Firearm Owners Have a Responsibility

It’s the responsibility of every firearm owner to improve gun safety. The reason that I bring this up today is because an incident occurred in Indianapolis, Indiana on Nov. 14 that shows how important gun safety is. Per the Huffington Post, a 4-year-old girl grabbed her parents’ gun from the nightstand while they slept. The girl shot herself through the cheek and the bullet hit the mother in the back of the head. Thank goodness that both mother and child are stable.

But the incident illustrates what can happen when gun safety isn’t taken seriously. Most believe, especially those that don’t have firearm experience, that the best way to prevent such incidents from happening is to lock guns up in private security safes. This doesn’t make any sense.

Locking up all your guns in a safe may not be the right thing to do only because, by the time that you get to your firearm, it may be too late. It’s better to consider a safe somewhere close to you, that’s easy to open only by you or your partner so that you can prevent your children, or anyone else, from accessing your gun. The best idea is to lock up all your firearms save for a single weapon of protection that you have in an easy to get to safe somewhere in your house. In most cases, that somewhere is likely to be your bedroom.

What’s the Best Way to Prevent Incidents Like the one in Indianapolis From Happening?

The best way to prevent incidents like the one that happened in Indianapolis on Nov. 14 from happening, the best way to improve gun safety, is for firearm owners to educate themselves about their guns.

A lot of individuals purchase guns to protect themselves and their families from harm. Every day, a story arises from somewhere in the United States where a homeowner had to use a firearm to prevent loss of life or property. Every citizen in the U.S. has the right to bear arms. It’s in the Constitution.

But all too often, individuals purchase guns without truly understanding how to use those firearms. Are guns’ weapons? Yes, they are weapons. But to firearm enthusiasts, they are sporting tools as well. To the educated gun owner who isn’t a firearm enthusiast, guns are tools for protection.

Any individual who purchases a gun must learn how to use that weapon. Not becoming familiar with one’s personal handgun, not understanding the repercussions of being an irresponsible gun owner, only fuels the left’s anti-gun lobby. This is a bad thing for all firearm owners all over the United States.

Don’t Just Educate Yourself, Educate Your Children About Guns

Just educating yourself about a handgun purchased for protection doesn’t go far enough. If you have any children, you must educate your children about guns as well. This doesn’t mean that you leave it on the nightstand like the couple did in Indianapolis.

What it means is that you take your child shooting at an age where you feel comfortable knowing that your child can understand what guns can do. Educating your children about responsible firearm ownership, which means teaching a child about how to shoot guns, makes sense if you’re going to have a gun in the house. Even if the gun is locked away in a safe, educating children about responsible gun ownership is an absolute must.

Every firearm owner has a responsibility to improve gun safety. The best way to do this is through education.

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Sarah Carling

Sarah has an unbridled obsession for the shooting sports and is actively involved in her local shooting community. She is Vice President of her local gun club, leader of a Well Armed woman chapter and competitive USPSA shooter.

As a Brit living and working in the USA, her views on gun ownership and the second amendment have evolved over the years, allowing her to fully understand both sides of the gun control debate and she regularly speaks on the matter to help others understand why she feels the second amendment must be protected and why she chooses to be an advocate for the shooting sports.