Page 110 - ThePhoenix1997-98

Thursday, February 5, 1998 - Page 6 COMMENTARY Pro and Con: Guns and Responsibility Adam Dean advocates safe open the door to his parents bedroom. Megan Martin doubts there is who commit suicide. and responsible gun A safe or a metal security closet is ideal. such a thing as safe gun Is this how we want our children to live? ownership If that is not possible, a locking gun rack, ownership The only real answer is 10 not buy guns. This trigger locks and cable locks are available. is the only truly safe option. Stop a minute There are cable locks designed for guns, but to think about it. Last weekend two unfortunate incidents even the kind used to secure bikes will work. How often do we hear on the news or read If a parent owns a gun and keeps it locked occurred in Maryland involving underage Open the gun's action and thread it through in the paper of a child shooting himself or away in one place and the bullets locked people and guns. An 8 year old Carroll the action and the barrel if possible and lock others while playing with a gun? The answer away in another place, to protect his child, County boy gal into his parents' locked room it. The gun is now useless until you come is: all too often. what good is having the gun? People will and found a small caliber handgun. He pro- back and remove the lock. While feeling sorrow for the families in- say it is for protection, but how can a gun, ceeded to play with the gun and managed to Another good thing about cable locks is volved and for the children who are dead or kept in this manner, protect anyone? shoot himself. that they can be threaded around or through recovering, the first reaction Ihave is, "Why In Anne Arundel County a 15 year old a stationary object and then the secured ob- were these children playing with guns?" young man, while visiting a relative's house, ject cannot be easily moved. This is a deter- The answer is fairly obvious. Younger A "safe" gun does not found another small caliber handgun. He rent to theft and tampering. If you cannot do children do not understand what guns can brought it out to show his girlfriend, popped even this, place the gun in a locked drawer, do when people use them. Children usually exist at present, so the the magazine out and then pointed the gun make sure it is unloaded and the ammuni- have no experience with guns other than wa- answer is a sort of gun to his head saying "Wouldn't it be funny if tion is kept in another tamper-resistant loca- ter pistols and imaginary finger guns, both there was a bullet in here?" There was. He tion and be damn sure the only key to the of which are harmless. They also know what "abstinence." For those pulled the trigger. drawer is on your person when you leave. they see on television - Superman is shot at, Guns are dangerous things. Agun is a tool Simple things like this could have pre- but the bullets just deflect off his body. who interpret the Second designed to throw metal balls at high veloc- vented the tragedies in Carroll County and Through playing and by watching televi- Amendment as giving ity. Being in the way of those metal balls is a in Anne Arundel County. But basic gun sion, kids see guns as doing no "harm." This very poor idea. They must be treated with safety and handling skills and common sense idea is then translated to the child's reality- them the right to have the same respect that one holds for any other also were lacking here, especially in the Anne to a child guns are harmless. guns in their homes and power tool. Arundel County incident. How could a 15 In some households with guns, children One would not allow a chainsaw or an year old not know it was not a good idea to know where their parents keep the shiny for- have to have them, the electric drill to be within easy access of those point a gun at his head and pull the trigger? bidden objects. Naturally, anything shiny and forbidden is irresistible to a curious child. answer seems to be and Curiosity It is the duty of every gun owner to maintain his to children, learning equals playing. Logi- personalized guns. is only sated by learning, firearms in such a way that they cannot be easily cally, playing with a gun is a child's way of into a house If someone were to break accessed by those who should not hav'e them. learning about the gun; that is, how it works and wanted to kill you, they would do it be- and what it does. Most parents with guns try to keep them fore you got your gun, got your bullets, who were not qualified to use them. One also The first thing every gun owner or user out of reach of their children. Some guns loaded the gun, aimed, and fired. would not allow young people to use any needs to know is that the "unloaded" gun is are kept locked in a safe place, while others If that did not happen, the intruder would other power tool without competent adult _ a myth. There is no such animal. Every gun, are locked away with the bullets elsewhere. probably grab the gun from you and use it supervision. But this does occur. People are everywhere, is always loaded. No excep- Seems pretty safe, does it not? against you, so what is the point? injured, maimed, even killed by power tools lions. Like the actor Jon-Eric Hexum proved The answer is no, few safety measures A burglar alarm would probably be just everyday. And this includes guns. over a decade ago, even a blank charge can are child proof. Any determined child can as useful, if not more so. But, even though guns are dangerous, it kill. find a way to retrieve the gun and bullets For those who have to have guns, there is wrong to think that guns should be te- Never, ever, point agun at something you are such things as trigger locks on the mar- moved from the possession of the millions are not willing to see utterly and totally de- ket, and within the next few months, person- of people who use and store them in a re- stroyed. That includes your friends, your alized guns are supposed to be available for sponsible manner. In this country we do not relatives, yourself and the neighbor's bark- Children usually have no sale. Personalized guns seem to be the next charge the innocent for the crimes of another. ing poodle. Never touch a gun you do not experience with guns safest bet after having no gun at alL It is the duty of every gun owner to main- know how to operate and just because you These guns, using various technologies, tain his firearms in such a way that they can- know how to operate one model of a gun other than water pistols can be set so that no one but an authorized not be easily accessed by those who should doesn't mean that you know how to use an- user can fire the gun. For this reason, they not have them. This includes children and other. and imaginary finger are also known as smart guns (Ccasefire NJ incompetent or stupid adults or adolescents. For example, most self-loading pistols guns, both of which are Newsletter). In the Carroll County incident the gun in can be made safe by removing the magazine They may cost a few extra dollars when question was kept in a locked room. Con- and pulling back on the pistol's slide to eject harmless. They also know they come out, but what is that cost next to flicting accounts exist as to whether or not the cartridge in the chamber. But many popu- what they see on the life of a child? the gun was kept loaded. But, the 8 year old lar pistols do not operate this way. In the end, having a gun and trying to found a key to the room and did manage to Several small Beretta-made pistols fea- television - Superman is keep it safe from curious little hands is like shoot himself. In this incident I have much ture a lip-up barrel. Racking the slide will shot at, but the bullets just trying to keep the press out of the White sympathy for the boy and his family. The par- not unload one of these guns. The barrel must House. It will never happen. ents left an older sibling in charge and locked be released by a latch at the side and the car- deflect off his body. A "safe" gun does not exist at present, so the door to the bedroom. They probably tridge manually plucked from the gun's the answer is a sort of gun "abstinence." For thought this was enough security to prevent chamber. those who interpret the Second Amendment accidents, and it is easy to see why they might The point is, if you are not familiar with from their "safe" resting places. as giving them a right to have guns in their think. so. In Anne Arundel, the gun was kept that particular gun, you probably don't know This statement is bolstered by fact. The .homes and have to have them, the answer in a home that apparently did not usually what you are doing or how to make it safe. Peace Education Center (PEC) wrote in their seems to be personalized guns. have young people in it. The relative in Anne Leave it alone until someone more knowl- Spring 1993 newsletter that every day 12 The Ceasefire NJ Newsletter notes that Arundel County probably thought he had edgeable can came and show you. And never people under the age of 19 are killed in acci- guns are the most unregulated consumer done enough to secure his gun. Unfortu- take a gun from someone else without first dental shootings out of the 1,500 accidental products. When used correctly, or even in- nately, they both were wrong. being sure you know for a fact that it is. shootings a year (http:// correctly, they do what they were made to It is never safe to leave an unsecured gun empty. And even after you are sure it is www.nonviolence.org/pec/news/1993/ do - kill or wound. around when you are not there. If you keep a empty, treat it like it is loaded anyway. Be- Springlgun_ctrl.html). Most often, those who use guns incor- firearm for protection, while children and the cause a gun always is. The Centers for Disease Control con- rectly are playful children, as in the cases in incompetent or untrained have access to the Guns are very dangerous. Keep them se- ducted a study and found that American chil- both Carroll and Anne Arundel counties over home, you must secure the gun itself. This cured. Don't allow children or the incompe- dren are "12 times more likely to die from a the first weekend in February, and the cases does not mean only locking the door. Most tentnear them. L.eam gun safety and proper firearm injury than are ~hildren m ~ other that occur each day throughout the country. inside door locks can be easily opened w,th gun handliDg from a qualifi~ indiv:idual. industrialized countries ... and 9 times more People should really think. before pur~ .. • -cmfil Card or a btal paper clip. ChiI4rea 'And'don'thaodleany gun you are not fami(· li.kelytodiefromaa ~:~g chuiag a gun: "ls tbis gun going 10allOw ' arc UDII'ter 1haa,,1ts live them credit t«. ior rilL If,_" people dOl Ihi. die _... (c..ucfiro HI _. J rrie_...ac me to protect myself, Or will,iti UIC:~ .. 1997. Ellen ____ --~...- - ..... 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