Children need to know what to do if they encounter a firearm. According to Foley, “At least one child dies every other day due to an accidental shooting”(7). This shows that children need to be taught about the danger of a gun.If we taught kids what to do if they come across a gun it could save many lives. Four-year-old Bryson Mees Hernandez died in an accidental shooting. It was a typical …show more content…
Furthermore, Deets reports that “the Eddie Eagle program teaches children the basics of gun safety. Because of this program, accidental shooting fatalities have declined approximately 65% in the last 20 years”(Deets 6). This reveals that the Eddie Eagle program does in fact work. Because of this, it has saved many lives. “Even if there aren't any guns in your household there might be guns in the homes of their friend's houses that your children visit (Deets 5). This indicates that even if you don't own a gun others do and it could be an accident waiting to happen. Unless children are taught the proper way to handle a firearm they could be at risk to an accident. The Eddie Eagle program is one example of only a few programs that educate kids about gun safety there needs to be more schools that teach about this issue.
Gun owners claim that gun safety is part of their culture and that the responsibility is on the gun owners to teach their kids gun safety. Those who have been involved in accidental shootings are gun owners. So obviously this strategy is not working out considering the average death rate of accidental shootings are still high. Instead of hoping that the gun owners teach their children gun safety we need to solve the problem by creating a class in school and by making it a requirement that every child must take a gun safety class and pass. Education is key to preventing these