What have you taught your children about guns?

I’m a pretty easy going parent. I try to practice the “to each his own” philosophy. I don’t really care about your choice to vaccinate/don’t vaccinate, breastfeed/formula feed, circumcise/au naturale, home school/public school/private school… whatever.

BUT, there is one area that I will absolutely call you out and tell you that you are being an irresponsible parent, and that is if you are sticking your head in the sand about gun safety.

Estimates show that about one third of homes have guns. The other day I asked this question on Skinny Scoop (click to answer or see the results) and the results were just about the same. That’s one in three. That means if your child has two friends and you don’t have a gun in your home then chances are one of them does.

Kids know about guns whether you realize they do or not. They have seen them on television, in video games, in books, or heard about them in the news or from a friend. Those are all areas where they are getting misinformation about gun safety. It is your responsibility as a parent to talk to your child about guns just like you would drugs or cigarettes or alcohol or stranger danger.

As gun owners we follow safety rules in our house. Guns are stored unloaded and ammunition is kept locked separately from guns. We also teach our children gun safety rules from a very early age just like we were taught.

Because we do have guns in our home we also take our children target shooting to show them what type of damage a gun can do. Television teaches children that guns don’t really hurt you (remember Elmer Fudd? Daffy Duck?). We teach our children that is just not true. And you need to do the same thing (not necessarily target shooting of course).

I understand that not everyone grew up with guns in the home, and even if you did you may not be comfortable around guns or with the subject. This does not alleviate you of the responsibility of teaching your children about them. There are a lot of online resources that can give you pointers about how to discuss gun safety with your children.

Please do not let your child be a statistic. Please don’t let your fear or discomfort allow your child to become a news headline.

Where do you stand? Have you discussed this with your children? Do you have guns in your home? Do you have any advice for parents that may not be comfortable with this subject?

Jennifer blogs at Momma Made It Look Easy where she writes about navigating the world of being a mom to two small children, surviving the ups and downs of being married to her high-school sweetheart, balancing a full-time job outside of the home, and managing life’s daily challenges. If you’ve ever been baptized in pee, puke and poop all before eight in the morning, if you ever get so frustrated with your husband you want to send him to the moon (but still love him there and back), if you sometimes feel like you are all alone in a sea of madness and/or perfection… well then you can probably relate to her blog.