News+

Danger of guns in homes

1 min read

Parents with guns in the house should assume their children are aware of the firearms – and possibly have even touched them, according to David Hemenway, professor of health policy and director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).

“Just like parents don’t think kids know where the Christmas presents are hidden, the same is true for guns,” he said in a January 28, 2014 interview on ParentMap.com. In studies in which pediatricians asked parents about their children’s knowledge of and experience with guns in the home, most parents didn’t think their kids knew there were guns at home. One-third of the boys, however, reported they had already played with the hidden weapons.