One of the kids from my fifth grade class showed up on my hospital ward today with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. His cousin shot him accidentally, while he was showing my student his father's gun.

This scenario is responsible for the vast majority of the gunshot trauma patients I see in my pediatric ward. It enrages me every time it happens, because there is no reason why it should.

If you have children, or if children are ever in your house, and you own a firearm, PLEASE keep it locked and unloaded. It doesn't matter if you've hidden it; kids are good at finding stuff, and kids think guns are toys.

Please tell everyone you know. This is more common than most people like to think, and it's completely and utterly preventable. I think that's one of the things that makes it so tragic.

My student will be fine, by the way. He's been pretty chill about it the entire time; he was telling his mother not to cry as they were wheeling him into the emergency room yesterday morning. The bullet just tore up his intestines a little, and it was easily fixed. But it could have been a lot worse, and it often is.

Do whatever you can, to prevent stuff like this from happening. Please. This guy is only eleven years old, he's a wonderful kid and a fantastic student, and he'll carry a bullet in his abdomen for the rest of his life because his uncle left a firearm around the house.

For more information about ensuring your kids' safety: http://rileychildrenshospital.com/caringforkids/firearmsafety.html

Of course, I'm terrible about this because I don't even bother to have any personal firearms at all. But I promise that, before my kids get old enough to be curious about guns, I will have some around the house to use in teaching them.

My father kept guns in the house during our entire childhood. I was never once tempted to play with them. Beginning at about age 4 my father taught each of his children gun safety over and over. To prove how dangerous guns were, he took us out to the woods, pointed out a cute squirrel or chipmunk, then blew it away. The incident was memorable and taught us to respect the weapons. It's not like the guns were laying around, my father kept them somewhere high up and out of sight, but the ammunition was in the same location. To this day I feel respect bordering on awe whenever I hold a gun, and am extremely careful to obey safety precautions.

I have five brothers and two sisters, and not once did any of us ever do something stupid with a gun, though we have all shot them often at ranges and in wilderness areas with my father's supervision, to learn how to use them.

In my opinion, the problem with guns is that parents don't take the time to properly train their children in the usage and care. I don't believe anyone should own a gun who does not practice with it to the point of confidence, so that in the event they had to use it they would know what to do.

Step one: Teach the kids to use the guns.

Honestly, I don't know why this isn't in the public service messages more often. Even if they're like me and not interested in actually going to the shooting range and firing the thing, my father insisted that I know how they worked (he had hunting rifles), he taught me basic gun safety (like don't point it at a person even if you don't think its loaded), and he showed me how to load it and fire it. This made two things true: first, I knew better than to play with the thing and second if I wanted to play with the thing I didn't have to sneak it ouf of my dad's sock drawer (he didn't keep it there, but it's one of the myriad of silly places I've heard of them being) ... all I had to do was ask my father to take me to the shooting range.

Step two: Lock it up anyway.

Still, I have taught my kids gun safety and will continue to do so and we are going to start shooting at the range this summer. At some point I will slaughter some poor innocent animal in front of them to teach them what it means to point a gun and shoot it. And as per family rules, if we kill it, we eat it, so I'm going to make sure it is something I want to eat!

There is a tiny part of me that would like to know how to shoot, if I ever needed to know how to catch my own food. However, I am not sure I am strong enough now. If I ever needed to, though, I would learn with what I had available, which is likely to be vastly different than what is readily available to target practice with today.

Well, my husband is a cop. There's just no avoiding having guns in the house. Our theory is the same as autumnmuse's dad. We show them the power of the gun, and they have NO desire to touch it. My husband took me shooting on our honnymoon (he's usually very romantic). He wanted to be sure that if I lived with the gun, I would know how to use it. I only go often enough to make sure I can blow somebody away if they're trying to hurt my kids (my husband works nights and people around here get their houses broken into a lot).

I agree there needs to be more education about this stuff. Just saying no to guns isn't the answer. The nuts will still have them. No matter how many laws you make it won't matter either. You just make it harder for the guy who's just trying to protect his family. The criminals don't obey the laws, so it won't keep them from getting the guns, will it?

quote:

---

To prove how dangerous guns were, he took us out to the woods, pointed out a cute squirrel or chipmunk, then blew it away.

---

Some years ago, this policy was the end of my live target practice at groundhogs with my new longbow.

I think that if guns are some big, mysterious thing in a household, the fascination for them is much greater. When they are a part of life, and used responsibly, the appeal to kids lessens significantly.

I am so grateful for the right we still have to bear arms! (Though those rights tend to become more eroded every year... )

In order to add the subject of writing to this thread, how many of you who write about gun use, have actually fired one? Just curious...

I think that kids' fascination with guns is the same as with cigarettes and alcohol and the family car: they're viewed as adult things, and kids spend every minute of their lives striving, consciously or subconsciously, to become adults. This holds a kind of aura around them, and kids want to experiment to prove that they're old enough or mature enough. Take that fascination away, and kids don't want it as much.

That's why I'm glad I shot guns and drank beer and such before I got to high school. Just like my compound bow, as soon as it became a normal part of life, the fascination it held for me died down, till I was even surprised to find it when cleaning out my closet yesterday. I'll be starting a family soon, and I don't know if I'll keep a handgun around for protection and such, but if I do, I'm glad I read this thread, because I've gotten some great ideas as to how I can teach my kids about gun safety.

Another time, when I was only about three, I was down at a creek exploring for critters with my dad, and actually caught a very small frog. Small enough to fit through the opening of a soda can. I know this because that's how I took it home; my thumb over the hole and shaking it vigorously every few seconds to see if the frog was still there. I had heard that people ate frog legs and I could just imagine how they tasted; very tender meat. I wanted so badly to eat frog legs and my dad had me all excited that I would get to eat my frog when I got home. My mom of course burst that bubble and I had to watch the corpse of my poor tortured frog go flying through the air into the weeds behind the back yard. Sigh. I have still never had frog legs, and I still want to.

quote:

---

I only go (target shooting) often enough to make sure I can blow somebody away if they're trying to hurt my kids...

---

By the way, I'm serious, never ever ever ever.

I did know a guy when I was young who used to shoot kangaroos, his son shot him in the back accidentally. They were American

I hope this is not too incendiary a comment: I don't understand gun-fetishism, whether it is in the USA or Arabia or where ever.

:rant deleted:

But I have never understood why people think having a gun in the house makes them safer. I won't have one in mine.

And by the way, frog-legs are excellent. They are very tender, with a taste and texture somewhere between chicken and fish. They're pretty boney, and wonderful when fried. Roger Ebert gives them two thumbs up.

Now, the truth is that there are people that don't need any kind of weapon (or dog) for self defense. But just because I don't need a handgun, that doesn't mean that I'm going to forbid my kids to learn about them. Kids should learn about firearms and firearm safety, just the way they need to learn about electricity and bathtubs. Is there a significant chance that having electricity and bathtubs in my house will end up killing one of my kids? Well...yeah, but....

Crap, I can't think of a justification for having electricity and bathtubs now. But I'm going to have them anyway.

That is, if the statistics were accurate (which I have no reason to believe they aren't; Aaron Sorkin writes some nice dialogue and normally has all of his stuff in order), and if I'm remembering the example right, which I tend not to do sometimes.

[The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation...(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
---James Madison,The Federalist Papers, No. 46.

Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive.
---Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution (Philadelphia 1787).

Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man gainst his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American...[T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.
---Tenche Coxe, The Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788.

AND, last, but not least, my favorite quote by the Founding Fathers (Really makes me ponder the ridiculous legislation that has been pushed through in the recent past-- especially those instituted post 9-11...)

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
---Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.

(Okay, this is conducive to the subject of writing because I hope to use that quote in a story someday! )

Oh, by the by, I wonder what the statistics for gun accidents in the home were in the US during the 1800's. I'll take a wild guess and say that more gun control does not guarantee the safety of any-- children or otherwise.

Not to mention, the right to bear arms is also certainly in the nation's best interests. Supposing a foreign enemy invades America from either coast, putting troops on our soil: They'll do battle with the best of our military for a couple hundred miles, and if they get past that, what do they encounter?

The Heartland.

Any enemy would find four shotguns and seven deer rifles for every shrub in the Appalachian mountians, and if they made it past the Mississippi I can tell you personally that there'd be bloody battle for every city block that the trenches of WWI were poor preparation for.

Now if only we could expand on the right to "bear arms" and allow a right to "arm bears." I hear nothing can be more intimidating than a grizzly with an uzi!

Those founding fathers...

Perhaps the "owning a gun = self defense" is a relic of a bygone age.

I totally believe in using guns if you need them for work, ie on a farm. But don't think they should be propagated as items to be used for fun. Just like you wouldn't propagate the idea of a recreational chainsawing or post-hole-augering as a cool pasttime.

You forgot chainsaw juggling, I've done that too.

I also have a bridge for sale...

Anyway sculptures not fun... its art!

But the point is, there have been people whose lives were saved because they owned a gun and kept it nearby. Breakins are common almost anywhere, and in Oklahoma, my homestate and one with very many gun owners, they are resisted. The question is whether the benefits of having these guns around outweighs the costs, most notably the danger of a child getting their hands on one and misusing it. In my opinion, if you're really deadset on owning a gun, it is your responsibility to teach your children how to respect it. I don't advocate that everybody own one - the beauty of the 2nd Amendment is that possession is only optional. But Stan Lee taught us that with great power comes great responsibility, and firearms are certainly a great power.

Your not hiding your little aussie light under your massive oklahoma bushel are you?

PS: People have been saved by leaving ten minutes late for work too. We are riding the ragged rim of a vicious circle here.

I have to say, in a gun-free society, persons of my physical class enjoy a lot of advantages, some of which I'll pass on to my children. So I'm not really personally vested in the right to bear arms. I just happen to think that it's a good idea.

How good an idea? Let's just say that I'm a lot less comfortable with the risk/cost/benefit curve of having cars, toilets, electricity, etc. That's just me. We do an awful lot of things merely for the sake of convenience which are horribly dangerous (even to children), or have a lot of undesirable side effects, or are just dumb.

I don't think that it's worth getting hysterical over this one. I used firearms when I was a kid, and I got into plenty of accidents involving some level of bodily damage. The two were never connected in my own case, so that might have something to do with my perspective. Under "things that can hurt me a lot", I have such things as cars, washing machines, furnaces, house wiring, brothers , and so on and so forth. Firearms are listed under "things that theoretically could hurt me, but never have".

Born in Oklahoma, raised in Oklahoma, mother from Oklahoma, father from Michigan...

Part-Dutch, part-Danish, part-German, part-English, part-Irish, part-Scottish, part-French...

No Aussie blood, but I did love Crocodile Dundee! Does that count?

quote:

---

DYSANALOGY, cool word. May I stand near it?

---

I'm a neologificationist

http://phrontistery.info/kill.html

Cucurbiticide: one who shoots a melon instead of an animal, for educational purposes.

quote:

---

The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States.

---

I genuinely believe that more kids will attempt to play with, and be killed by, guns if they think there is something curious or mysterious about them. If curiosity can kill a cat (and those buggers seem to be pretty good at avoiding trouble), it can probably kill a child. Knowledge of how a gun works, why it is dangerous in the wrong hands, and whose hands it should never be in are three effective deterrents of the mishandling of firearms, IMO. A video clip of someone getting injured by being stupid with a gun might not hurt, either, though something tells me that's a bit extreme (not to mention potentially traumatizing for a young person). In the end, knowledge is power (thank you Schoolhouse Rock).

Another issue with firearms involves the use of them by persons trying to defend their own homes. A lot of people think that simply having a gun under their pillow (metaphorically speaking) makes their house secure. Considering that virtually anyone can go out to a gun shop and (assuming they have a clean record and the necessary funds) purchase a firearm. The problem with firearms and, more specifically, handguns is that it does take a measure of skill to use them effectively. For example, if I went out and bought a Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol and did not have practical knowledge on how to use it, I might seriously bungle any attempt to halt an intruder. 'Bungle' might be too nice a word.

I wouldn't know that you have to pull back the slide to chamber the first round after ramming the clip home, or that the iron sights on the thing are actually a bit off (since I've never fired it at the range before). I wouldn't know that the pistol is so light that its recoil might kick it upward in my inexperienced/incorrect grasp, throwing off the next shot(s). And finally, I wouldn't have the proper practice or training to to fire the weapon accurately. Inside a house you have to be very careful how you handle any firearm...especially if you have family members in there with you. A high-powered round from virtually any weapon can easily punch through drywall or plaster and kill someone on the other side. Certain ammunition will not penetrate interior walls (yet still hit the intruder as hard as ever)...but I, Ignorant Owner, wouldn't know any of that.

And what if the other guy has a gun too? What if I just shoot him in the leg (probably a lucky shot in the first place), and he in turn shoots me in the chest from the floor. That would end my attempt to stop him really quick. These are all just possible scenarios. If you do own a gun, but aren't very familiar with it...please learn as soon as possible. It's almost as bad as driving around a battle tank without the proper training. That big red button might discharge the main cannon and take out that shiny new BMW in the neighbor's driveway. You just have to hope the guy's kids weren't in it at the time.

quote:

---

I hope this is not too incendiary a comment: I don't understand gun-fetishism, whether it is in the USA or Arabia or where ever

---