Transformer warning label
Last Saturday Matthew (5 years old) and Benjamin (3 years old), my two youngest grandsons, spent the day with my wife and me. The boys were riding scooters and bikes in the cul-de-sac when they stopped and ran over to tell me about the monster. Benjamin pointed to the transformer between two houses and said “a monster is in there”. I asked “Really, a monster is in there”? Matthew said “yes, there is a picture of a monster”. And there was a picture of a monster on the transformer.
Later that evening, after the boys had been delivered back to their parents, I happened upon this YouTube video.
This disturbed me. There wasn't any immediate danger to the girl, but she was playing with a monster and couldn't know it. The small .22 caliber pink rifle was obviously made for a child. It tempts a child to play with it.
These two events got me to thinking about the monsters in my house. First is the swimming pool which, like the pink rifle, can be fun to play with but can also be a monster to small children. My wife and I lock the doors to the backyard when the grandkids are over. The children know they can never go back there without a parent or grandparent. We have told them what the swimming pool can do to kids. The children have experience from swimming. They know the water can harm them. Even at a young age they have gained a respect for the swimming pool monster.
There is another monster in my house. I own guns. The grandkids do not know I own guns. I see no reason to tempt them to play with them. When they reach a certain age (10 to 12 seems OK for me) I will take them shooting just like my grandfather took me. Until then, the guns are locked in a safe, or made inoperable and kept out of sight behind a locked closet door.
Children are not able to fathom the monstrosity that lurks in every gun when not handled with care. Every week a half a dozen or more American children stumble upon a firearm and kill or injure themselves, a sibling, or a friend. The gun looks like a toy. It has parts to manipulate and is often attractive. There is no warning on a gun a child comprehends. The child has no hint of the monster within. Nothing in most children’s experience will give them any inkling that a monster lurks in a gun.
We should change that. We can’t put monster pictures on every gun like on electrical transformers. It should be possible, however, to reach children at an early age and teach them about the danger of guns.
How do we go about doing this? Efforts by established groups seem, well, ineffective.
So let me make a modest proposal. It isn't a novel idea, but a needed improvement on what is out there. Perhaps we could make a series of age specific videos using cartoons or empathetic adults (thinking somebody like Mr. Rogers). We would need some childhood development experts to craft a message that kids at different ages can understand. They should be short videos about 30 seconds or at most 1 minute. We would need animation or video production people to make the videos. Finally we would need all Kossacs to help get this message out. Put it on facebook; ask local school districts or preschools to show it; ask local broadcasters to show it; have PBS kids show it with their net content. Communication or marketing people know how to do this type of thing, don’t they?
The message is simple. If you see a gun, don’t let the monster out. Don’t touch it and get an adult.
The Daily Kos Firearms Law and Policy group studies actions for reducing firearm deaths and injuries in a manner that is consistent with the current Supreme Court interpretation of the Second Amendment. If you would like to write about firearms law please send us a Kosmail.
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