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Parents underestimate kid's interest in guns, new
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Gaps found in gun tips for kids
Parents underestimate interest, new study says
July 19, 2002
BY HONGDAO NGUYEN
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Parents need to lock up their guns and monitor their children if they have firearms in the house, according to a report released Thursday by a national foundation.
Researchers for the report, "Children, Youth and Gun Violence," reviewed nine studies on gun-education programs and concluded that educating children about the dangers of guns is simply not enough.
"There are obstacles in trying to educate about gun safety," said Dr. Marjorie Hardy, an assistant professor of psychology at Eckerd Collegein St. Petersburg, Fla. Some children can't grasp the dangers of handling firearms, while others aren't mature enough, she said.
So far this year, 12 metro Detroit children ages 16 and younger have been victims of homicides involving guns.
Nationwide, more than 20,000 people under age 20 are killed or injured by guns each year, the study said. It's the second-leading cause of death among ages 10 to 19. Motor vehicle accidents are first.
Several common methods used by schools in gun education are ineffective, Hardy said. They include ones that ask kids to "just say no" to guns, or that show graphic pictures of victims to scare older, usually delinquent, young people.
Too often, the report says, parents underestimate their children's interest in guns.
Hardy cited a study done last year called "Seeing is believing: What do boys do when they find a real gun?" It found 63 percent of parents of boys ages 8-12 thought their children had low interest in guns.
"But when they put the kids in a room with a gun, two-thirds of the boys actually handled the gun," Hardy said. "Thirty-five percent pulled the trigger."
Hardy said research about educating parents was still in its early stages, so the effectiveness was unknown.
But the researchers also called upon communities to send messages that they will not tolerate gun violence, and law enforcement officials to come down hard on offenders.
Wayne County Prosecutor Mike Duggan said Thursday that his office agrees that adults are responsible when children pull the triggers of guns found in their homes.
"That is child abuse to the second degree," he said, noting that his office prosecuted several adults last year.
James Windell, an instructor in the criminal justice department at Wayne State University, said parental involvement is important in preventing gun violence -- but so is teaching people how to deal with their anger in a positive way, instead of reaching for a gun.
He heads a program in Oakland County Circuit Court focused on teaching juvenile delinquents those skills.
"Family is critical," he said. "A lot of time should be spent with kids so that they learn these lessons." To read the report, published by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, go to www.futureofchildren.com.
http://www.freep.com/news/childrenfirst/guns19_20020719.htm
Contact HONGDAO NGUYEN at 313-223-4543 or nguyen@freepress.com.
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Parents underestimate interest, new study says
July 19, 2002
BY HONGDAO NGUYEN
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Parents need to lock up their guns and monitor their children if they have firearms in the house, according to a report released Thursday by a national foundation.
Researchers for the report, "Children, Youth and Gun Violence," reviewed nine studies on gun-education programs and concluded that educating children about the dangers of guns is simply not enough.
"There are obstacles in trying to educate about gun safety," said Dr. Marjorie Hardy, an assistant professor of psychology at Eckerd Collegein St. Petersburg, Fla. Some children can't grasp the dangers of handling firearms, while others aren't mature enough, she said.
So far this year, 12 metro Detroit children ages 16 and younger have been victims of homicides involving guns.
Nationwide, more than 20,000 people under age 20 are killed or injured by guns each year, the study said. It's the second-leading cause of death among ages 10 to 19. Motor vehicle accidents are first.
Several common methods used by schools in gun education are ineffective, Hardy said. They include ones that ask kids to "just say no" to guns, or that show graphic pictures of victims to scare older, usually delinquent, young people.
Too often, the report says, parents underestimate their children's interest in guns.
Hardy cited a study done last year called "Seeing is believing: What do boys do when they find a real gun?" It found 63 percent of parents of boys ages 8-12 thought their children had low interest in guns.
"But when they put the kids in a room with a gun, two-thirds of the boys actually handled the gun," Hardy said. "Thirty-five percent pulled the trigger."
Hardy said research about educating parents was still in its early stages, so the effectiveness was unknown.
But the researchers also called upon communities to send messages that they will not tolerate gun violence, and law enforcement officials to come down hard on offenders.
Wayne County Prosecutor Mike Duggan said Thursday that his office agrees that adults are responsible when children pull the triggers of guns found in their homes.
"That is child abuse to the second degree," he said, noting that his office prosecuted several adults last year.
James Windell, an instructor in the criminal justice department at Wayne State University, said parental involvement is important in preventing gun violence -- but so is teaching people how to deal with their anger in a positive way, instead of reaching for a gun.
He heads a program in Oakland County Circuit Court focused on teaching juvenile delinquents those skills.
"Family is critical," he said. "A lot of time should be spent with kids so that they learn these lessons." To read the report, published by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, go to www.futureofchildren.com.
http://www.freep.com/news/childrenfirst/guns19_20020719.htm
Contact HONGDAO NGUYEN at 313-223-4543 or nguyen@freepress.com.
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878