Firearm Safety: Protect Your Child from Firearm Injuries

A home where a gun is kept is a dangerous place for children. If you have a gun in your home, it is your responsibility to reduce the risk of firearm injury to children by keeping it unloaded and locking it up. Bullets should be locked up and stored separately from the gun. Make sure children can't get to the keys. Buy and use trigger locks.

Even if you don't keep a gun in your home, your child should know what to do if he or she finds a gun. Teach your child never to touch or play with a gun, to leave the room immediately and to tell an adult.

Be sure your child knows the difference between TV violence and real world violence. Teach your child nonviolent ways to deal with anger and conflict.

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Information about Firearm Safety was graciously shared by Dr. Patricia Keener, author of Caring for Kids: Useful Information & Hard-to-find Facts About Child Health and Development , and Riley Hospital for Children.