McLeod Safe Kids Pee Dee/Coastal Provides Additional Safety Tip for Gun Safety Month

McLEOD REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER 25 JANUARY 2013

(1/25/13) – McLeod Safe Kids Pee Dee/Coastal reminds families to take caution during Gun Safety Month (January) as well as year-round. Access to guns creates a risk for serious injury and death. Most firearm-related injuries and deaths of children and adolescents involve handguns. 

Safety Tip
It is very important to keep firearms safe when not in use. If not secured properly, a child can easily gain access to a gun. McLeod Safe Kids recommends using a gun safe and always keeping your guns locked in it, unloaded, to keep accidents to a minimum. The preferred method is a gun safe or lockable closet. If that is not possible, firearms should be stored, unloaded, with trigger or action locks in place, with ammunition stored separately. 

Talk to your children about firearm safety and demonstrate safety rules when handling firearms yourself. Children will learn as much from your actions as your words. If you treat the firearms with respect and utilize proper safety precautions, your children will as well. Stress to children that if they find or see a firearm anywhere, to stop, do not touch it, get away from the firearm and notify a responsible adult immediately. 

For more information on preventing childhood injury, please call McLeod Safe Kids Pee Dee/Coastal at (843) 777-5021 to speak to an Injury Prevention Specialist or visit www.McLeodSafeKids.org. 

McLeod Safe Kids Pee Dee/Coastal works to prevent accidental childhood injury, the leading cause of death in children 14 and under. McLeod Safe Kids Pee Dee/Coastal is a member of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations dedicated to preventing accidental injury. McLeod Safe Kids Pee Dee/Coastal is funded in part by the McLeod Health Foundation.