Guns
Guns
- Always keep your guns unloaded and locked out of sight. Keep the lock key with you, not in a desk or dresser drawer. Keep the ammunition locked up in a different place as well. Do not show your child where you keep the gun(s) and ammunition.
- Never let your child play with guns.
- If your family hunts, enroll your child in a gun safety class. Education is vital if your child is going to be around guns or hunting.
- Find out if there are guns in the homes of your child's friends before letting your child go to the home to play or spend the night.
- Teach your child what to do if they are at a friend's house and the friend wants to show off a gun. Make a plan with your child to say "no," tell an adult in the house, or call you to go home. Guns can accidentally fire, especially when being mishandled.
About 10 to 12 gun-related deaths occur every day to children younger than age 19 in the U.S.
Source: Injury Free Coalition for Kids
Source: Allina Health's Patient Education, Guide for the Care of Children: Ages Birth to 5, sixth edition, ped-ah-91554
Reviewed By: Allina Health's Patient Education Department experts
First Published: 02/01/2010
Last Reviewed: 11/16/2022