My mission to make gun ownership safer for everyone has lots of help. I was surprised recently to see that the National Shooting Sports Foundation has updated its fine safety guide. Things like gun safes, separate storage, or the locking of guns when not in use are more important now than ever. There’s even an updated table in their latest guide on this range of safety devices. The NSSF looks like it is broadening its safety audience to include a bigger group than just parents of young children. There’s even a message for new gun owners.
New gun owners are a big part of what Lock Arms for Life considers its audience. It’s great to see that even an organization like the NSSF, that represents the gun industry and sports gun owners, thinks older children and young adults need safety education. There’s also mental health and suicide getting addressed in the NSSF documents. You could almost say it’s a “gun safety for everyone” attitude now.
This is important for all of us. When gun-focused organizations start spreading the message of safety to everyone, they start to address people like the ones who are under 25. That late high school, college age ownership is where my safety mission began. Real safety practices could have saved my son Jon’s life on the night the gun accident took his life.
I decided to follow Project ChildSafe on Twitter. ChildSafe is part of the NSSF messaging around guns. New gun owners go beyond just the parents of young children. Parents of college and high school age kids need to learn gun safety. So do their kids. This is a safety mission that demands all of our help — from people like me who’ve lost a loved one to a gun, as well as groups like NSSF that have the ear of the gun community.
