Does your child know what to do if they encounter or find a firearm?
The National Rifle Association has created a firearms accident prevention program which helps parents, law enforcement, educators and community groups to help cover a topic that is extremely important to our children’s safety.The mission of the program is to teach children pre-kindergarten through the fourth grade what to do if he or she encounters a firearm when they are either by themselves or with friends and without adult supervision.
The Eddie Eagle Program teaches children to ” Stop, Don’t Touch, run away, tell a grown up.”
STOP!
This is the crucial first step. Stopping will first allow your child the time they need to remember the rest of the safety instructions.
Don’t Touch
If a firearm is not touched or disturbed it is less likely to be fired and otherwise place your child or other people in danger.
Run Away
Tell A Grown-up
Teach your children to find a trustworthy adult, neighbor, relative or teacher – provided that a parent or guardian is not available.
This is a great program that we believe should be taught to every child so that we can lessen the chances of any childs’ lives of being cut short by a preventable accidents. It would be a great idea if this program was provided to every child in school from the day they start until they reach the fourth grade. We believe this to be a small price to pay to keep our children safe.
Our position on firearms in homes where children are present is very cut and dry. We believe that if you choose to exercise your constitutional right to keep and bear arms, you also have a responsibility to your children and the rest of society to not only keep these firearms safe and out of the hands of children, but to also teach your children the proper safety precautions needed to insure safe firearm practices. This means, that when you as the parent believe your child is mature enough, and is capable of understanding what you are teaching them, to teach your children about firearms and how to safely use and handle them. We do not believe that there should be a government mandate at what age this should be done because each child is different and children develop at different rates. Children are inherently curious about most things, especially things that they are told that they can not see, touch or hold. It is incumbent upon all parents who have firearms in the home to protect our children and the best way to do this is to take the curiosity or stigma away from the firearm and teach children that it is not a toy. Children also need to be taught that what they see on TV is fake and that firearms are dangerous and why they are dangerous. They also need to be taught that what they see on TV regarding death is fake and that death is permanent. This is the only way to ensure that children understand the consequences of playing with firearms.
Growing up in northwestern New Jersey it was not uncommon for many homes to have firearms. This is mostly due to the fact that a lot of people in this region hunt. As a young child we were taught to respect firearms and not to play with them. We were taught that firearms were a tool to be used in certain circumstances and we were responsible enough to heed the lessons taught by our parents. We must all work to make our children safer in today’s world.
For more information on the Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program, please visit the link below:
NRA Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program
