Explaining the Purpose of Guns to Kids
Post image by Geoffrey Fairchild, via Flickr
Guns are present in over one-third of households in the United States, as reported in an article on Kids Health. These guns are visible in American households, either through direct or indirect ownership. The widespread presence of guns calls for adults to specifically educate their children about the weapons’ purpose in society.
When it comes to teaching kids about guns, you need to implement caution in distinguishing fact from fiction. You need to make your kids realize that the stories about gun usage in the movies are not always applicable in real life. Always hinge the benefits gun usage brings. This should make your kids realize the gravity of importance when using a gun for the betterment of human welfare.
Gun Usage in the Midst of Urgency
Guns within reach have become common in the United States in recent years. In fact in an article in The Guardian, Ana Marie Cox has written that Colorado and Missouri are among the states currently considering coming up with more liberalized gun laws.
You can try to make your kids understand the positive objective lawmakers are getting into, by having more lenient gun laws. Make your kids understand that these lawmakers are after saving many lives, and not the other way around. Explain to your kids guns may come in handy as a self-defense tool, during life and death situations. Allow your kids to envision that self-defense in attempted murders are not forms of inhumane actions.
Remind your kids that own safety always comes first, above everything else, when somebody is out to destroy it.
Using a Gun Does Not Equal Power
Children holding guns is not something you’d like to see. So, how do you make your kids understand that an adult using a gun is not something that happens, just to make the user feel powerful?
You need to separate power tripping from the real necessity security brings about. Make your kids see that gun usage is something that should only be resorted to when nothing else works against saving a life.
Kids’ Safety is Parents’ Responsibility
Securing your family will likely be your number one concern in your household. If you do own a gun, make sure that it will not harm your children in any way. You may choose to not keep a loaded gun during moments you’re not going to use your gun for an objective purpose. Doing so will avoid having your children use the gun for an unjustified purpose, without your supervision. You just need to keep a sharp mind to find a way to load the gun immediately in urgent situations, such as instances of an armed intruder breaking in.
Safety of kids remains vulnerable, especially among younger children. Therefore, you need to be alert in overseeing your kids’ condition in the presence of guns.
Additional Empathy Will Help
You may use a surveillance camera system to get a glimpse on the type of intruder you’ll be encountering, especially, in your driveway, if somebody tries to break into your home. You may instinctively have an idea if gun usage for self-defense is warranted, depending on how armed the intruder may look from your camera system. Having this idea lets you prepare early for anything that may happen, if the break-in pushes through.
Explain to your kids that driveways and garages are areas often targeted by burglars and intruders. Aware your kids that these areas are the spots where most armed intruders break into, since they’re easily accessible to outsiders. Don’t hide the fact that they may expect a self-defense gun usage to occur in these areas. If your kids witness you use a gun for self-defense, let them avail of professional consultations to ease their trauma, if there will be a need to do so.
A Guide to Better Understand
Make a commitment to your kids that you’ll only resort to gun usage for self-defense in life threatening situations. You can make an effort to let your kids understand the degree of gravity of gun usage through the presence of an alarm system. Make your kids aware when the security alarm sounds off, it usually signal a potential intruder breaking in. Depending on the severity of the situation and the way the intruder may be armed, your gun can come in handy for self-defense.
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
To secure home’s properties and your kids’ safety, never miss ensuring all your doors are locked before going to bed. Doing this proves to your kids you’ve given all your efforts to make sure gun usage will not take place unnecessarily. Consequently, your kids will gain better understanding that you walk your talk of using a gun only when desperate measures call for it.
Not Be Afraid to Tell a Grown-Up
You should never forget that guns and kids don’t match. Tell your kids to tell an adult about seeing a gun at a friend’s house, or anywhere else outside their own home. Remind your kids that anybody who can access a gun may have the tendency to misuse it. Therefore, storing a gun in a location away from crowds is the best option to ensure everyone’s safety.
Peer Pressure Should be Resisted
Give a heads-up to your kids that they should never distort the appropriateness of gun usage out of peer pressure. Tell your kids, particularly those in their teens that they should never let their friends sway them into doing they know all along is wrong.
Take Responsibility in Any Way Possible
Owning a gun entails a lot of responsibilities from your end. As a gun owner, you’re responsible for the overall safety of every person around you. You should take responsibility in ensuring the presence of a gun in your home will never cause any unreasonable detrimental events.
Carefully talk to your kids about guns by using real-life scenarios as sample situations. Incorporate a lot of imagination into your explanations to make them vividly real for your kids. Kids usually have a better grasp of understanding about complex issues in life if they can relate to them in a realistic way.
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