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There's a very simple reason why it's important to teach children about gun safety - so they don't shoot themselves or anyone else!

Beyond this mind-numbingly obvious assertion lies the more complex question about why children need to learn about the safe use of firearms in the first place, and if that education is necessary how it should best be done. What should a responsible parent and/or gun owner do to ensure that no child ever deliberately or accidentally uses a gun to hurt or kill another person or themselves?

Some people would rather that children didn't know anything about guns. Either from political viewpoints, pop culture influences or personal tragedy a certain number of people want nothing to do with firearms, and are quick to advocate their total abolition. For them teaching children about gun safety is a non-starter, as no child should ever be anywhere near a gun in the first place.

It's important to be sensitive to the views of both non-gun owners and anti-gun advocates, even if you don't necessarily agree with them. The remainder of this article isn't intended to disparage anyone's personal opinions, but rather to offer some advice to those who do choose to teach their children about gun safety (whether they own guns themselves or not).

From an early age children who live in a home where firearms are kept must be taught never to touch them without adult supervision. Of course it's the parent's job to make sure that all of the guns in the home are safely stored under lock and key in a secure gun cabinet in the first place, whether or not it is yet the law to do so in your jurisdiction.

If you don't own any firearms you must still teach your children that guns are very dangerous and that they are not toys. It's entirely possible (and very sad) that a child could easily find a gun just laying on the playground or on a bench in the park, and since children are naturally curious they're unlikely to resist the temptation to pick it up unless they already know what it is and know that it can hurt them.

Older children can become fascinated with guns, especially if they're exposed to a lot of gun violence on TV or in their communities. Quite often even a kid's heroes carry guns, both on TV and in real life (heroes like soldiers, police officers and parents). If your child has reached the point where he (or she) seems obsessed with guns and is pretending to shoot everything in sight it may be time for a little hard talk, and perhaps a few hard lessons.

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