Two issues of high importance in this country, gun control and children's health, have come together in many debates. Injury due to firearms is the second leading cause of non-natural deaths among children and adolescents. Gun safety and security are of high priority to most gun owners, especially parents.
So the question remains: how do we protect our right to bear arms and keep our children safe at the same time?
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 1.69 million children live in homes where firearms have not been put in safe places.
And a separate study estimates that 30% of firearms are stored loaded and unlocked. Locking up guns in a gun safe is often viewed as the best way to keep firearms safely stored away, but they still have to be used properly.
Accidents can happen when children find the key to the safe or guess a combination. Furthermore, if the guns are stored in the same place as the ammunition, a child need only get through one security measure to be in a potentially deadly situation.
Children are naturally curious and often know more than what their parents may think. A study by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center (HICRC) revealed that 39% of children in one survey knew the location of their parents' firearms; 22% of those children also said they had handled the weapons, without their parents' knowledge.
Most gun safety advocates recommended keeping the guns and ammunition in separate places. Use a locking method that is most likely to prevent your children from guessing or somehow getting through, or adding additional security steps; such as having a gun safe locked inside a locked closet.
Technology is also working towards new and improved methods of gun safety. Biometric technology has brought about gun safes that can only be accessed by fingerprint identification. The advantage to this is clear. Even if your child knows where the gun safe is, access would be impossible.
A.J. Ghergich, owner of Authority Safes, says, "people seem to really like the idea of having a safe that only you can get into. There's no worrying about how to hide the key where your kids can't find it."
High-tech gun safes such as these can give gun owners an additional sense of security. Gun rights and gun control advocates agree keeping your firearms out of the wrong hands is of the highest importance.
Taylor Jorgenson, a gun owner who resides in Kansas City, Missouri, agrees. "I grew up in a rural area where it was common to have loaded guns in the house. But in the city, guns are viewed differently and are more dangerous to have around. When I have kids I'll teach them about gun safety, but the guns will definitely be locked up."
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