Madilyn Holder

Mrs. Erskine
English 111
December 15th, 2017
Gun Safety

A gun can be a form of self-defense, an elite hunting tool to kill a family's dinner or a

piece of metal placed in a museum to admire because it was used to save freedom in World War

I or II. Of course with every brilliant invention there are negative side effects. The same gun

used to win a country’s freedom in war, can also be a weapon that instills terror upon a mass of

people when used by terrorist. Even just miss using or not understanding this unique cold hard

piece of metal may be the reason someones heart beat has come to an abrupt stop. Accidental

death by firearms is a major problem in adolescents due to lack of knowledge about firearm

safety and proper storage of firearms.

1364 was the first year in history that the use of a firearm was recorded. This gun was

ignited with a burning wick touching the touch hole piece of the gun which sparked the powder

of the gun and fired the bullet out of the barrel. This type of gun was seen used by the Colonial

America militia and was called the matchlock. Of course, this gun needed improvement and with

technology next came the wheel-lock pistol in 1540 which was made for Emperor Charles V.

This pistol was incredibly expensive, so the matchlock was still the major gun used by 2nd and

3rd class people. The high price tag on this gun was due to the fact that the wheel lock pistol can

generate its own spark without the need of a burning wick. Due to this new advancement it

made the gun a lot more faster to fire and more accurate since the shooter can use two hands to

focus in on his target without having to hold a burning wick to the touch hole to ignite the

weapon. Then slowly with time, rifles (used for long distance shooting with a long barrel) began

to appear in the same year (1540), then revolvers (a pistol with a barrel that has a chamber that
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can hold multiple bullets) in 1835. After that, rifles and pistols that held cartridges which

allowed the gun to hold multiple bullets came along around 1859 to 1871 and then finally the

invention of automatic hand guns and rifles in 1892. The invention of these faster shooting and

reloading, more accurate weapons were created mainly for wars that occurred during those

periods. Eventually after the wars the use of the guns moved from war to more of collections,

hunting and recreational uses (Gun Timeline).

However, what these brilliant inventors did not realize was that little kids, partially

around the ages of two to seven years old, will seem to have a dangerous curiosity of this deadly

shiny metal object. In 2014, Bryson a 4 year old adventurous boy was at his grandparents house

one devastating night and sadly while creeping around the house found his grandfather's .22

pistol under the bed. His grandmother and grandfather had fallen asleep and woke up to the loud

thumping noise. They walked into their room to a terrifying scene of their grandson laying on the

floor with blood spilling out of his innocent head. He had accidentally shot himself in the head.

Even though he was rushed to the hospital, the damage to the brain was too severe and he died

later within the night. Another unfortunate of many events occurred in the spring of 2015.

Fifteen year old Senquez ,from Cedar Rapids, was hanging out with his friends that were

seventeen and thirteen years old during their spring break. The seventeen year old had stolen a

gun from his mother and was showing it off to his friends. While showing off the gun, he

allowed the thirteen year old to hold the gun. Then, without knowledge the gun was loaded he

pointed the gun at fifteen year old Senquez chest and the gun went off by accident. The bullet

pierced through Senquez chest. Injuries were far too destructive to his internal organs and within

the night he passed. In the end, the thirteen year old was faced involuntary manslaughter charges

in court. Roughly from January 1st, 2014 to October 14th, 2016 there were more than 1,000
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accidental incidents that resulted in injury or death by a firearms in adolescents with the most

common victims boys of the age of only 3 years old. Out of the 1,000 unlucky kids 113 minors

were killed by accidental discharges (Foley).

Nowadays with the number of gun owners every sightly increasing and the occurrence of

accidents being seen more often, people are starting to take action to prevent the accidents

caused by the lack of knowledge of guns as well as the improper storage of firearms. NSSF is

one of these programs put in place to help educate the public about gun safety. With “Aiming for

Zero (Thurman)” accidental firearm deaths, they have distributed over 37 million safety kits in

order to achieve the goal. These safety kits include a gunlock, tips on firearm storage and how to

handle these weapons. Along with the NSSF, Glock (a brand of firearm) has in place a safety

pledge program that occurs every June with the same goal of trying to reduce accidental firearm

deaths to zero in adolescents and adults. This safety pledge program is promoting firearm safety

through social media. When one person attends this safety event and post on social media

#followthefour they are entered to win a free glock! The four pillars of safety that are taught in

this event are:

“ (1)Treat all firearms as if they are loaded. (2) Never point the muzzle/ barrel at anything

you are not willing to destroy. (3) Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the

target and you are ready to fire. (4) Be sure of your target and what is beyond it (Thurman).”

In only twelve days of this event starting, eight thousand one hundred ninety-seven people have

pledged to these gun safety rules and posted on social media about firearm safety. This method

has proven a great success to spread the word of firearm safety (Thurman).

Should firearm safety be something offered in school or is that overstepping the

boundaries of the public school system? Educating High School students, as an elective, in
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firearm safety is a hot topic in Wisconsin's public schools system this school year. This bill is

AB427 created by Senator Ken Skowronski and Terry Moulton and will possibly be in effect by

the 2018 school year if it passes through congress. In this bill it states that the education of

firearm safety and proper handling and storage will be taught by professionals trained in firearm

safety. Of course there would be no live ammunition given to the students mainly because of the

safety precautions and this is not a class on how to shoot guns. However, Pope Francis (a major

role model in Roman Catholic Faith) thinks that gun safety should be left to parents to teach their

child this vital information. His reason behind his opinion was that in some cities a firearm is

seen as a means of violence instead of protection and through this course it may be teaching the

next gang member how to use a gun (Beck). Also another study done by Mrs. Sanfilippo, who is

a professor of psychology, illustrated teaching young kids gun safety is not effective way to

prevent firearm accidents at all. In all three of her experiments she taught five year olds gun

safety before putting them in a room filled with toys and a inactive firearm. The children were

taught to get an adult immediately after seeing a gun and not to touch it. Unfortunately even with

these lessons of gun safety almost all of the children picked up and played with this weapon of

death and even denying that they ever touch the weapon when asked about the gun. Mrs.

Sanfilippo stated that she was not trying to advocate for banning of guns, on the other hand

promote the awareness that proper firearm is extremely crucial in order to avoid accidental death

and injuries in adolescents. Overall the fight about teaching gun safety in school should be a

choice to the parents. Of course it should not be a course offered to kindergarten through middle

school aged children but could definitely help accidental teen death if taught in High School

(Sanfilippo).
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In the beginning the first weapon, the matchlock which was ever created was a

magnificent technological advancement that helped with winning battles that countries could not

afford to lose and even help a starving family obtain meat from an animal through hunting. With

time the use of firearms switched from winning wars to recreational use and commodity to most

Americans. With this switch of purpose, it lead to the accidental deaths of adolescents due to

firearms rising significantly. Nevertheless with proper education and proper storage, as well as

handing, the number of accidental firearms has drastically declined with the help from

organizations such as NSSF and events like the Glock safety pledge. Yes, the right to bare arms

is the 2nd Amendment and a part of the Bill of Rights given to every human being however

firearm safety should be every person’s first responsibility.

Works Cited

Beck, Molly. “Public Schools Could Offer Firearm Safety Course Under Bill.” Wisconsin State

Journal, 2017. SIRS Issues Researcher, sks.sirs.com. Accessed 29 Nov. 2017.

Foley, Ryan, Larry Fenn, and Nick Penzenstadler. “Accidental Shootings Put Kids in Early

Graves.” Usa Today, 2016, p. A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher, sks.sirs.com. Accessed 29

Nov. 2017.
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“Gun Timeline.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service ,2014. Accessed 11 Dec. 2017

www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/technique/gun-timeline/.

Sanfilippo, Marjorie. “Teaching Children Gun Safety Is Not Effective.” School Safety, edited by

Noah Berlatsky, Greenhaven Press, 2016, pp. 101–105.

Thurman, Russ. “Firearm Safety Is Our First Responsibility.” The Shooting Industry, 2017, p. 46.

SIRS Issues Researcher, sks.sirs.com. Accessed 29 Nov. 2017.