Gun banners lament blocked "safe" storage gun control bills, scoff at gun accident prevention education

On the heels of a joint project by The Associated Press and USA Today Network examining accidental shootings involving children, the Columbus Dispatch has published an article in which gun control extremists lament their inability to pass so-called "safe" storage laws in Ohio. They also reject the fact that real change can and should come in the form of education.

From the article, entitled "Bills stymied that aim to reduce Ohio kids’ accidental shootings":

A joint project by The Associated Press and USA Today Network identified more than 1,000 cases nationwide over that time period. Ohio had the 11th-highest rate of incidents: 6.37 per 1 million people. Alaska’s rate was by far the highest, at 18.96 per 1 million people, followed by Louisiana at 9.42.

Thirteen of Ohio's accidental shootings were in Franklin County: 11 in Columbus, one in Reynoldsburg and one in Canal Winchester.

Nineteen of the accidental-shooting victims in Ohio died.

The article also quotes the grandparent of an 11 year-old who was shot by his friend as saying “There should be a law where, I think, adults and parents are liable. The state of Ohio does not have that.” (This must be news to the many adults who have faced charges for various crimes after such tragedies.)

Even if we accept the AP/USAToday "findings," which, unlike official government statistics, did not rely on coroners' findings (and thus conveniently mirrored prior research done by Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control group founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg), we are no closer to finding a solution to this problem, because gun control extremists quoted in the article refuse to accept that real, effective change comes with education:

Jim Irvine, the board president of the Buckeye Firearms Association, said education works better than laws.

“The problem with all this legislation is it won’t solve the problem,” said Irvine, of suburban Cleveland. “I can’t write the law that makes us perfect. Parents are responsible for their kids. You can’t pass a law that makes an irresponsible parent responsible.”

Dean Rieck, the association’s executive director, wondered how safe-storage laws would be enforced in Ohio. “Are we going to be going into people’s homes inspecting firearms?” he said.

“What we need is more education than intrusive legislation.”

But education isn’t enough, [Rep. Bill Patmon (D-Cleveland)] said. According to information from Nationwide Children’s Hospital that his office provided, there are more than 22 million children living in homes with guns. One in three families with children has at least one gun in the house. And half of all unintentional shootings among children happen at home.

“I passed a dog bill,” Patmon said, referring to a pet cruelty law that went into effect this year. “I cannot pass a gun bill.”

Jennifer Thorne, the executive director of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, said there are several ways to reduce incidents. One is securing guns.

“We all have a responsibility to protect our kids,” said Thorne, who supports safe-storage laws. “Every death from gun violence is a tragedy. No family should have to go through that pain.”

The article provides another quote from Patmon, an anti-gun rights legislator who has introduced a so-called "safe" storage bill in each of the past three General Assemblies:

“We’re still laying .45-caliber handguns in the reach of children,” Patmon said. “There’s something wrong with that picture. You can no longer hide behind the Second Amendment.”

Universal background checks and safe-storage laws “just make sense,” he said. The safe-storage law he is proposing would make it a first-degree felony if a minor uses an unsecured gun to kill or injure someone other than in self-defense.

As they do with nearly every piece of invasive, unconsitutional, rights-restricting legislation they dream up, the anti-gun extremists claim Patmon's bill is just "common sense." But it only takes a little time to look at the other states which have passed these laws to see why they are anything but.

We know from other states' experience that so-called "safe storage" laws do not protect people. According to a study done in 2000 by a professor at the Yale School of Law, in the 15 states with these laws, there was no decrease in either juvenile accidental gun deaths or suicides when such laws were enacted, but the study did find an increase in crimes like rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Criminals are less likely to be deterred from home invasion-crimes when they know the occupants are not allowed to keep a firearm ready-at-hand.

We also know from other states that trigger locks do not prevent children from accidentally shooting themselves. According to a 2001 Washington Post article, 31 of 32 models of gun locks tested by the government’s Consumer Product Safety Commission could be opened without the key. According to their spokesperson, "We found you could open locks with paper clips, a pair of scissors or tweezers, or you could whack them on the table and they would open." Someone with criminal intent is going to find a way.

I haven't seen more recent numbers, but I know that in 1995 the National Center for Health Statistics found that California had a trigger lock law and saw a 12% increase in fatal firearm accidents in 1994. Texas didn't have one and experienced a 28% decrease in the same year. And, as I mentioned, trigger locks render a firearm inaccessible for timely self-defense, even for adults.

Finally, there are documented cases of older children successfully using a firearm to save the life of a parent, sibling or other family member. Unfortunately, there are documented cases of children trained in the use of firearms who, when attacked, were unable to access a firearm because of their state's so-called "safe storage" law.

If Rep. Patmon truly wishes to make a difference in the lives of children, he should start by supporting efforts to educate children on what to do if they find a gun.

"STOP! Don't Touch! Leave the area! Tell an adult!"

These simple commands have been taught to over 29 million children via the the Eddie Eagle GunSafe® Program. When children are taught what to do if they find a gun, accidents like these are much less likely to happen.

While I believe this important material should be mandated to be taught in every classroom in Ohio, the ultimate responsibility for teaching children what to do if they find a gun rest with parents. Parents must teach this to their children whether or not they keep a firearm in their home, for the simple fact that the child will not always be in the home. The potential exists for children to come into unauthorized, unsupervised contact with a firearm, and only proactive education by their parents can prevent a negative outcome when they do.

Teaching children what to do if they find a gun is no different than teaching a child that ovens should always be considered hot, that matches and lighters are not to be played with, or that they should not talk to strangers. Most of us do not make a habit of keeping strangers in our homes, yet no one would debate the importance of educating our children about potential predators.

Believe it or not, there is actually a group of people involved in fighting against efforts to educate children on this important information: gun ban extremists.

In 2001, a group of nurses evaluated more than 80 gun accident prevention programs designed to help kids learn what to do if they find a gun, and published the results of their study in the Journal of Emergency Nursing Online. The study named The Eddie Eagle GunSafe® Program as one of the very best. Additionally, Eddie Eagle has been endorsed by the National Safety Council, the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Sheriff's Association. Yet because this program was devised by people involved with the National Rifle Association (NRA), gun ban extremists do everything they can to make certain that children are not taught the important lessons this curriculum contains.

The Eddie Eagle GunSafe® Program has no agenda other than accident prevention - ensuring that children stay safe should they encounter a gun. Despite the fact that the program prohibits the use of Eddie Eagle mascots anywhere that guns are present, gun ban extremists have taken to disparaging Eddie Eagle as "Joe Camel with feathers."

Indeed, because of her hatred for the NRA, the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence's Toby Hoover, either lied or betrayed her ignorance about gun safety (a topic about which journalists insist on presenting her as an expert) about the proven effectiveness of this program to The Columbus Dispatch in 2007, saying "There isn't a program out there that has proven effective."

The nurses behind the Journal of Emergency Nursing Online study heartily disagree.

Unfortunately, the myth created by the gun ban crowd, who claim to be proponents of safety ("if it saves the life of just one child..."), has taken root in many places.

In 2003, when the Ohio legislature had the good wisdom to set aside funds for elementary schools to purchase curriculum materials for The Eddie Eagle GunSafe® Program, the extremists were deeply critical:

"Just like the alcohol and tobacco industries have worked to find ways to reach out to underage consumers, Eddie Eagle is one component of the NRA's efforts to reach out to underage gun consumers," [Violence Policy Center Executive Director Josh] Sugarmann said.

Evidence that the lies told by gun ban extremists' had taken root was revealed when the funds the General Assembly set aside for schools were pulled after one budget cycle - too few schools took advantage of it.

It is because of comments like Hoover's and Sugarmann's that I place a large share of the blame for accidents on gun ban extremists, who are putting their desire to weaken a political enemy ahead of children's lives.

It is important to note that while voluntarily choosing to lock firearms should certainly be among the safe storage options parents consider, efforts by the state to mandate such a practice are dangerous and ineffective. According to analysis by Dr. John R. Lott Jr. and as published in his book The Bias Against Guns:

Safe storage laws have no impact on accidental gun deaths...

The impact of safe storage laws is consistent with existing research indicating that the guns most likely to be used in accidental shootings are owned by the least law-abiding citizens and thus are the guns least likely to be locked up after passage of the law. The safe storage laws thus increase crime, yet fail to produce any significant change in accidental deaths or suicides.

The answer truly is education, and if Rep. Patmon is truly concerned about helping prevent accidents, he would drop gun control measures like HB 75, and instead work to ensure that Ohio schools be required to teach all children what to do if they see a gun.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary, an NRA-certified firearms instructor and the proud father of two Eddie Eagle GunSafe® Program graduates.

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