“Can we shoot your BB gun, Grandpa?” It was the first thing my grandsons, ages 6 and 7, asked on their annual visit. 
  Each has been allowed to shoot the air rifle. Tim was first. Trevor had his turn a few months later. But each had to learn something before they were allowed to touch the gun. 
  Accidental shootings have been declining for a century. Shooting enthusiasts claim gun safety education is the reason. What is more likely is, in spite of wailing over “easy access to guns,” far fewer children and adults do have access to guns now that they did in times past. 
  Our national head-in-the-sand approach to firearms and gun safety education does not prepare children for encounters with guns. 
  In controlled experiments, groups of small children exposed to firearms pick them up and start playfully shooting each other. 
  It is only because guns are relatively inaccessible that the accidental shooting rate is declining. All kids know about gun handling is what they see on TV. 
  I explained to my elder grandson that guns were dangerous and that there were rules he had to know before he could shoot. 
  The National Rifle Association’s “Eddie Eagle” gun safety program teaches young children three rules as simple as: Don’t run between parked cars, don’t play with matches, don’t run with scissors... 
  I told Tim the three rules he had to know: 
  If you see a gun, don’t touch it. Go away from where the gun is. Tell an adult about it. 
  That may be abstract to a 5-year-old, so I put the rules in the contexts he could understand. 
  He’s at a friend’s house and the friend shows him a gun he found in the closet, or a kid on the playground has a gun, or he sees a gun on a table at someone’s house. 
  We talked about what he should do, and he asked thoughtful questions. 
  The next day, I asked Tim if he remembered the rules. He did. I set up a big paper target at close range and helped him shoot the BB gun. 
  When his younger brother came to visit later in the summer, we went through the same routine. 
  This year, they wanted to shoot the BB gun. 
  When his brother was not around for a moment, I asked Tim if he remembered the gun safety rules. He had to think about it, and he didn’t recite them word for word, but he remembered the essence, remembered what he was supposed to do. 
  Later, when I told Trevor we’d have to talk about the rules before we shot the BB gun, he rattled them off before I’d finished broaching the subject. He’ll be 7 in a couple of months. 
  This year, I explained a few more basic safety rules. I explained that bullets make holes in what they hit, whether it’s a target or a person. We talked about where a BB or bullet might go after it hit the target or if it missed completely. We selected a backstop in a safe direction with those things in mind. We talked about how to keep the gun pointed in a safe direction. I insisted they keep their fingers off the trigger until they were ready to pull it. I let each of them hold the gun while we talked and gently corrected them when their minds and the muzzle wandered. 
  I don’t expect them to remember everything I tried to teach them, but each time they come to visit, we’ll review and advance. We’ll work from simple to more complex rules as they grow older and more experienced. 
  When we, out of misguided concern for their welfare, deny our children the opportunity to learn about real guns and safe handling, we are not protecting them from harm. 
 Guns are a fact of life in our culture, just as cars, bikes, power tools, and other useful objects are. All are hazardous. All, in spite of our efforts, will kill and injure a few of us. 
  We would consider ourselves negligent if we sent our children into the world without teaching them how to cope with dangers inherent in such things as traffic, drugs, and sex. 
  We endanger our children and ourselves when we refuse to teach them about guns and safety.