SnoCo Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense In America and the Edmonds Police Department are partnering to host a community discussion on gun safety, from 7-8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25 at the police department, 250 5th Ave. N.
The event will include a presentation on “the importance of secure firearms storage in protecting kids and our communities,” said Erin Sense, local group co-lead for SnoCo Moms Demand Action.
To register for the event, email Tabatha Shoemake, Edmonds Police Department community engagement coordinator, at Tabatha.Shoemake@edmondswa.gov.
The Aug. 25 discussion is related to a partnership, announced by Edmonds Mayor Mike Nelson in June, between the City of Edmonds and the Be SMART for Kids program. The program educates adults on the importance of secure firearm storage in reducing unintentional firearm injuries and deaths.
I am what might be referred to as a “senior citizen” and say this about the “gun” issue. When my brothers and I were pre-teens, our father had us go through a firearms safety training course via the scouting program of the times. He did this for two reasons: we had firearms in our home ( hunting type ) and he knew this was something, especially boys, should be properly instructed in. I got my first hunting firearm at age 18 and have had various firearms throughout my adult years, primarily as a hunter of birds and big game. I taught my daughters early on operational function and above all respect for firearms. I have always ( unlike my parents generation) kept my hunting firearms locked in a safe and for one specific reason: to prevent potential theft. Never because I feared they would autonomously load themselves and start committing mayhem. In my lifetime I have seen the degradation of our culture, mostly the breakdown of the nuclear family and elected leaders decisions to coddle criminal elements as the primary driver of what is now termed a “gun crisis”. It is a cultural issue, not a “gun” issue. The solution is simple, but it will not be easy. Guns are not going away so we better get going on fixing the culture.
I am a senior also and just bought my first .22 pistol. I bought it to shoot targets, nothing else. I keep the pistol unloaded, no magazine in the gun, trigger locked, and box it came in locked. Ammunition is kept in another room – locked.
I favor registration of all firearms and a backgroound check. I do not hunt, but leave it up to the individual to decide about hunting. I do agree with you that we need to address the “culture”. As a child, all I saw in movies or tv was cowboys shooting things up.
The rest of the world still sees us as trigger happy cowboys.
We need gun safety training for all firearm owners. That should be mandatory in order to purchase a gun.
I do hope that learning how to use a gun properly – age appropriate – would be part of this discussion. Teach kids the parts of a gun, how they work and the keys to gun safety. Stop, don’t touch, leave the area and tell an adult is a good start. The scouts have a great program and I know instructors who can help teach kids and their families.
We teach kids about sex (from a very early age), why not teach gun safety and use? So often the only exposure kids have to guns is in the media – news, movies and games. Often those examples are ripe with carelessness and inaccurate protrayals of how guns work. Guns are not scary. They are tools.
Education is important, but hands on training is also beneficial. Don’t sell kids short by making guns scary. Help them realize they are tools that need to be respected and handled carefully. And this is from a person who did not grow up with guns. However, through patient teachers, time on the range, hunting in the woods and educating myself, I have developed a respect and appreciation for firearms.