As a Safety organization, we believe that education is really the most important thing that you as parents can do to keep your kids safe. Our children, from a very young age, are very inquisitive. You have to realize where they get the information that helps shape their worldviews from a very young age. It could be from big tech, TV, video games, or some other form of media. This could be a good thing, but most likely it will be a bad thing. Kids can mimic what they see. It is really important as parents that we monitor what types of content that they take in. Another really important thing to think about inside of your home is secure storage. If you incorporate a form of secure storage inside of your home, it does a few things. One is that it prevents your child from gaining access to the gun that you use for home defense or personal protection. Two it helps prevent unauthorized access to your gun, which helps prevent theft. Three, it helps prevent teen suicide or can help prevent your firearm from being taken outside of your home. While the last reason is kind of an extreme example, it does happen and Teen suicide is one of the fastest demographics of this difficult situation. 

We often hear from parents that they have to get to their firearms fast to defend their family because of a potential threat. Our typical response is “Do you have to get to it so fast that it puts the lives of your children at risk?” The correct answer is ‘NO!” We have to change our mindset. We have to normalize the process of when we take our defensive firearm off of our person, we put it directly into a gun safe! The boxes that we highly recommend are made by one of our sponsors, Vaultek. They came aboard as an official sponsor this year, but we have been using their products since 2019. What we love about their products is how user-friendly they are and how they allow quick access by responsible parents to their firearms. They utilize either a passcode, some offer a biometric scanner, or as a last resort a key backup. There is also a really handy app that can help you monitor your safe. These are really great options for you and we are so thankful for their belief in our program. The Vaultek safes only work if you use them though.

When you educate your child about gun safety you actually empower your children to be safe around something that can be dangerous if not used properly. What is important to realize is that the firearm is an inanimate object, it has no feeling nor moral stature. It is simply a tool. These tools have different uses. Some are for hunting, some are for sporting, and some are for defense. We know many people who also like to collect firearms. We have a rich and storied tradition of firearm ownership since the very founding of this country. Gun ownership even predates us even becoming a nation. We have a “GUN CULTURE,” which is unique and completely NORMAL! While some are uneducated and seek to change this fact, they will never be successful. They are on the wrong side of history here. This is why we need to do better about the proper storage of our firearms when we are not in direct control of them. Whatever we can do as parents will help lower the statistical data that is often misrepresented and used against law-abiding citizens. 

We highly recommend that as parents you talk about your firearms with your children. This normalizes responsible gun ownership, takes the novelty away, and when the time is right. It can show them the importance of safe gun handling. This will help set them on a path of safety that will last a lifetime. There are reports and we can support these claims because of the sheer amounts of children that we work with that gun safety is an important component in youth development. We support this fact and try to promote it. While we understand that some do NOT have any firearms inside of their homes. Please don’t think that your child won’t be exposed somewhere else!! Gun safety education will help ensure that they will be safe if they are ever put in a dangerous situation. This will give you peace of mind. We know that it can be a scary topic, but it is our goal to help you feel comfortable so your entire family can be protected. It only takes an hour of your time. The benefits will last your family a lifetime. We hope to see you soon. Until next time. Be safe!!