Real Gun Safety: Respect the Power and Fear the Consequences

If you've read here before, you might know that my father was a police officer for twenty one years. When we were growing up, my father always had at least one gun around the house if not two or more. Usually consisting of his department approved side arm, his concealed extra weapon and a rifle, shotgun or other weapon of choice (at one time, my dad owned a Tec-9).

Every night, when he came home from his shift, he would take off his gun belt and hang it on the back of the wooden chair by the door or sometimes he would hang it on the back of one of the dining room chairs. He didn't always immediately take the gun out of the holster. When he was carrying his concealed extra weapon, he would unstrap it from the ankle holster and place it on the table with his whistle, keys, badge, pens and other assorted things he would take out of his pockets. Next would come his wrist watch and his wallet.

These things would remain there untouched until it was dinner time or until the next day when he got ready for his shift. Except the pistols. At night, when he was going to bed, he would take the pistols into the bedroom with him and put them in the drawer beside the bed. He did not keep his pistols or other weapons in a locked gun cabinet. Except the Tec-9. That had its own special container that was always locked unless dad took it with him in his patrol car.

What I remember is that I can't remember a time when he did not do this nor can I remember a time when my brothers or I ever thought of these objects as something to play with.

Never.

Some folks who chant about gun control or fear purchasing a gun, site the instances of children shooting themselves or others while "playing" with a gun. This is a legitimate fear as it does happen.

The problem that I see is that children were not taught to respect the power of the weapon nor fear the consequences of what could happen if they did "play" with it. From many of the media reports of these incidents, it seems that most of the households that this occured in were homes where the pistol was kept for "home protection", but the owners did not use it on a regular basis and did not spend any time with the children showing them the gun, what it could do and did not re-enforce the consequences of using that power or what would happen if the child touched the weapon. Most of these weapons seemed to have been put away: out of site, out of mind. In many cases, it seemed the owner feared the weapon themselves and did not actually feel comfortable with it, but thought it was something they should "have".

The problem with the theory of "protecting" children from the knowledge of a weapon in the house or hiding it away is that it makes the gun a "mystery". If anyone has ever raised, worked with/around or been close with children of any age, they should know that making things a "mystery" is a sure fire way of making it something that children want to know about. And, they will find out with you or without you.

For many, this is a reason not to have a weapon in the home. It is a free country so this is a personal decision for each person.

For some in the gun control lobby and others who advocate responsibile gun ownership, the idea of trigger locks became the panacea for this problem. Honestly, it only upgrades the mystery to children. It may or may not have saved a child's life. One thing is for sure, if you lock the gun, but the children know where the key is, the lock is negated.

In either case, whether using a trigger lock or gun cabinet or none, the best way to insure that a child does not "play" with the weapon is to teach them to respect the power and fear the consequences.

By the time I was eight, my father had taught us how to pick up the gun by the handle and not touch the trigger. He would set out all of his cleaning things at the table and tell me to get his pistol from the holster. To some, the very thought of this probably strikes fear into the heart, but it had two purposes. One, my dad would re-enforce safety: don't put your finger(s) on the trigger; keep the gun pointed down; don't run; hand him the pistol by the butt. He would remind us every time we went to get the pistol as instructed. By this we learned by wrote proper gun safety. Second, it re-enforced trust. He trusted me to do as he instructed and I did not want to disappoint him. I knew that I was doing something important and did not want to jeapordize that trust.

Of course, when I was five, we weren't allowed to touch the pistol at all. At that point, I vaguely recall being told many times that it was not a toy, I wasn't to touch it and if I did I would get my hand slapped or a spanking. Even then we learned there were consequences.

My dad also took us to the range when we were older and we learned what the pistol could do. He told us that it could hurt or even kill one of us and other people. By this we learned to respect the power. He told us this was his "tool" for work and that we could not touch his "work" things, including the gun, without his permission. He did give us permission to touch the weapons, but only in his presence and under strict control.

In short order, the guns that were around the house began to lose their mystery. We knew what they were, what they could and where they were, but we did not feel compelled to search it out and check for ourselves. We already knew.

When I was ten, my dad taught me how to unload the gun, take it apart and clean it. I remember setting at our dining room table and watching him clean the barrel with the chamber sticking out of the side. This gun was a .357 Magnum Snub Nose that my dad kept as his "concealed" weapon. He would let me help him polish the pistol. I remember being told to be careful and hold the pistol by the butt/grip and not get my finger prints on the newly polished surface.

By this time, the guns had lost all mystery for me. I knew what they were, what they could do and how they worked.

When I was twelve, my dad took us out in the back of my grandparents' farm and let us shoot a ten gage shot gun. Not the most powerful shotgun on the planet, but it still had a kick, made a big noise and showed me the power of the weapon.

Personally, from my experience, if you fear the weapon so much that you cannot even bring yourself to to show and educate your children, then you will never really have effective gun safety in your home and you probably should not keep one.

Gun locks and other devices are simply buying time. Further, if you have these weapons for "home defense", by the time you get the weapon out of the gun safe or unlock the locking trigger device, your ability to confront an attacker or intruder is down to about nil.

For real Gun Safety, one should teach their children to respect the power and fear the consequences.