Do you have children? Do you own guns? When’s the last time you refresh your children about gun safety?

For most, gun safety is a weekend class or a weekday evening in a hotel conference room. If you don’t have children, this may be sufficient. But what does gun safety look like for you if you have a family?

At Rail Scales, we believe that gun safety in those circumstances includes a constantly evolving conversation between you and your children. As they grow and mature, so does their understanding of guns. This means that you should be spending consistent time with them and reminding them of gun safety.

10 Gun Lessons To Teach Your Children

As far as gun safety goes, you want to make sure that your children are informed and trained on the importance and application of gun safety. It’s imperative you spend the time needed to ensure their knowledge and understanding of the danger that guns pose, as well as the idea that guns are not toys. Here are 10 lessons you can teach your children.

#1. What If You Find A Gun

If you teach any lesson to your child, this is the one that should be of utmost importance. Teach your child that if they find a gun they should:

• Stop
• Don’t touch it
• Run away
• Find a grown-up and tell them

The child should understand that they should not touch the gun; it’s not a toy. Also, the sooner they tell an adult, the sooner they and everyone else around them will be safe.

#2. Guns Are Different Than Toys

It’s commonplace in the gun industry to equate guns to toys. Slang and cultural terminology can erode the true nature of a gun: It’s a tool, and it is dangerous to use and to be around. This is why it’s extremely important your children understand the difference between guns and toys.

#3. Teach Them How Guns Work

It’s important to teach your child how the guns in your home are used. This is a great way to introduce them to guns and foster an appreciation for safety. Remember, they are kids so teaching them in kid-friendly terms is always a benefit. But keep the focus on how guns are not toys and how they are to be used in very specific circumstances and under supervision.

#4. Explain Why People Have Guns

A great way to teach your child this gun lesson is to share why you have guns. Another way to do this is to share other reasons why people may have guns. For example, if you own a ranch, and you have an AR-15 as a coyote deterrent, explain this to your kids. You may have to work through the conversation on why you would shoot the coyote, but it’s better than them not knowing why guns exist.

#5. When Will Your Child Handle Guns Unsupervised

This is a decision that you need to make on your own; however, it’s best to follow the law when it comes to your child handling a gun. For most children, if they know when to expect they can use a gun unsupervised, if they can come to see it as a rite of passage similar to driving a car unsupervised, they will be less likely to handle a gun without you knowing about it.

#6. See An Unsecured Gun

As an echo of lesson number one, the child should be taught to stop, don’t touch, run away, and find a grown-up to tell. No matter where they see the gun, this set of actions should apply to any unsecured or random gun they find, whether it be in public, at a friend’s house, or otherwise.

#7. How To Be A Responsible Gun Owner

Do more than take your kids hunting or to the shooting range. Have them go through the process of handling the guns, maintaining them, and storing them safely. This is a great lesson you can teach innately by leading by example.

As you lead by example, narrate your actions so that your child not only sees it happening, but they hear it too. Eventually, you can have them take care of a few responsibilities so they become more involved.

#8. Know When Someone Else Is Handling A Gun Irresponsibly

Not only is it important to teach a child how guns are handled responsibly, but it’s also important to teach them how guns are not supposed to be handled. You may not always be around to help your child while someone else is handling a gun. This is why it’s important to teach them the difference between responsible and irresponsible gun handling.

Teach your kid how to identify an unsafe situation, how to remain calm, how to effectively inform the individual that they feel unsafe, and how to leave the area if necessary. Keep in mind tactics to combat any potential peer pressure that they may face to remain in a dangerous situation, and that convincing them that not wanting to look like a wimp in front of their friends isn’t worth risking injury by staying in an unsafe situation.

#9. A Gun Is Powerful But Predictable

There is no inherent reason to be afraid of a gun. It’s a predictable tool, much like a hammer or a rake, that was generally purchased for a specific reason and to fulfill a specific purpose. However, it is much more powerful than either of those tools combined. It’s important to teach your children that guns are predictable, but extremely powerful in what they do. One way to do this is to explain why guns work the way they do.

Temper this with the lesson that, while guns are predictable, there are rare occurrences where accidents do happen, and reliance on a gun to be predictable shouldn’t outweigh caution when handling them. Treating guns like they’re always loaded and ready to fire by never aiming at anything they don’t intend to shoot is important for exactly this reason.

#10. You Will Disagree With Others About Guns, and That’s Okay

Peer pressure is a huge influence on children as they grow up. A great way to help them remain confident in their views on how to handle guns is through working with them on these 10 lessons.

Let them know that others will disagree with them and how they think about guns; it’s going to happen. Teach them that other people may not agree with them simply because they can’t wrap their mind around how different someone else’s circumstances are from their own; going back to the coyote example, someone who’s lived in the suburbs all their lives may have never seen a coyote and is completely unaware of the danger they can pose.

It’s important to instill in your children the confidence to voice their opinion and stand by it, no matter who they are speaking too.

Rail Scales: Top-Tier AR Accessories For Sale Online

As you teach your children about guns, they may take a liking to them similar to how you have. This means that they may eventually want a rifle of their own. You can get them an AR-15 and help them either build it or upgrade a purchased one. This means that you’re going to need accessories to do so. Rail Scales offers top-tier AR-15 accessories for you to shop online.