A recent “clinical trial” involving children who watched a 60-second gun safety video is showing some promise after youngsters who watched it were “more cautious” when they found a real handgun in a drawer, in a lab, according to a report in the JAMA Pediatrics.
According to Yahoo News, other children who watched a video on car safety were more likely to handle the hidden firearm and less likely to tell an adult, the researchers discovered.
In a tweet message posted Tuesday, Larry Keane, senior vice president and general counsel at the National Shooting Sports Foundation noted how schools are the “best way to reach/educate kids on gun safety but ‘zero tolerance’ on gun imagery/discussion won’t allow it in most places.” He suggested the American Academy of Pediatrics and teachers’ unions “should champion education in schools.”
According to the JAMA Pediatrics report, 226 children between the ages of 8 and 12 were involved in the gun safety test.
“By the flip of a coin,” the report said, “children watched either a gun safety video or car safety video alone at home. Both safety videos featured The Ohio State University Chief of Police in full uniform. Younger children tend to respect authority figures, especially those in uniform.”
The result: When children found the disabled firearm, 33.9 percent of those who watched the gun safety video told an adult, while 10.6 percent of those who watched the car video did likewise.
Of the youngsters who watched the gun safety video, 39.3 percent touched the gun, while 67.3 percent of those who watched the car safety video touched it.
Only 8.9 percent of the kids who watched the gun safety video actually pressed the trigger, but 29.8 percent of those who watched the car safety video squeezed the trigger, the report said.
“Risk factors that raised the likelihood of engaging in unsafe behavior around the guns included being male, watching age-inappropriate PG-13 and R-rated movies, and interest in guns, as reported by parents,” the report said.
