Common Sense Mom!

Excellent article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. We should shoot them a note thanking them for a RARE common sense gun story.

Kids and guns: Teach, don't avoid
By Dana Loesch
SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH
Monday, Feb. 19 2007

The boys and I used to participate in a play group that included several
mothers who were not only against guns, they were against toy guns.

We left the play group after one member publicly chastised me when Liam
brandished a small, neon-orange, empty water pistol and pretended to be a
police officer. They were shocked that I would allow my child to play with such
a “dangerous toy.”

I acknowledged their concern; the percentage of toy gun-related deaths was,
after all, on the rise.

I don’t see a problem with children playing with toy guns. I would have a huge
problem if they were, say, playing with a toy joint.

I have two sons; they are obsessed with swords, light sabers, firearms,
explosives, fire. We never forced it on them; they exhibited an interest on
their own, though I’m sure they absorbed a bit of it by watching Chris and I
shriek with glee whenever one of us blows up something on Independence Day.

My boys will turn anything, including a tampon from their mother’s purse as she
loads groceries onto the conveyor, into a mock firearm.

This isn’t to say that they are uneducated regarding firearms; Liam knows the
difference between automatic and semi-automatic weapons; shotguns; handguns,
etc. He knows to find and tell an adult immediately should he ever happen upon
a firearm. He is fully aware that you can’t “un-shoot” someone. In short, we’ve
approached the issue responsibly.

I have a friend who likes to assign human qualities to firearms. “Guns kill
people,” she says whenever given the chance. I’ve said this before, but in my
28 years on this earth I have never witnessed a gun get up and shoot someone
all by itself.

If I did I would capture it and find a way to make money off of it. I have,
however, heard of people who use guns to shoot other people and who will use
other weapons to harm people if a firearm isn’t available. I think it’s
dangerous to take the responsibility from the person and assign it to an
inanimate object.

It undermines gun safety and education. If that theory is allowed, I want to
blame the last speeding ticket I got on my minivan.

My friend believes that the only gun education needed is to tell her daughter
that “guns are bad.” Those who do not own or even like guns can still die from
them as a result. I cannot figure out why my friend, or the mothers at the play
group for that matter, want to pretend that guns don’t exist and that their
children will never be confronted with the issue.

Both Chris and I grew up in families of hunters; my grandfather had a full gun
rack in his pickup. Gun safety was drilled into our heads at very young ages
and it was incomprehensible to play with one.

My friend doesn’t like the thought of her child playing at the homes of friends
who own firearms. My response has always been to inquire about the presence of
firearms first, then ask as to how they are secured from curious youngsters. It’
s our job as parents to be responsible and cautious, not paranoid. I feel that
the latter is irrational.

We own a firearm. It stays locked in a safe. Our families keep their firearms
locked in safes and gun cabinets. Our kids know that it’s irresponsible to
leave a gun lying around the house. Whether or not you own a gun and keep it in
your home, it’s dangerous to avoid the issue. The only thing the avoidance does
is to increase your child’s risk to become a statistic.

Just as dangerous as avoiding the issue is the irresponsible parent who keeps
an unsecured firearm in their home. Those are the parents who stand to lose a
child – or risk the life of another -- from a gun shot wound. Those are the
cases we hear about on television.

What matters most is how and what kids are taught about firearms. I’ve always
believed that pretend play is a great exercise for reality. Positive messages
can be introduced and reinforced through play.

When my kids play with their toy guns, they are the cops chasing the bad guys,
they are soldiers in a war, they are hunting, and they play with their toy in a
responsible manner. In their play, just as it should be in real life, guns are
leverage to their power for good. They’re taught the difference between reality
and play and have developed a healthy respect for the difference.

My friend has asserted that toy guns “encourage violent tendencies.” There is a
way to teach about violence without engaging in it.

I never forget: Whatever my children don’t learn first in my home they will
learn out in the world. I want to give them an advantage.

Let them know how you feel!

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