| By :
Wendy Moyer
If you are a gun owner and there are children in your home under eighteen years of age you could be found guilty of a misdemeanor or a felony if you do not follow a number of rules and regulations that are designed to protect both your children and other people from injury or death. And whether or not you may be guilty of a crime, there are a number of precautions you should take to make sure no one is unnecessarily injured. You can never be too careful when children and guns are concerned. You can't assume that if a toddler isn't strong that they can't pull a trigger. Because a child's thumb is twice as strong as any of their other fingers they could use it to push against a trigger. If they do that the barrel of the gun is invariably pointing directly at their face. It is just common sense not to leave a firearm lying around the house. As far as the law is concerned, if a child under 18 years of age obtains and uses a loaded firearm that is either on your premises or on premises that you control and uses it to injure or kill someone you could be charged with a crime. Furthermore, unless you stored your firearm in a locked container or locked the firearm itself with a locking device that temporarily keeps it from functioning, if a person under 18 obtains it and carries it to a public place, you could be arrested. Remember that even if you don't have any children at home, anyone visiting your home - a neighbor's child, your grandchildren, nieces, or nephews - should not have any access to your firearms. Gun owners have the responsibility of practicing gun safety all the time. One of the things that you should make a practice of is storing all your guns unloaded. Then lock them with a firearm safety device and put them in a gun safe. In addition, you should store your ammunition in a separate location. How to Talk to Children about Guns Children are curious creatures. And they especially like to know about things that are "forbidden." So, when a child starts to act out playing with guns or starts to ask questions about guns, you should remove some of the mystery and reduce some of their curiosity by answering their questions as openly and as honestly as you can. And don't forget to remind your children about the difference between make believe and real. Children should know that even though a toy gun looks like a real gun they are very different in that a real gun can kill or hurt someone if they are shot. And always keep in mind, that no matter what you say, your actions speak louder than your words. Because children learn primarily through observation you should make sure that you practice what you preach. If you practice safe gun conduct your children will learn and also practice safe gun conduct.
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