NRA Gun Instructor Thinks a Great Place For Your Gun is in Your Child's Bedroom

Impact

In what seems to be a contest to make themselves look as far removed from reality as possible, the NRA is now advising parents to keep a loaded gun in their children's bedrooms. In their closet, to be exact. Yes, because nothing keep the boogie monster away like a loaded semi-automatic! Way to keep your kiddies safe from danger, mom and dad! I believe the saying goes: "keep your friends close and your guns ever closer to your kids."

This brilliant parenting advice was given during the National Rifle Association's Annual Meeting today while Rob Pincus, the owner of a firearm instruction company, taught a "Home Defense Concepts" seminar. Thankfully, ThinkProgress got the whole thing on tape.

"How about putting a quick-access safe in your kids’ room? ... Good idea or bad idea? We have an emotional push-back to that. Here’s my position on this. If you're worried that your kid is going to try to break into the safe that is in their bedroom with a gun in it, you have bigger problems than home defense," Pincus said, accompanied by laughter.

HAHA, I laughed too. That guy really cracks me up! As if kids would ever want to try and play with guns!? Kids hate guns. It's a known fact. It's not like it's something they enjoy playing with or like toy guns are one of the most popular toys ever. Oh, wait. Well, it's not like accidents involving children and guns are actually extremely common. Oh ... wait

Gun violence involving children is very frequent, and it should be something we are concerned about when making statements, laws and legislation. In 2010 alone, 900 children were involved in gun accidents or suicides. Most of the weapons involved in these incidents belonged to the parents. I bet most of them didn't keep them stored in their bedrooms, so imagine what the numbers would look like if people actually listened to a guy like Pincus?

Moreover, Zack Beauchamp and Scott Keyes at Think Progress report that children gun violence is worse in states where gun control is lacking.

"A Center for Disease Control study of 30,000 incidents of children killed by accidental firearm discharge found kids 0-4 were 17 times more likely to be killed in a gun accident in the states with the four highest levels of gun ownership than those with the four lowest (the figure was 13 times for kids aged 5-14). Relatedly, a RAND Institute study found that only 39 percent of parents who own guns kept their guns 'locked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition.'"

Although it's likely that only a marginalized, but very vocal minority of people would think it wise to put a gun in a kid's room, they can be VERY vocal.

Let me know what you think about this 'Great Debate' on Twitter: @feministabulous