Children's Behavior As A Function Of Finding A Real Gun

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Children’s Behavior as a Function of Finding A Real Gun
There have been many accidental incidents involving children with guns. Today, it has become very common for a child to find a gun and play with it as if it were a toy gun, causing serious harm. Unintentional firearm injuries kill approximately 400 children (0-19 u years old) each year (Wintemute, Teret, Kraus, Wright, & Bradfield, 1987). What message are our children receiving for such incidents to occur?
It is not very surprising to read about a 6-year-old who shot and killed a sibling or other child friend accidentally with their parents’ gun. Since mostly all Americans have the right to bear arms, guns are easily accessible to children through their families and friends. Many families’ keep a gun in the home often stored loaded and unlocked (Patterson, & Smith, 1987). So what preventive measures does one take to ensure their child’s safety?
The most effective measure to prevent firearm-related injuries to children is the
Absence of guns from homes and communities (Cummings, Grossman, Rivara, & Keopsell, 1997). Despite the risks of unintentional discharge and other adverse incidents, gun-owning families continue to keep at least one gun loaded and unlocked (Senturia, Chirstofel, & Donovan, 1994). With that said, the next step would be educating our children about the dangers of touching or playing with a real gun. But how effective is educating our children about the dangers of guns?
Gun-owning parents reported that they would trust their four to twelve year old child with a loaded firearm in the home (Webster, Wilson, Duggan, & Pakula, 1992). Of course, after educating their child and assuming that it is understood that guns are dangerous, any parents’ expectation would be that their child would do the right thing when faced with the situation. Many parents may have unrealistic expectations of their children’s behavior around guns (Webster, Wilson,...