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On May
9 -- Mother’s Day -- the “anti-gun” Million
Mom March will gather on the West Lawn in D.C.
Meanwhile, the pro-gun Second
Amendment Freedoms for Everyone (SAFER) will rally nearby. Both
organizations claim to speak against gun violence and for children’s
safety. Yet each espouses diametrically opposed positions on gun
legislation.
A specific piece of legislation will be the focus of
debate this year. Title XI of the Federal Violent Crime Control Act of
1994, which banned “assault
weapons,” is due to expire in September. But the matter that is
fundamentally at issue runs much deeper than any one piece of legislation.
The basic question is whether private gun ownership is a constitutional
and individual right, or a reckless practice that endangers society and
children.
The symbolism of raising that question on Mother’s
Day is clear. Each group is asking mothers to fulfill an obligation of
every parent: to protect their children. The sincerity and passion on both
sides is palpable but the pro-gun arguments are particularly compelling.
For one thing, eliminating guns from society is not
feasible. This is not merely because gun ownership is so widespread
or because Second
Amendment arguments for gun ownership are unlikely to be defeated
in the near future. It is because guns, if illegal, would thrive on the
black market, with only law-abiding citizens deprived of ownership.
Arguably, this would give criminals an advantage and, so, make society
more dangerous. Owning a gun may be one of the best protections against
violence that a mother can offer her family.
How effective is that protection? Gun statistics are
notorious for their wild variations and the political uses around which
they are skewed. The controversial 1998 book “More Guns, Less Crime:
Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws” by John R. Lott Jr.
documents many of its sources and, so, invites the skeptical reader to
check its accuracy. Lott uses FBI data to argue that violent crime has
declined significantly in states that have adopted “shall
issue” laws. (Sometimes called “presumptive right-to-carry
laws,” they allow anyone who meets specific criteria to become
licensed.)
Lott argues
against the high gun-death in children figures offered
by groups such as the MMM. He claims that gun “accidents take the lives
of 200 children 14 years of age and under” each year, with children
being “14.5 times more likely to die from car accidents.”
But, in at least one sense the statistics do not
matter. Even a single death is too many. That’s why mothers who choose
to own a gun have an obligation to teach their children to respect that
weapon as a useful and potentially dangerous tool.
Millions of parents own guns. They cannot assume that
their children will not find and play with a weapon hidden in a nightstand
drawer or on the closet’s top shelf. Children will usually find anything
that is hidden from them. This may be especially true of guns -- kids see
them on television and tend to be curious about them. Admonishing
your children to “Don’t Touch” does not provide effective
protection; indeed, it may make the gun more attractive.
Just as parents must teach their children to use
matches or the Internet safely, so too should they provide instruction on
any gun in the house.
Gun safety experts advise starting with the
manual. Review it with your child, and demonstrate how the
controls work on the unloaded weapon. Take away the gun’s alluring
mystery.
Experts also advise parents to teach their
children to respect the
weapon. For example, they advise allowing access to the gun, but only
under adult supervision.
Most instruction will be little more than common
sense. Experts say children should be taught to assume that every
gun is loaded. At an appropriate age, they should be taught
how to check this.
Use a good locking device. Most experts recommend
storing guns unloaded
and in a locked case.
Children should also be taught never to point the
barrel of a gun at anything that isn't being targeted, and to keep their fingers off
the trigger until the gun is ready to shoot. When they reach
an appropriate age to engage in supervised target practice at a range,
children should check out what is immediately to either side of
and beyond
their targets.
The National Rifle Association offers a program
called Eddie
Eagle, which teaches a four-step approach to children, “If you see a
gun: STOP! Don't Touch. Leave the Area. Tell an Adult.”
But don't leave the entire responsibility to your
child. Parents who do not own a gun should assume that their children will
encounter a weapon at some point, perhaps in the house of a friend or a
relative. The ASK
Campaign instructs parents to always ask if a gun is kept in the home you
are visiting or sending your child to play in. The ASK petition
advises: “Over 40 percent of homes with children have a gun. Half
of those guns are left unlocked and loaded. Is there a gun where your
child plays? ASK.” National Ask Day is June 20. Be polite ... but do
ask.
On Mother’s Day, both anti-gun protesters and
pro-gun advocates will be attempting to answer the question,
“What’s a mother to do?” Gun expert and mother Sunni
Maravillosa answers, “You can't childproof your gun. Instead,
gun-proof your children.”
Wendy McElroy is the editor of ifeminists.com and
a research fellow for The Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif. She is
the author and editor of many books and articles, including the new book,
"Liberty for Women: Freedom and Feminism in the 21st Century"
(Ivan R. Dee/Independent Institute, 2002). She lives with her husband in
Canada.
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