serious safety challenges so that owners must act responsibly to ensure their own safety as well as the safety of their family, neighbors, and community. The evidence shows that both American and Canadian firearms owners are responsible and safety conscious. This may be surprising given the horrific news stories about children wounded or killed by guns in the home. Such sensationalism attract "eyeballs," but official records show that firearms accidents are infrequent and have continued to fall over the past decades. .....