Declare your space a gun-free zone

PLAYING it safe means keeping guns away from children. If you own a gun, do not for a moment believe that children at your home will obey instructions to never touch or handle it.

This is the warning from Gun Free South Africa’s Nurahn Ryklief, who explains: “Gun proofing children is ineffective and even dangerous; it makes children responsible for an adult gun owner who has violated the law by failing to store his gun unloaded and locked in a safe.”

Research shows that parents believe their children are at less risk of gun injury than they really are. In one study, boys aged between eight and 12 years were left to play with a friend or a sibling in a room containing two toy guns and an unloaded real gun. Of the boys whose parents had rated their sons as having a low interest in guns, 65% handled the real gun and 35% pulled the trigger.

Says Ryklief: “Children are curious and observant; they know their parents’ hiding places, including where they hide safe keys. At the same time, parents are human – we make mistakes, and there’s always a risk that we’ll forget to lock the gun away or hide the keys.”

The bottom line is that the best option to secure your children’s safety is to have no guns at home.

To further protect children, GFSA urges parents and caregivers to buy toys that encourage imaginative, peaceful play rather than toy guns.

Children receive conflicting messages when they’re told to stay away from real guns because they are dangerous, yet are given toy replicas to play with.