Gun Safety and Children (and Jensen Elementary School)

In light of the recent events at I am going to take a moment to get on my soapbox and discuss something that I am fairly passionate about. 

Whether you own a firearm or not, whether you are for or against firearms, whether you are a card-carrying member of the NRA or not, you need to teach your child about gun safety. 

A 2001 study by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System  indicated that almost half of respondents in Iowa have a firearm kept in or around their home.  I would imagine that this number has increased in the past 11 years, especially since Iowa has made changes to their open carry/concealed carry laws.

As a parent, I urge you to think about it this way: if your kid regularly has play dates with 10 different friends, there is most likely going to be a gun in about 5 of those homes.   Guns that might or might not be locked up.  Guns that might or might not be kept loaded.  You need to teach your child about gun safety.

I realize that this might not be a conversation you want to have with your kid.  It might seem like another of those conversations that slowly strips away at their innocent view of the world, similar to the good stranger vs. bad stranger discussions that you have with them.  But like good stranger vs. bad stranger, gun safety is an important lesson that needs to be taught. 

It might seem daunting and you might not know how to begin the conversation.  You may not know what to teach them.  But you are doing your kids a disservice if you do nothing.  So please, take the time to teach and review these very basic, easy to remember rules:

1. Stop.

2. Don't touch.

3. Leave the area.

4. Tell an adult. 

 As a military family, guns and gun safety have been something that we have always been aware of and taught to our children.  If you have any questions or thoughts about discussing this with your kids, feel free to ask.  I am by no means an expert, but I do have some experience in the matter.  

And with that said, I will get off of my soap box and say nothing more than kudos to the students who did the right thing.