OWN IT? RESPECT IT. SECURE IT.®
For The Kids
P3TC offers opportunities for parents to have their kids safely learn and train in a safe environment. If a child is old enough to poo and coo, they are old enough to learn firearms safety. There are programs to help you.
The NRA has the Eddie Eagle (www.EddieEagle.com) GunSafe Program has video and age appropriate workbooks teaches children four important steps to take if they find a gun. These steps are presented by the program’s mascot…you guessed it…Eddie Eagle, in an easy to remember format:
STOP! Don’t Touch! Run Away! Tell an Adult!
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) and the National Crime Prevention Council released two new ‘McGruff® gun safety’ videos for young children where ‘Molly’s Mischief’ and ‘Not Cool, Kyle’ teach students from kindergarten to 6th grade to:
STOP! Don’t touch! Get away! Tell an adult!
Project ChildSafe is committed to providing you the resources needed to spread the message of firearms safety through lesson plans, checklists, tips and videos to help educate students. It’s important that children become familiar with the rules of firearms safety. For more educational resources and videos, please click here.
Own it? Respect it. Secure it. Take the Project ChildSafe Pledge today:
As proud gun owners, it is our responsibility to help prevent accidents by keeping our firearms out of the hands of children and at-risk individuals. Take Project ChildSafe’s Own it? Respect it. Secure it. pledge and commit to practicing gun safety today. Learn more at www.projectchildsafe.org.
Project Childsafe by the NSSF is a great program and is applicable to this conversation on storage and securing your gun. It is a nationwide effort to promote safe firearms handling and storage practices. They distribute key safety education to kids and adults, and provide free gun locking devices (safety kits) for many. If you’re interested, please contact our good friends at your local Law Enforcement station for availability.
P3TC is also partnering with national organizations to encourage pediatric doctors (We call it PedsDocs) to offer gun locks in their offices. If we can get one more gun owners to lock up one more unused gun, it will be worth it. Data indicates youth suicide is the second leading cause of death among people aged 10 to 24 years.[1] People want to argue the specifics of the data, but the bottom line is one child is too many. Firearms are the most frequently used and most lethal means. Risk of suicide is 2 to 5 times greater in homes containing firearms; 1 in 3 US homes contain a firearm.[2], [3] To date, suicide prevention strategies have been implemented in behavioral health settings even though only one-third of youths who attempt suicide receive mental health treatment in the 12 months prior.[4],[5] In contrast, more than 75% of youths who die by suicide visit pediatric primary care in the year prior.[6] Thus, suicide prevention strategies limited to behavioral health settings are insufficient, and research on how to optimize primary care for suicide prevention is warranted.
Children are not the only ones using firearms to commit suicide. The NSSF and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention have developed a Suicide Prevention Toolkit to help us understand risk factors and warning signs related to suicide, know where to find help and encourage secure firearms storage options. We all need to participate in this program.
[1] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System. www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars. Accessed July 18, 2018
[2] Miller M, Azrael D, Barber C. Suicide mortality in the United States: the importance of attending tomethod in understanding population-level disparities in the burden of suicide. Annu Rev Public Health. 2012;33:393-408. doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031811-124636
[3] Hepburn L, Miller M, Azrael D, Hemenway D. The US gun stock: results from the 2004 national firearms survey. Inj Prev. 2007;13(1):15-19. doi:10.1136/ip.2006.013607
[4] Brent DA, Perper JA, Moritz G, et al. Psychiatric risk factors for adolescent suicide: a case-control study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1993;32(3):521-529. doi:10.1097/00004583-199305000-00006
[5] Brent DA, Baugher M, Bridge J, Chen T, Chiappetta L. Age- and sex-related risk factors for adolescent suicide. J AmAcad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1999;38(12):1497-1505. doi:10.1097/00004583-199912000-00010
[6] Luoma JB, Martin CE, Pearson JL. Contact with mental health and primary care providers before suicide: a review of the evidence. Am J Psychiatry. 2002;159(6):909-916. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.159.6.909