Minuteman Monthly Issue 8 (March 2001) [Very Important Issue, please read to the end] Welcome to the 8th issue of the Minuteman Monthly. If you know a friend or family member who may be interested in receiving this newsletter, please have them point their browser to: http://www.savetheguns.com/minuteman_monthly.htm and register, or you can go to the same page and put them in as someone who may be interested, and I will send them the current issue only and a short note about what I am trying to accomplish here at Savetheguns.com. ************************************* Safety Tip of the Month March's Safety Tip of the Month is a very important one and is one of the basic safety rules for safe gun handling. ALWAYS keep your fingers off the trigger until you have properly acquired your target and you are ready to shoot. There is a natural tendency to place the index finger of the shooting hand inside the trigger guard. Please make sure your family and friends adhere to this rule at all times. You must condition yourself to place the index finger alongside the frame and not inside the trigger guard. This is especially important with young children. Young children or beginners should be conditioned to place their trigger finger alongside the frame as one of the first skills they master. I should not have to say this, but I will anyway. Unsupervised children or irresponsible adults should never handle firearms. ************************************** There is upcoming gun control legislation that is about to be introduced into Congressional Committees in the brand new 107th Congress. These gun control proposals have been submitted by the usual culprits, such as Barbara Boxer, Charles schumer, Dianne Feinstein, Jack Reed and their ilk. As usual, we will keep you all informed on the status of these upcoming bills and who to contact about them. ************************************** This Month's issue is going to center upon firearm safety and prevention of accidents with firearms. As many of you know, I became a Certified Firearm Instructor at twenty-one (21) years old. Gun safety has always been a passion for me, especially when it comes to children. I actually taught my first gun safety seminar before I became a Certified Instructor. I was asked by a co-worker to speak to his Boy Scouts of America Cub Scout troop. He said that they were going to be getting into shooting in the coming year and he wanted the kids to get acquainted with gun safety first. I went to that Cub Scout meeting thinking I would be talking to a few kids about gun safety, for an hour or so... little did I know, their plan was for 75 kids and their parents, and I was going to be on a stage for 2 1/2 hours. I came away from that meeting, knowing I did an ok job, but that I should have been more prepared. That is when I decided to become a Certified Instructor. If you want to share your knowledge and become a Certified Firearm Instructor for the National Rifle Association and teach their standardized course in your area, just contact the NRA and ask for a schedule of local Instructor Courses. Read more about it at this address: http://www.nrahq.org/safety/education/instructor.asp ******************************************** Facts About Gun Safety The rate of accidental death related to firearms is at its all-time low in the United States population and in regards to children in particular. According to the latest available statistics, in 1998 there were 866 accidental deaths related to firearms, included in that number was 121 among children. This rate of accidental death has declined 91%, yes 91% from its all-time high in 1904. This rate has decreased even more dramatically in recent years even though the rate of firearm ownership has exploded. The rate of accidental death dropped 50% just from 1989 to 1998. It is no coincidence that this dramatic rate drop happened about the same time as Past NRA President, Marion Hammer's Eddie Eagle Gun Safety Program for kids was being taught in schools across the nation. If you are interested in the Eddie Eagle Gun Safety Program, implemented by the Certified Firearm Instructors of the National Rifle Association, please feel free to call toll-free 1-800-231-0752. Or go here: http://www.nrahq.org/safety/eddie/ ******************************************** Tragedy in over 100 Families I just mentioned that in 1998 alone, 121 families had to cope with the needless and very avoidable death of a child due to the mishandling of a loaded gun. This year, the rate is expected to still be very close to 100 families. Over 100 families will be forced to deal with the tremendous and devastating loss of a young family member. The word about gun safety and children is getting out, but it MUST get to every American family. Every family must receive this life preserving information. That is precisely why I created my web page entitled "For Kids Only". This page can be found at: http://www.savetheguns.com/for_kids_only.htm Please tell everyone you can about this page. Pass the address of this page out to everyone in your address book, all your friends, relatives, co-workers and acquaintances. Who knows, you might help save a family from having to deal with this crushing tragedy. There is about one (1) child killed by an accidental firearm discharge every three (3) days. Which two (2) American families will this happen to this week? Will it be someone in your State or city? ******************************************* I Was Recently Contacted I was sent an e-mail from a man whose eleven (11) year old son was killed at a neighbor's house. His son went next door one Saturday morning and his twelve (12) year old neighbor decided to show off his Dad's new handgun that was "hidden away". He thanked me for my "For Kids Only" page and said that it was too late for his son to see it, but that he would pass it around to everyone he knew. Why not pay a visit and send the address out to your loved ones before this particularly dreadful tragedy hits someone you know. I now have a "Kid's Test" page linked from the "For Kids Only" page. This is a test where the kids are presented with a scenario and are asked to make a choice on what to do next. My own voice is linked to this test and my own voice will tell them if they made a proper choice. This "Kids Test" is my least hit page on the entire Web site!!! Can you send a child there this week!?!?! http://www.savetheguns.com/kids_test.htm ******************************************* Childproofing Guns or Gunproofing Children I have always taught and thought that it is much more important to gun-proof a child than it is to "child-proof" a gun. However, common sense and sometimes State law dictates that a sound approach to both avenues is better. I taught my first child about firearms and how to shoot, when he was just four and a half (4.5) years old. He showed responsibility, an interest in guns and a capacity to learn at an early age. (Police officer, firearm instructor and writer, Massad Ayoob was also taught how to shoot at four (4) years old.) Because I did this very early and very thoroughly, I have every confidence that he will enjoy a lifetime of good safety sense around firearms. To treat your guns as "forbidden fruit" like Adam and Eve's apple in the Bible, is the wrong approach. This will only serve to pique curiosity and might encourage them to investigate on their own. The age at which it is best to teach a child can vary greatly with the individual child in question. Whenever they meet the above requirements of responsibility, interest and the ability to assimilate knowledge is a good time to start. Only the involved parent can make this judgment call. It is fundamental to teach the basic rules of safe gun handling, and the myriad of other rules regarding gun safety, but it is even more important to get across the proper attitude so very necessary for a lifetime of firearm enjoyment. ******************************************* Three Basic Rules Just in case you have not heard these before, here are the three (3) basic rules for safe gun handling. 1.) ALWAYS point the barrel of the gun in a safe direction. A safe direction is defined as a direction where if the gun discharged, nobody would get hurt. The best direction to point a gun is generally at the ground and to the side. (not at your feet :-) ). This is the Golden Rule of Gun Safety. If everyone followed this one rule, it would bring an end to accidental firearm related deaths. 2.) ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire. There is a natural tendency to place the index finger inside the trigger guard. This MUST be avoided. Condition yourself to place your shooting hand index finger along the side of the frame. 3.) ALWAYS Keep the action open and the gun unloaded until you are ready to use it. The action is the moving parts of the gun that allow loading, unloading, firing and extraction of the empty case or shell. If you are not ready to use it, keep the action open. ******************************************* Storage Safe storage of firearms and ammunition is an essential and key ingredient in preventing tragedy from visiting your home. There are security cabinets, lockable cases and small safes available for $150.00 or less. You don't have to spend $2000.00 for a State of The Art safe that weighs a ton. Like I said on my site's gun safety pages, if you are simply "hiding" a loaded firearm in your home, you could be sending out an open invitation to a crushing tragedy. If you feel you want to have a readily available firearm for home defense, there are plenty of products out there to assist you. Such as secure handgun boxes that attach to the bed frame or personal handgun safes that open with just a touch, that a child cannot access and many others. I never recommend that a parent "hide" the key to their gun safe in the home. I think it is important that the key be kept on their personal key chain whenever possible. Parents always thought that they kept their stash of candy in a well hidden place, but as always, the child seems to be able to find things that you thought were effectively hidden. ******************************************* You Have Reached The End This is the end of my Gun Safety Issue of the Minuteman Monthly. Please forward this newsletter to everyone you know. Post it in supermarkets. Put it up at the mall. Post it in bulletin boards. Put it up at your gun club and anywhere else you can think of. It is extremely important that we get accidental death related to firearms as close to zero as possible, and forwarding this newsletter out to friends and family will definitely make a difference. Most of the gun safety information in my brain is on three web pages. http://www.savetheguns.com/for_kids_only.htm http://www.savetheguns.com/safety_rules.htm and http://www.savetheguns.com/firearms_101.htm *******************************************