Gun safety for children

[cztops]

I agree with Ayoob who says you cannot create childproof gun, but you can gunproof your child.

One of the family based education groups we are part of has a co-op class. In the last class, my daughters and I taught gun safety. There were nine other children, four girls and five boys ages 6-11.

We started with them making handguns out of Legos.

I asked them to share what they new about guns. Mentioned that guns are tools, just like a hammer, fork and knife, and a pencil. The tools are not dangerous, the person who uses the tool in an unsafe manner is dangerous.

Then went over the different parts of a Daisy 105 Buck. Then sent the gun around and had each one name a part.

We have five important safety rules: (We had them say the rule and hold their gun per the safety rules)

1. If you see a gun, don't touch it. Go tell a parent or other adult.

2. Keep your finger off the trigger.

3. Point the gun in a safe direction.

4. Check if the gun is loaded.

5. Check the area around the target.


My daughters came up with a song to the tune of BINGO:

"There was some kids who knew gun safety
and IKPCC's (ik-pic) in their memory.
I K P C C, I K P C C, I K P C C
and IKPCC's in their memory."
(IKPCC is the letter of the first word in each rule.)

They then made targets out of paper plates and I took two at a time into the garage to shoot their target. A couple of the boys had their own BB gun and their groups were tighter than the others. One of the girls had been around guns while this was the first gun one of the girls had ever shot.

To test rule 1, I had another room with toys that we sent the children in one at a time. My daughter was in there and would say, "Do you want to see my gun?" Only two of the nine kids went out of the room and told their parent. Others said, "Cool!" while looking at the gun.  I re-emphasized the importance of getting out of the room immediately and to go tell a parent or adult.

I then brought out a .22 revolver, 9mm pistol, 12 gauge, and AR15 and had each go through the rules in handling the guns. Though most obeyed rules 2-5, one boy familiar with guns had trouble keeping his finger off the trigger.

Overall, it was nice to have the kids hear gun safety rules, practice them, and have fun shooting. But safety rules are not learned at one sitting. They need to be taught and reenforced periodically.

[skucera]

It sounds like you had a pretty good class there.  My own kids are still a little too young yet for a class like that, so their education has been more in the "on Daddy's knee" style, learning that Daddy has guns locked in that safe over there, and they aren't scary unless they are being handled in an unsafe manner, and later each kid will learn more about them when they grow a little older.

My oldest is 4 (the youngest in your group was 6, eh?) and she's getting closer to that age when the NRA's Eddie Eagle materials might be useful.  I haven't checked that out yet.  Have you?  Your lesson plan seemed well thought out.  How did you prepare?   I wonder if this sort of subject matter is published for home schoolers somewhere on the internet?  I'd better start preparing my lesson plan, because I can bet that the local school district won't touch this subject with a ten foot pole.

Scott

[cz40va]

You are a credit to the parents and children of your community. Keep up the good work. It sure sound like you have fun while teaching the children about the rights and wrongs of safe gun handling. I am sure that you must be very proud, as you should be.

[cztops]

I don't know of any homeschool curriculum on gun safety. The outline I came up with is a distillation of what I've learned through NRA Basic course and self defense handgun books and classes; and refining it through trial and error of teaching it several times. I haven't read or sat through an Eddie Eagle presentation, but I read someone that the main point for really young children is rule 1 - If you see a gun, don't touch it! Go tell your parent or another adult.

I changed the vocabulary for the audience and the order of rules to the process of handling a gun - grabbing a gun, keep the finger off the trigger, then point in a safe direction. I understand why the adult rules start with "All guns are loaded" because that is a mental state to be safe. That is abstract thinking and elementary kids need concrete concepts because that's how their wired - hense, I follow the physical process of handling a gun for ordering the rules.

Before my girls shot (7 or 8 years old), they would help me clean my guns. I would let them handle them and gently correct any safety violation. The big thing for me is to take the mystery out of guns. I told my girls from the time they could understand that anytime they wanted to handle a gun, just let me know and we would do it.

I do get great satisfaction in teaching kids and adults about safe gun handling skills.

[ut83]

Good, Great, Wonderful, Vantastic..thread....keep it up.
Shoot well

[skucera]

I spent a few minutes at the NRA web site looking at the Eddie Eagle program information.  The had a level 1 program for Pre-K through 1st graders, which is right where two of my daughters are, so it isn't too early to start with this.  They also had a web page for parents and mentioned a kit to order.  That part looked good.

The fly in the ointment is that the materials at first looked like they were only available to schools, law enforcement, and day care providers, but they I saw an order form that would allow me to buy individual copies of the various documents for token prices like 10 each.  Not a big deal, but I wish that they offered electronic versions of these documents even if I had to pay for them.  I think I'll order some hard copy and see what ideas it gives me.

Scott

[cztops]

It sounds like you can get the NRA stuff for individual consumption instead of classroom quantities. Check it out.

I would encourage you to tailor any content you come across to your children, changing vocabulary, presentation, etc., so that your children will benefit the most.

One reason I included my general lesson plan in this thread was for others to take it as a baseline to teach their children. Add/subtract from it to address your child's needs.

The only book I have on guns and children is Ayoob's "Gun Proof Your Children/Handgun Primer". As I said earlier, mostly I have modified the four universal safety rules for the appropriate vocabulary and understanding of the audience being taught.

I have additional lessons on sight picture, trigger control, shooting platforms, etc. Each lesson reviews the safety rules and may practice them with dummy (Lego) guns. Because of the amount of one-on-one instruction needed, two to four students per class is ideal.

Ideally, whenever I get another gun, I take professional training with that gun. This should be the same with children and introducing them to a different gun. Stay with one gun (BB for instance) through the entire sequence before you judge they are ready to move on to another gun.

Introduce a new gun and have the students be able to identify the different parts and how to clean and maintain the gun. Safety starts with knowing the gun.

Once you have went through the sequence of classes with your own children and get a feel for it, you may choose to offer it to other groups you are associated with such as church or other religious groups, boy and girl scouts, home education groups, Park District, Junior college, etc. You may need to become credentialed or NRA certifide to teach in some venues.

This is a dream I have to instill respect and love of firearms in children. The future of civilian firearm ownership and their freedom depends on instructing and training children and youth in gun safety and marksmanship skills. We know the government schools and many private schools are keeping the children ignorant concerning firearms, and even turning firearms into some kind of evil talisman.

The most important to teach are our own children. Like the old saying goes, "If I don't, who will?"

One more thing, if your child isn't interested in firearms, that's ok. Just make sure they know the safety rules. Maybe some day they will enjoy firearms, and if they don't, that is their choice, and loss.

[skucera]

I agree with the notion "If not us, then who?"  My sister and I both enjoy shooting because my dad taught us from an early age.  Time for me to pass the torch.

Scott

[cztops]

Just an update with two more groups of students I taught gun safety to and took shooting.

One group was high schoolers and the other was middle schoolers. They each had 1.5 hours of classroom instruction which included identifying parts of a revolver and pistol; range overview and terminology; four universal safety rules plus 1 (Get PERMISSION from parent or adult before handling a firearm); and going through the safety rules by handling the guns: a 22 revolver, 22 semi auto; .38spl revolver; 9mm semi auto.

I took them to an indoor range and provided the guns and ammo. There class dues paid for the range time and targets.

For the high school class, I had the four guns above plus another .357mag revolver. Everyone got to shoot each gun once. We left the people and targets in the same lanes and moved the guns one stall over, repeat.

There were 18 different shooters. For many, it was their first time shooting. I think everyone enjoyed it. There was one ND. I could not run five lanes by myself, so I had a couple guys familiar who had taken hunter safety helping me. One helper was having them thumb cock the 22 revolver before shooting. The shooter pulled the trigger while bring it up to the target. It was the end lane and the bullet hit the wall before it got pass the target which was out 3 yards.

For the middle schoolers, I didn't have any help so I ran just two guns - .22 S&W 317 and CZ Kadet. I made the mistake of leaving the students on the line loading the guns while I took a second mag for another student to load off line. I walked back through the door and the one student was excited to shoot, turned towards me with a loaded revolver, finger on the trigger, asking when to he could shoot. I pointed my finger down range and told him to point the gun down range. After some up close and personal review of gun safety rules, they comensed shooting.

There were 11 shooters and they all enjoyed shooting. Again, for most, it was there first time. They shot each gun twice.

Both of these classes took about 1.5 hours to shoot.

A couple things I learned:
It is much more difficult to work with many students on the shooting line instead of one or two.

This class was for safe gun handling. I didn't have enough class time or shooting time to give much info on gripping the gun, trigger control, sight picture, etc.

I should never leave the firing line once guns are available, whether loaded or not.

I should have written out the protocol (safety and shooting) on a poster board so the next shooters would have it fresher in their mind when they were on the firing line.


I have offered to teach gun safety to another group of middle schoolers in a different homeschool group next fall or winter. The high school students, and I suspect, the middle school students who already shot want to do it again next year also. Periodic review of gun safety and observed shooting should be part of the curriculum for all gun students, young and old.

[Bigbronco78]

OUTSTANDING, great job... Very good of you to take the time to teach. What state are you in?  I work with older kids, 18-24 but would love to work with younger ones in the art of fire arms.

[skucera]

As for my own update, I did find a copy of Massad Ayoob's book Gunproof Your Kids/Handgun Primer.  The bookstore had it classified as a pamphlet, and I see why.  There isn't a lot to it, but it's all vitally important information.  Great book.

My wife read in the forum what I'd written here and understood, perhaps not quite "suddenly" but understood, that we need to teach gun safety to our kids from infancy.  Since she's around the kids more, she drops little tidbits of gun safety here and there during the week as they watching MacGyver, Stargate, or whatever.  When MacGyver found a gun in a storm grate, Mary told the kids "If you ever find a gun, don't touch it and tell me or Daddy."  (That resonated with my oldest because the morning after somebody had a fight in our front yard in February, she found a big, cheap, Pakistani bowie knife in the lawn.  She remembers that vividly, and the notion of finding a gun seems very real to her and all of us.)

Most of the other gems of advice from Ayoob's book are slowly going into practice to demystify guns.  I clean the guns when the kids can ask about them and hold them with permission, instead of in the evenings after they go to sleep.  We take the kids with us to the gun show instead of leaving them at Grandma and Grandpa's.  We even brought the kids with us when we went around town looking at the other indoor shooting ranges, and they enjoyed peeking through the big windows as people shot at targets on the firing lines, then got bored quickly and played with the gun safe doors instead.

This summer I'll go to more hands-on training of safe gun handling, sight pictures, fingers out of the trigger guard until you're ready to fire, etc., when it gets warm enough for some Super Soakers.

Scott

[Glockguy-23]

Tops,

Your work with these kids is very admirable.  Wish there were more dedicated teachers out there.  One thing I've learned in teaching newbies to the gun world is to make sure you have a one on one relationship with the shooter.  If there is only you, there should be only one gun available.  I see you're learning this the "hard" way   Thanks for the efforts you're putting forth, and best of luck with future classes...

[cztops]

Bigbronco, thank you. I would encourage you to start teaching the art of firearms with the people you already know through work (peers or students), church, or other social networking. As a prereq, I would suggest you have taken several professional firearm training classes. Then its standard teaching: know your audience and their firearm experience; design the lesson plan to meet their needs and your goals; execute it.

skucera, congrats on your progress. Sounds like you're on the road to having a safe gun handling family.

Glockguy23, thanks for the encouragement and constructive criticism.

The biggest constraint was time. The 1.5 hour classes meet once per month. Because I offered to teach after the schedule was made, I had to fit within. Thus, I taught gun safety first to high schoolers, than middle schoolers, than took the high schoolers shooting, than the middle schoolers. So it was two months between classroom instruction and the firingline.

A more realistic schedule would have one class on safety, one class on gun handling (shooting platform, grip, trigger control, sight picture), and two classes shooting, one with a revolver, the other with a pistol. Loading of speedloaders and magazines would be done off the firing line, while I concentrated on one shooter at a time. Such a time commitment would probably require some or all of the training occuring outside the monthly meetings.

Thanks for causing me to do a post mortem on the previous classes. The next classes will have a better experience because of it.