Posted on 11/19/2003 9:36:31 PM PST by yonif
WEST LINN -- Sgt. Neil Hennelly of the West Linn Police Department spends his days wearing a gun. But at home, the father of two teenage boys locks it up, knowing that rules alone don't keep children safe.
" 'Don't go in my dresser' might as well be, 'It's in here, come on down,' " he said.
Lt. Terry Timeus of the Lake Oswego Police Department, a longtime hunter, said his first child was less than a week old when he ordered a gun safe.
"It's incumbent on the parents to keep firearms locked up," said Timeus, the father of two girls, ages 7 and 9.
So Hennelly and Timeus are encouraging families to take advantage of a national program that hands out free cable-type locks for handguns and long guns.
Those who live in the suburbs southwest of Portland can get the locks from the Lake Oswego, West Linn, Tigard, Tualatin, Sherwood and Newberg police departments or the Clackamas, Washington, Yamhill and Multnomah county sheriffs' offices.
The response has surprised Hennelly. Since mid-October, West Linn police have handed out 300 of the 400 locks the department received, and he is thinking about getting more. Lake Oswego started this week to hand out the 500 locks the department received.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation in Newtown, Conn., is providing the locks to law enforcement. It also distributed locks in 1999 and 2000 but suspended that giveaway after it was discovered that the locks could spring open.
Most police agencies are not asking anything of those taking the locks, so they don't discourage people from asking for them. But as a result of the previous problems with the locks, the Tigard Police Department is asking people to give their names and phone numbers and to sign waivers releasing the department from any liability.
Hoping to reduce injuries, deaths Hennelly and Timeus said they hope the efforts will reduce the number of child injuries and deaths from unintentional shootings and gun-related suicide.
In Oregon between 1997 and 2001, the most recent years for which data are available from the Oregon Department of Human Services Center for Health Statistics, unintentional shootings caused one death among children ages 17 and younger in 1997, three deaths in both 1998 and 1999, and one death in 2000. The center recorded 12 suicides by gunshot in 1997, eight in both 1998 and 1999, 11 in 2000 and four in 2001.
Stephen Teret, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in Baltimore and a longtime researcher of gun violence prevention, said home gun safety efforts have included a variety of approaches.
Some approaches focus on children, but he has found that teaching them to avoid touching a gun they come across, to walk away and to tell an adult isn't reliable.
Some approaches focus on parents, such as suggesting that they ask other parents if they own guns before allowing a child to visit or offering locks to parents who have guns at home.
Teret thinks the current give-away will be ineffective because it relies on motivating families to use the locks properly and consistently.
Teret also worries that such efforts may divert policymakers' attention from what he thinks should be a key focus -- requiring firearm manufactures to design guns with protective devices that would make unauthorized use impossible.
Addressing child safety Hennelly said he won't wade into any debates concerning public policy or personal decisions.
But he thinks that families with guns should make sure children can't get to them.
Perusing the pamphlet that comes with each lock, he noted several points he thinks are important regarding handling and storing firearms and ammunition.
" 'Keeping a gun to defend your family makes no sense if that same gun puts your family members or visitors to your home at risk,' " Hennelly read aloud, then added:
"That's the quote of the day."
Hennelly said parents must address the basics of child safety, such as appropriate supervision and clear communication.
Firearm owners need to keep in mind, he said, that the combination of firearms and children can be lethal and that an adult's being distracted for just a minute can lead to tragedy if a child gets a hold of a gun.
That applies not just to parents, he said, but also to grandparents and other relatives, family friends and baby sitters who own firearms.
Hennelly said that just assuming that children know the rules and dangers of guns, or don't know where to find them, isn't enough.
Curiosity, the lure of showing off and the need to act cool can prompt some youngsters and teens to make poor decisions, he said.
Reward good behavior In Lake Oswego, making the right decision earned Timeus' older daughter an ice cream sundae.
When she was 7, she was playing hide-and-seek at a relative's home when she came upon an unloaded rifle in a closet. She immediately went to her dad and told him about it. He took her to Dairy Queen.
Timeus said that whether a child is a depressed teen or a kid sent home after being kicked out of school, access to a gun can be deadly.
"If locked up, it'll give that teen more time to think things through a little bit," Timeus said.
Jack Norby of West Linn, who got several locks for his target shooting firearms, hopes to get time on his side.
Although his sons, ages 9 and 14, know basic firearm safety, he stores his ammunition separately and owns locks and a safe. He said they're part of his responsibilities to his children and anyone who comes to their home.
Norby said children intent on getting their hands on a gun for whatever reason might not be thwarted by a lock.
But he thinks they're less likely to succeed, and there's more of a chance an adult will intervene if he can make access more difficult and can slow them down.
"Hopefully," he said, "this will prevent it."
And not a single word in the entire article about the NRA's Eddie Eagle gun safety program, or about taking kids shooting under well-supervised conditions to take away their natural curiosity about gun – Ah, but then I'm sure that the omission was just an accidental oversight on the author's behalf –
Quote: rules alone don't keep children safe.
...and yet this very same journalist would probably be among the last to admit that laws banning guns don't keep criminals from obtaining them.
Which means he raised a couple of good-for-nothing brats who don't obey their father.
Once again, the idiots excuse the REAL failure and blame it on the guns.
I don't agree with mandatory gun lock laws, however, I would not have unlocked guns in the house with my kids, especially since my oldest is autistic. That's my personal decision. Odds are good my kids would leave a gun alone, but there's always a chance. Kids do some STUPID stuff. I never went near my dad's guns (most were locked, anyway, and we had gun safety pounded in our heads), but I did other stupid things. No matter how obedient kids are, all it takes is one time for them to be stupid.
The autism thing is not something I'd considered, so you do have a good point in that case about gun locks.
Odds are good my kids would leave a gun alone, but there's always a chance. Kids do some STUPID stuff.
True...but I grew up in a household in which all of us were taught from day one that guns are serious tools that can do a lot of damage when handled improperly. We got the same lessons impressed upon us about power tools as well.
The result? Both firearms and power tools were readily available and neither were so much as nudged. Neither I nor any of my siblings entertained fiddling with the gun any more than we entertained the idea of running around with the circular power saw.
Why is this? Because we knew better...and we honored our father's wishes. That's simply the end product of good parenting.
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