Now that Mayor Bloomberg has dumped $50m into his new NRA-fighting gun control group, ye olde Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence is living in the shadow of Everytown. No matter. All for one, and one gun for no one. Or something like that. Anyway, I’m not entirely against the theme of this campaign. If you’re worried about unsecured firearms at your kids’ friends home, ask about unsecured firearms. First amendment and all that. HOWEVER, here’s the real trick to keeping your kids safe around someone else’s firearms: teach them what to do when they encounter a gun. My take: muzzle control is everything. Obviously . . .
your sprogs should be instructed to tell their friends not to touch the weapon and immediately tell an adult (thank you, big creepy eagle). And they shouldn’t handle the firearm. But we’re not talking unsupervised toddlers here, mostly. We’re trying to keep tweens and teens alive.
It’s entirely unrealistic to think that a teen – for whom looking cool is the prime directive – is going to run to someone’s Mummy or Daddy when their friend or friends bring out [what the parents thought was] a secured firearm. “C’mon dude. It’s unloaded!” Your child should know enough about guns to demand muzzle discipline, to take control of the gun and make sure it’s unloaded.
Seriously. ‘Cause there are plenty of places your kids may encounter a firearm other than in a friend’s home, where the parents may be out anyway. Not to put tto fine a point on it, The Four Rules of Gun Safety aren’t just for parentally supervised gun time. They’re forever.
Of course, both of the Brady Campaign’s donors would have an apoplectic fit if the gun control group recommended that parents should teach their kids how to handle guns safely. So it’s up to us to spread the message. So the better question to ask is, do your kids know the four rules of gun safety?
“Almost” only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical thermonuclear devices.
He’s a year old, but we’ve talked about them.
Well. I’ve talked about them.
I feel like it’s simply not enough to teach them gun safety.
I am thinking if they see a kid come out with a gun. Get out. Do not stay where someone might shoot you. Better some other kid gets shot than you. Sad though that is.
I don’t know though. Man I wish I could just be wealthy enough to conduct research interesting to me, haha. Would love to do case studies on accidental gun deaths. I do feel like many of them happen while a smart kid is trying to get a gun away from a toddler or otherwise.
Use the “Eddie the Eagle” approach – Don’t touch – tell parents/responsible adults, until your child is sufficiently TRAINED; not just educated, because nothing better than hands-on experience, in the use of firearms.
Teaching Safety Skills to Children to Prevent Gun Play: an Evaluation of in Situ Training
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1226173/
Excellent study.
And who would have thought it, really. Actually teaching a form of “hands on” safety is more effective than just telling children scary nighttime stories about ‘evil guns.’
Actual scientific research that shows teaching kids firearm safety actually works. huh. Must have been funded by the pro-gun industry lobby. What? the NIH? Somewhere an anti-gunner’s head just exploded.
“Uhhhhh! Magazines”; oh come on it’s not 1974 people! It took me a minute to figure out they where’s t talking about ammunition storage devices.
I’m pretty sure they are talking ‘girly magazines’. But maybe I am missing your sarcasm flag.
I actually think this is a pretty clever ad. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sending a donation to the Brady Campaign anytime soon, but as far as messaging from an anti-2nd Amendment group goes, I find this one much less objectionable than many others I’ve seen.
As a parent, I would not mind another child’s parent asking me if I had unsecured firearms in my home. I would be very happy to tell them that any firearms in my home are behind lock and key (or combo) and accessible only by adults.
As a parent, I’d ask them what the hell they’re talking about, and would not volunteer any information whatsoever, as it would be none of their business.
im feeling really dense. i dont get at all what the commercial is even getting at in the least. first, the one womans son found some, i guess, old pornography belonging to “Frank” (who is he?), then there was a massive hole in a tshirt, and then “everyone loves to bite”. i am completely lost. can someone please explain it to me?
It is about awkward conversations a parent sometimes needs to have with a neighbor parent because of something the visiting kids found. The father’s porn mags, a lighter (that burned a hole in the shirt), being bit by a playmate (?), or a firearm.
ok, yeah. thats what my wife said. i just couldnt quite make the mental leap how any of that had anything to do with guns.
It’s showing little snippets of “awkward moments” between two mothers, whose children, we are left to presume, are friends. Most of these are intended to be humorous to us as outside observers.
The point is that mothers (or parents in general) have plenty of awkward conversations with other parents. One of the conversations which can be awkward is the conversation about firearm safety in the home. The ad is trying to convince parents that having this conversation is important, even though it may be uncomfortable to ask.
Does that help?
It’s a way to get everyone used to snooping/being informed on, and providing personal information to anyone who asks.
I guess I taught my kids the first rule of gun safety the best of all: “Don’t point your gun at anything or anyone unless you are willing to kill it.”
Now, my children and grandchildren are some of the best hunters that I know. I would rather have any one or more of them along on a duck hunt, or deer hunt, than anyone else I know….Must have taught them well.
If they really wanted to reduce gun violence, their ad would sound more like…
“Timmy, I wanted to talk to you. I know the thug life offers a lot of rewards, money, bling, hos, but it can be dangerous. The next time you’re rollin’ up on some mofo on your turf, consider having a calm discussion about boundaries, rather than swapping lead. Okay, go play now, scamp.”
You, sir, get the win for the best comment on the Interwebz today!
I am still snickering as I type this reply.
Quite the dog whistle.
No new laws required, we have enough laws among us. Anyone who owns know what the danger is. Be cool out there and be responsible!
Yeah… and you totally won’t look like a preachy PITA and end up being shunned in your neighborhood.
Whenever Liberals scoff at gun education for children I ask them if they support abstinence-only sex education as well.
Leaves em sitting on their hands steaming pissed off. Thats when I ask if they’d like me to teach their children. I offer to do it for free.
I think we should applaud this. It’s half the right message.
The hell we should. This is getting everyone used to giving up personal information, like doctors now asking people if they have firearms in their home.
What happened to something being none of anyone’s business?
Better ask if the kitchen knives are locked away too.
And, the chemicals under the sink, make sure those are locked up.
And, check if the pool is gated and locked up as well.
Oh, and ask about the fire place, that needs a lock too.
Don’t forget to check the refrigerator, make sure that has a lock, everyone know a kids love to play in the fridge.
What about the stove top, one turn of a nob and that’s hot, need a lock for that too.
You know, come to think of it, it’s just too dangerous to go out. Better keep your kids at home locked up in their padded rooms with the lights off and all wrapped up in bubble wrap… So, they’re protected and safe from the world.
Yes, that will fix everything.
This is one Brady Campaign thing I have to say I agree with. I will teach my son everything he needs to know, including if possible check and make safe, but I cant assume he can take control of a situation without putting himself in the direct line of danger, and I don’t want to make him feel like he has to.
Not to be morbid, but if my son gets shot before he gets a chance to check the gun and ensure it is unloaded, then all the lessons on gun safety do him fkall. I think something reasonable is having the talk before the parents in charge, and if they get all righteous on you and dont understand the concerns of one firearms enthusiast to another then its not worth it period. If someone brings out a gun and your kid cant safely get a hold of it to safety check it or keep people away from it, then tell them to not even try. I think a reasonable backup is having your kid leave the room (go to a bathroom or somewhere private) and call you, heck have a text code word that means bad situation requiring extraction and then go get them. You can even create a fake family emergency to explain why your kid needed to be picked up.
What is going on with this apparently easily-led crowd here today? One minute it’s “Molon Labe”, etc, now it’s “Ooh, this is how surreptitious, ostensibly-responsible gun control propaganda should be done”.
Wake Up.
The. Thing about the four rules of gun safety is that not all gun owners follow them, as shown here on TTAG with irresponsible gun owner of the day. I have seen to many instances to count, and no matter how “seasoned” a person is with firearms, the four rules of gun safety magically go out the window in a gun shop.
When Everytown or Brady link to the long proven and effective NRA Eddie Eagle education, and some of the factual studies, like the one mentioned above, I will begin to consider the possibility that Nanny Bloomberg might really care about kids safety.
Which sadly, appears to be when pigs fly…
Until then this is just Strike Three on his lame leadership and proven failed PR in past, for national gun control, starting with universal registration. And we all know what happens after that, given the hysterical and tyrranical executive actions by this WH, and the various state legislatures around the country.
So, no deal. Not buying it. Go peddle it to the low-info voters and sheeple on the liberal plantation.
My kid’s a month old. Once she gets language, we’ll discuss.
My 5 year has been taught to leave the gun where it is and get an adult and we’ve gone over the Four Rules. No doubt we’ll go over them again.