Education, education, education!
Posted on 12/05/2005 10:45:34 AM PST by kerryusama04
Accidental shootings in the home are at an all-time low, but that's not low enough, said Bill Brassard, director of Project ChildSafe.
In 2001, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which is affiliated with Project ChildSafe, a national program to distribute free gun locks, reported that firearms were used in 72 accidental deaths by children younger than 14. That constituted 1.3 percent of all unintentional fatalities in children younger than 14 that year and a 60 percent decrease in such deaths since 1995.
Project ChildSafe is an outgrowth of Project HomeSafe, which began in 1999.
Although the effort has had success, the basics need to be reinforced, Brassard said.
"It's important to realize that you cannot hide a gun. That's not considered proper storage," Brassard said. "Kids have a natural curiosity and will be able to find it."
Here are some Central New York incidents since 1987 from The Post-Standard archives where a child 14 years old or younger accidentally shot himself or another child: June 2005: A 14-year-old Syracuse boy shot himself in the ankle as he was trying to stuff a shotgun in his pants.
February 2000: A 13-year-old Syracuse boy shot himself in the leg after the loaded weapon in his pocket discharged.
November 1998: A 7-year-old boy was accidentally shot in the abdomen when his 10-year-old brother put down a loaded rifle the two were handling.
April 1998: A 6-year-old Syracuse boy shot himself in the arm after he found a loaded handgun on the back porch of an abandoned house.
December 1996: A 14-year-old Fleming boy accidentally shot his 15-year-old friend in the chest with a .22-caliber rifle as the two were preparing to go hunting.
ping
How is that a home safety incident?
These statistics sound screwy.
Eddie Eagle works too.
My daughter, who will be taught to shoot in time, is presently being prepped of what to do when you see a gun.
Get away,
Get an adult,
Tell your friends to leave it alone.
If they laugh and call you a scardy-cat just leave anyway your life might depend on it.
Then later when the time is right she'll learn to handle them safely shoot accurately and such.
Looks like the NRA's "Eddie Eagle" program is having a positive effect!
The title coupled with the relatively lame accidents make this one sound credible to me. Certainly nothing like the crisis Rebecca Peters would have us imagine, huh?
My 4 year old and my 2 year old love that video!
"Shooting accidents at home a record low"
on a related story... "Shooting on Purpose at home hits a record high".
Education, education, education!
Crack dealers aren't about to put trigger locks on their illegal guns they leave lying on the coffee table while they pass out.
How many accidental shootings were there in homes where law abiding, responsible gun owners live? probably none.
i'd guess that one where the kids were going hunting was in a fairly responsible, legal home.
A 14 year old stuffing a shotgun into his pants, a 13 year old with a pistol in his pocket, sounds like the south side black gangs at work to me.
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