Issue link: https://let.epubxp.com/i/149261
FI REARMS S AFE TY BY SGT. BETSY BRANTNER SMITH T here are few topics in the news today as hot as firearms. Guns and ammo are flying off the shelves even as others are calling for stricter gun laws and less access to firearms for the average citizen. Wherever you stand on the "gun debate," as a law enforcement officer firearms are a part of your everyday life. We all know that owning and using a gun comes with incredible responsibility, but cops also need to see themselves as role models, advocates and resources for firearms safety. About 600 people die each year in the U.S. from accidental gunfire, including police family members, and primarily children. It takes very little strength to pull the trigger on a gun, so we must be diligent in the safe handling and storage of our own firearms, beginning in our homes. Gun safety starts at home Firearms safety for a crime fighter's family www.officer.com August 2013 In the academy we all learned the basic rules of firearms safety. Those are the same rules you should be sharing with your family, and you need to do it early and often. If you have young kids in the house, make sure they do not have unsupervised access to a loaded firearm. Several times each year a cop's kid is killed with that officer's firearm. Because we are so comfortable with guns, we can become a bit too relaxed, leaving a loaded gun where little ones can access it. This has led to tragedy for more than one police family, including criminal charges against the officer. You have to balance your own accessibility to a loaded gun, so protect your home and family with safe, "kid-proof" storage. Recognize that kids are crafty They're also tenacious and unrelenting when trying to access something they've been told is "off limits." A 1990's study showed that most kids could access their parents' "secured" firearm within a matter of minutes, whether it Law Enforcement Technology 45