Argumentative Essay On Gun Safety

Every seven and a half hours a child or teen is killed by a gun by either accident or suicide (Victim). Around the world guns and the way they are being portrayed through technology are starting to become more and more advanced. This creates openings for guns to enter lives, in which they may have no business in being in. One great examples of one of theses lives would include the life of a young teen or child. The outcome of these situations can occasionally end very badly for all the people in harm’s way and destroy the safety of many people including the one that falls victim to caretaker of that certain child. Families have to choose between the choices of whether or not to teach their kids about gun safety, but before they make their decision the following should be considered. If a child had access to this knowledge of safety that comes with the possibility of danger in such a weapon, the understanding can help ease the horrific outcome by knowing that the child will make the right decision. Only knowing the real problem with the argument can determine a safe solution that all kids will learn.
Problem
A question asked by most people for gun safety would include something such as, should a child be taught gun safety at a younger age or should they just be held from gun safety in hope that they will be safe on their own?
Kids and teens around the world are accidentally hurting/harming themselves and/or others with the presence of guns (Victim). Which brings up another concern with teaching gun safety to kids, because of parents being afraid that if they teach their children gun safety when the child is young, then they will be exposing them to the danger too early, and it is not an appropriate time in a child’s life to know about the existence of guns at that age. Ways around this fear of not knowing what to do, which can be solved in different comforting
methods.
Solution
Parents are concerned about their children being exposed to guns at too young of an age, but with the right classes that show kids how to properly care for a gun can easily help reduce the confusion of guns in the children’s’ minds (Should). Showing the younger generation that not all guns are to be used for bad and can also be used safely as recreational activity, such as hunting and trap shooting, can steer their minds clear of dangerous situations. The final step would include, just showing children the basic safety parts of actual guns and teach them to act as if each gun were always loaded (Morrison). Teaching a child to act as if a gun is always loaded can help show and tell a kid that if you see a gun that is just out in the open and there is no responsible adult around, the child should not touch the gun but leave the scene and tell a responsible adult that they know and trust about what they have just experienced. This can help decrease the accidents in which a child is faced with the challenge in handling the actual gun, if ever caught in such position. The solution can help cancel out the scary dilemma that parents see with teaching children gun safety, but this solution also comes with many other benefits, in which can be shown by celebrities, save young lives in the future, or in general what a kid can be expected to do after they are properly informed and educated in what to do if ever caught in a setting where they should need to make a choice.
Benefits
In an interview Johnny Depp recalls his years growing up with guns and how he plans to teach his kids gun safety as well. Johnny states in the interview, “When I was a kid it was a controlled atmosphere, we weren’t shooting at humans – we were shooting at cans and bottles mostly. I will most certainly take my kids out for target practice (Cannon).” Here Johnny Depp shows a great example in that being taught gun safety at a young age, can lead to happy aging with guns and turn them into a positive experience that you can share with family. Some people and families are not so lucky as Johnny Depp, but rather gun safety classes are too late and should have been shown to children such as Brandon Holt and his friend, sooner. Six-year-old Brandon Holt whom lives in Toms River, New Jersey was shot in the head by his four-year old friend early one warm evening on April 8th, 2013. Both boys were playing small little games including tag and bike riding, until the four-year-old friend went into the house to return with a .22 caliber rifle, in which he shot Brandon, without the knowledge of what the dangerous rifle was capable of. Brandon, at the moment, was 45 feet away, from his friend, sitting in a go-cart when the bullet hit Brandon Holt in the head. The little six-year-old ended up passing away the next morning at Jersey Shore University Medical Center (Spotto). This all could have been avoided by showing the four-year-old gun safety, which in return could have saved Brandon Holt’s life as well as a family and community a lot of trauma. Lastly, you can see that children will always want to know things and figure out what is going on, but they never get the chance to know the wrong and bad things until it is usually too late. Kids are known for being curious, but overall are still learning new things in which they will listen and follow what their parents do in a situation. Over time things will happen and kids will be put in a bad spot and need to be pointed out what not to do. If they are taught gun safety at this age of curiosity, then it will eventually help them out and keep them safe (Victim). Overall being shown gun safety can help in give kids a clear vision in what is expected to do in a picture where one would become curious in a potentially unsafe situation.
Conclusion
Kids now days aren’t aloud so much freedom to learn new things, but instead are being held back by their parents from the real world around them. In contrast to this, in today’s society, parents should let go a little with their hold on their kids and teach them early about the dangers of the world such as drinking, driving, and of course gun control and safety to help protect them for the future. Children need to be shown gun safety now to help make the communities a lot safer with knowledge by following the right precautions and talking to their kids about the problem. Imagine this story happening in your neighborhood. Jacob was out one summer afternoon roaming the house with his paper airplane when the shiny silver barrel of his father’s brand new shotgun shinned bright in the hallway closet. Jacob has seen his father clean the gun for the past couple nights and knew that one day he would have one of his own someday. But, if Jacob wanted one of his own, then of course he would have to learn how to hold one now. This in mind, Jacob headed to the closet where he could already see the hammer of the gun was cocked back but kept walking to the closet where he reached for the handle of the shiny gold hallway closet doorknob and slowly closed… the door firmly, called out to his father, and recalled to his father what he had seen and done. All of this was shown to Jacob from the video that his father had shown him on the day that his father had received the gun. Now when all kids follow Jacob’s thoughts, all kids will be safe from accidental tragedies, just by being shown little bits of knowledge in gun control.