Chandra Costley

English 2010-419

Brandon Alva

4 May 2020

PEAR Paper Final Draft

“A story about Jamie Gilt’s 4-year-old son accidently shot her in the back when her .45

caliber gun slid to the back of the car and the child picked it up and used it because it was

unsecure and the child wasn’t taught what to do with the gun”. (creators Syndicate) “A 2016

report found that the most common injuries and deaths spike for children under 5, children who

are 3 years of age are the most common shooters and victims at a young age. They spike again at

the age of 15-17 which can happen when they unsafely handle guns while cleaning or showing

them off.” (Creators Syndicate) My question is what is the best safety measure we can take so

that we may be able to prevent the incident mentioned in the beginning may be prevented?

Most Americans have Firearms in their homes and we need to be aware of how to handle

them, how to keep our children safe if they are around them, and how to store them safely so that

there may not be access to them from our children. If we are educated, we can prevent bad things

from happening. My position on the topic before I started researching was, I am all for firearm

safety and the knowledge of how to use them.

This topic has been very interesting to me and as I have done much research about Gun

Safety, I have learned a lot both good and bad things. Gun Safety is very important to know

about and what to do and educate yourself and your children about the safety of firearms if they
are around. Doing the research there are many things that can be learned and many responses to

the questions about teaching our children about gun safety “Teaching children about gun safety

explaining to them that they are tools not toys.” (Interview, Costley) I totally agree with what

was said here that they are tools and not toys and they should be treated as such. “Gun owners

with Children should be able to Educate their children about Gun Safety. Even if people don’t

agree with children learning about firearms, they should still know the basics and what to do if

they are around them. If firearms happen to be out children should be taught what to do and how

to handle them so that their lives can be saved.” (Deets) I would say that teaching children

firearm safety and even taking them to the range when they are old enough could be very helpful

with them learning what to do when they are around them.

Firearms are around for safety and they should be used as such. According to Brandon

Curtis there are 4 reasons firearm safety should be taught to children “4 other reasons firearm

safety should always be taught to children. 1 Analyze the Effectiveness of education, the more

firearms are forbidden the more curious kids can become. 2. Do not instill fear in kids, Fear

makes children anxious, worried and unsure around a gun. When young children are scared, they

tend to make mistakes. They might try to wrongly handle the gun or try to get it away, leading to

mishaps. Also, one third of Americans own guns and many children grow up in homes that have

firearms. So, it is better if they develop a stable relationship with their tools rather than learn to

be scared. 3. Teach your Kids well Kids should absolutely be taught to employ these same safety

measures even if they are handling a “bee bee”, paintball gun, or perhaps even an airsoft gun of

some kind. 4. Be involved in your children learning. If we are the ones who teach them, we will

be able to know and understand how to teach them the proper way”. (Curtis). I like what

Brandon Curtis says here and I agree with him that if we want to teach our children the
importance of firearm safety we should to the 4 things and be very involved in their learning so

that they will understand the importance of firearm safety and that they are tools not toys.

Everyone has a choice weather or not they want to teach their children about firearms or

not in my experience if you decide to teach your children about firearms and choose to take them

to the range I would say you should start them out with a small hand gun like a sig sayer p238

it’s a smaller gun and may be a bit easier for them to handle and to pull the trigger in the range.

Then if you start them out with say like the Mossberg 500 that I got to experience shooting

which is a 12-gauge shot gun they may not be able to handle it and it the kick back may make

them fall over. Christian Young a local gun owner says that “different children learn firearm

safety in different ways depending on the age” (interview, Young)

On the other side People say that kids are too young to be around guns therefore we

should cut off access to guns all together when children are around and not teaching them about

it. Not having access to firearms can be both good and bad. In a sense if you keep them away

from children all the time and not teach them about them, they can become afraid of them and

have no idea what to do if they ever encounter one. There is a story that I found as I was

researching that said “A LITTLE before 8 a.m. last Tuesday, a 15-year-old boy strode into his

high school in rural Kentucky and, according to authorities, started shooting his classmates. Two

children, both 15, were killed, and more than a dozen others injured. What prompted this

rampage is not known and may never be satisfactorily answered. How the accused shooter

undertook the deadly assault is another matter and one that is tragically easier to answer. The gun

used to kill Bailey Nicole Holt and Preston Ryan Cope apparently came — as is the case in most

school shootings — from the alleged shooter's home. That once again underscores the

irrationality of not having the law that try to keep guns out of children's hands by requiring
responsible and safe storage.” (Board Editorial) A local gun owner Christian Young also said

that “they should be kept out of reach of children” (interview, Young) if they are in reach of

children and not secure with different safety devices stories like the creators syndicate can

happen because they become curious when they see them and they may think that they are a toy.

I have seen many children walking around with Lego built guns they go around and say pew pew

and pretend to kill everyone which if it was a real gun would not be good. Jacob March another

local Gun owner in an interview I did said “ Keep the kids educated of the dangers of firearms is

the first step, secondary is keeping them out of reach, locked by a trigger lock or in a safe and

secured properly” (interview, Marsh) I agree with Jacob on this that if people want or don’t want

their children educated on firearm safety either way that should be locked in a safe and secure so

that children will not be able to reach them and get into trouble or even tried as an adult for

accidently killing someone when they were not aware of what they were doing or even how to

handle the fire arm they found.

Keeping Firearms away for children and teens who have bad mental health or may have a

mental illness that can cause them not to be suitable to be able to handle or even be around

firearms I would say that If this is the case I absolutely agree that they should not be around them

or depending on the situation should not even be in their homes. In an article called

“Complicated Balancing Act Between Mental Health and Right to Bear Arms” it says “Federal

law forbids people who have been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital and people

found to be a danger to themselves or others from having guns. But the federal government

depends on states to report such cases so it can add them to a national background check system,

and reporting varies widely”. (Mueller) I agree with what the Federal law forbids here and the

article also talks about different Mass shooting and how some of them can be connected to
mental health. Those who have an underlying mental health condition should not be around guns

and those that are those firearms should either be locked up so that no one can get to them or

they should not be allowed to have firearms in the house when those particular people are

around. I don’t have anything against people with mental health issues but I do know that

firearms can be very dangerous to them and to others around them.

In Conclusion Firearm safety is very important and even though most Americans own

firearms it’s their choice whether to teach their family and children about the use of firearms and

whether or not they want to secure them away or not. I have learned many things doing research

about gun safety and I have found that there are pros and cons to both sides and people need to

take a stand and decide which one they want to do. My stance is still that we should educate our

children about firearm safety and if not, there are consequences that we may be responsible for if

they are not taught right. It’s important that If we decide to take the stand of teaching our

children about them that they understand the basics but also to keep them in a safe and out of

reach of children. Also if we decide not to teach children about gun safety that we are prepared

for the consequences that may happen if they end up getting their hands on the gun and doing

something they shouldn’t because they were not taught properly on what to do and that they

should not touch it and tell an adult if they see one. Those who have mental health conditions I

feel should not have firearms.

 Works Cited

Board, Editorial. “Opinion | Keeping Guns out of Children's Hands Should Not Be This Hard.”

The Washington Post, WP Company, 31 Jan. 2018,

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/keeping-guns-out-of-childrens-hands-should-not-be-

this-hard/2018/01/30/42129710-053d-11e8-8777-2a059f168dd2_story.html.

** Costley, Garrett. “Gun Safety.” Personal Interview 12 Apr. 2020.

Curtis, Brandon. “Here Are 4 Reasons Why Gun Safety Should Always Be Taught to Kids.”

Concealed Nation, 23 June 2016, concealednation.org/2016/06/here-are-4-reasons-why-

gun-safety-should-always-be-taught-to-kids/.

Deets, Leslie. "NRA's Program Helps Keep Children Safe Around Guns." Atlanta Journal-

Constitution, 30 Apr 2017. sirsissuesresearcher, https://explore-proquest-

com.libprox1.slcc.edu/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2265316348?accountid=28671

"Keep Guns Out of Kids' Hands." Creators Syndicate, 28 Oct 2016. sirsissuesresearcher,

https://explore-proquest-com.libprox1.slcc.edu/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2258155266?

accountid=28671

**Marsh, Jacob “Gun Safety.” Personal Interview 12 April 2020

Mueller, Benjamin. "Complicated Balancing Act between Mental Health and Right to Bear

Arms." New York Times, Feb 2018. sirsissuesresearcher, https://explore-proquest-

com.libprox1.slcc.edu/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2263405127?accountid=28671.
**Young, Christian “Gun Safety.” Personal Interview 12 April 2020

** the personal interviews were local gun Owners