Argumentative Essay On Gun Safety

There are at least 10 children that get shot and killed every day. So far in 2015, there have been 628 deaths of children in the United States alone. According to At Issue, from the SIRS data base, gun safety measures seek to eliminate or minimize the risk of unintentional death, injury or damage caused by the accidental discharge of a firearm. Some feel that young children should be taught what to do if they encounter a firearm. Others believe that telling young children to just simply leave the gun alone is better approach. (Pro Quest Staff). This paper will examine the pro, con and my viewpoint on whether young children should be taught gun safety or not.

To begin with, many believe that children should have the education about gun safety.

Firstly, if we were to teach young children before, they find a gun we will be able to prevent any death or injury from happening. Craig Stedman, Lancaster County District Attorney, states, “If you choose to handle a deadly weapon, then there is a responsibility that goes along with it.”(Reilly) PJ. Reilly, writer for the Intelligencer Journal, avers that these guns are deadly weapons and if a child sees it, they should know to leave it alone (Reilly). Daniel J. Siegel, Havertown attorney, notes that there are no laws that help with gun accidents in Pennsylvania. Due to there being no laws, it is too easy to own a gun, which endangers children. Gun control supporters are afraid of people that believe guns are great, so instead of fighting them, they just let the gun lovers do whatever they want. How we can teach our children what’s right and not with such a big problem in today’s society (Reilly). Secondly, safety comes from proper education. Butch Jensen, who has been a shooting instructor for 10 years, emphasizes that guns can be dangerous tools, like construction equipment, so education is important for safety (Carcamo). A sign at the county Pima shooting range, declares, “Safety is no accident”, which implies that safety comes from education (Carcamo). Blake Carrington, Airman for the U.S. Air Force, points out, “That’s the thing about guns, and they will do exactly what the human tells them to do. Poor decision making is what gets us.” In other words, no education leads to poor decision making (Carcamo). Thirdly, “gun-proofing” your gun, and teaching your children about gun-proofing will help them learn what to do if they find a gun. According to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, “gun-proofing” a child needs to be consistent, and on-going. Children not being taught could lead to accidents (J.Gazette). The Journal Gazette also reports that children should not be around guns, unless they are with an adult with prior knowledge. As long as they have some kind of education, children being around guns are okay (J.Gazette). The Journal Gazette instructs children to,” Stop! Don’t touch! Leave the area! Tell an adult!” Learning what to do with a fun little phrase helps children understand (J.Gazette). Thus for several reasons, children do need the proper education on gun-proofing to understand what to do when someone finds a gun.
Conversely, others argue that children should not be around guns at all.

In fact, gun ranges are debating child safety. After an incident in 2014 when a nine year old girl accidently killed her gun instructor with an Uzi machine gun. Airman Carrington believes that he would never allow his children to shoot any kind of automatic weapon (Carcamo). There are some parents that believe that a 9-year-old shooting and Uzi is a little much, and they would never let their children shoot ever again (Carcamo). Cindy Carcamo, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, asserts that it is best to insure that children never encounter a gun. Guns in homes are proving deadly for children. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) notes that almost 800 kids were killed in gun- related accidents at home from 1999 to 2010. Giving a number of how many deaths makes us realize that guns are not for children (Szabo). The American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement on guns states that, “children are safest in homes without firearms” (Szabo). Kids would most likely be safer if there were no guns at home (Szabo). Bill Brassard, spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), explains that making sure guns are put away and out-of-sight is big deal for preventing anything from happening. If anything, guns should be in a locked safe and only an adult should know how to open the safe, in case of emergencies

(Szabo).
Finally, I believe there should be education for children when it comes to gun safety. According to Naveed Benjamin, a Tacoma police officer, “You would think people would take more care, not less. When it comes to children, you would think people would care more; their lives are at risk here (Blackinship, Esser)”. Gregory Roberts, fire executive director, implies, “We think guns are dangerous, but they are not in people’s eyes, or laws or standards.” If we would just teach young children then they would know what to do when in the situation (Blackinship, Esser). Benjamin argues that you don’t know what a child will do with a gun unless they are taught correctly (Blackinship, Esser). As you can see, if we don’t teach children the right way to deal with a gun, bad things will happen.
Third, I strongly believe that if children have education about gun safety they are less likely to be tempted to play with guns. For example, hundreds of children die each year because they do not know what to do when a gun is present. Stedman asserts that to handle a gun, comes with a price. Whether that is with the price of safety, and not being able to keep that level of safety for who is around the gun you have (Reilly). Reilly also notes that at least 26 states have laws in place that specifically hold adults accountable when children get their hands on guns and use them to hurt themselves or others. We could eliminate that if we taught children to handle guns the right way. Reilly adds that at least 15 states have laws which require gun owners to lock up their firearms when not in use. I agree with this policy, and believe that every state should have this law. Next, the longer we wait to teach children, the more dangerous things could become. Jensen explains that a gun is just like any other object, unless taught how to use it, it is pointless. Guns will do what they are told, if we teach children right from wrong guns will be safe (Carcamo). Tom, a 66 year old attorney, adds, “I don’t think you should keep kids away from firearms just because one parent thought it would be okay for his 9 year old to shoot an Uzi and lose control, and end up killing the instructor. Doesn’t mean all kids should be taken out of the right to shoot a gun or learn how to shoot.” (Carcamo). Carcamo, reports that there currently 28 states and the District of Columbia which have laws governing children’s access to firearms. These laws would be unnecessary; if children know that they should tell an adult (Carcamo). Furthermore, children need to be educated in gun safety, so they won’t get the idea to play with guns. We should be teaching our youth the Journal Gazette, mantra, “Stop! Don’t touch! Leave the area! Tell an adult!” So they know what to do when they see a gun (J.Gazette). The Journal Gazette, emphasizes, “The younger and more curious a child is about guns, the more time and effort it will take to bring him or her to the point of understanding why it is so important not to handle guns without an adult.” If children are taught younger, they will better understand what the right thing to do is and the wrong thing (J.Gazette). The Journal Gazette, additionally points out, “Although this takes years of making sure they understand, we must keep on it for the lives of our children.” It’s not something you can just tell them over night. It takes some time (J.Gazette). Therefore, if we are to educate young children on gun safety, we could be saving their lives and others around them.
In summary, this paper explored the pros, cons, and my viewpoint on whether young children should be taught gun safety or not. A lot of people argue that children should be taught education on gun safety, while others insist that children should never be around guns. I believe that the younger we teach children about gun safety, the better outcome we will have when it comes to having a gun in homes. If kids know what a gun is, and what it can do, maybe they will be less tempted to play with guns. For every 10 children that die a day, 72% of them are caused by lack of education. How long should we wait until someone cares enough to help save them?