• Guns must be treated with respect.gun image by dinostock from Fotolia.com
  
  Gun ownership requires a thorough understanding of the potential dangers of weapons. Every year, there are news stories about gun owners or their children who are injured or killed due to irresponsible storage, horseplay or improper use of guns. Following a few simple rules can drastically reduce the odds of your gun becoming a source for tragedy.
  
  

Children

• Prevent children from gaining access to guns. Many children, particularly boys between the ages of 8 and 12, find guns fascinating and irresistible. It is absolutely imperative that children not have access to guns unless in the presence of a responsible adult. Guns should always be kept unloaded and locked up. Ammunition should be locked up in a different location that is not revealed to children. This way, even if children gain access to the guns, they will be unable to load them.
  
  

Ineptitude

• Do not handle a handgun or a rifle until you have proven that you can fully understand its potential power and the ways to use it safely. Pointing a gun in the wrong direction, not understanding how the safety operates, misjudging the sensitivity of the trigger and shooting under improper conditions can and do result in people being injured or killed. Gun safety courses are widely offered by hunting and law enforcement organizations such as the National Rifle Association (NRA). (See Resource section.)
  
  

Murder and Suicide

• Prevent someone from harming themselves or others intentionally. People who desire to take their own lives or the life of another can do so far more easily when in possession of a gun. Friends and relatives who are aware of someone's depressive or suicidal tendencies should do whatever is necessary to keep them away from firearms of all kinds. If anyone threatens murder, it is important to involve law enforcement rather than to attempt to solve the problem yourself.
  
  

The 12 Golden Rules

• Follow 12 basic rules that will put you on the right path toward safe ownership and use of firearms. (See "Gun Safety Now: Gun Safety Rules" in the Reference section.) These are common sense rules based on the ideas of controlling the weapon, understanding its potential destructive force and never pointing it at anything that you are not willing to shoot.