Myth: Children should be kept away from guns for their own safety

Fact: 0% of children that get guns from their parents commit gun-related crimes while 21% of those that get them illegally do.¹

Fact: Children that acquire firearms illegally are twice as likely to commit street crimes (24%) than are those given a firearm by their parents (14%).²

Fact: Almost three times as many children (41%) take drugs if they also obtain firearms illegally, as compared to children given a firearm by their parents (13%).

Fact: In the 1950’s, children routinely played cops and robbers, had toy guns were given BB rifles and small caliber hunting rifles before puberty. Yet the homicide rate in the 1950’s was almost half of that in the 1980’s.³

This is an excerpt from “Gun Facts” by Guy Smith, available free from http://www.gunfacts.info