I used to believe all gun owners were extremely careful with how they stored their guns. I even let my 14-year-old son Jacob play at a home where I knew guns were present because I thought it was common sense that parents would lock up guns around children.
And I believed something else that I'll always regret. Jacob had received gun safety training, as I did when I was a child. I believed that meant he would know better than to play with guns.
I was wrong on both accounts, and it will haunt me forever. On July 20, 2003, Jacob and a friend were playing with guns they found in an unlocked gun cabinet at his friend's home. They pointed the guns at each other. Jacob's gun was unloaded. His friend's was not.
Jacob's life ended senselessly, and mine will never be the same.
The truth is more than 40 percent of homes with children have guns. No one knows for sure how many of those guns are properly locked and stored, but the journal Pediatrics published a survey in its October 2005 issue that estimates about 1.7 children live in a home with a loaded and unlocked gun.
The reality is that no matter how much we tell our children not to play with guns, and what to do if they find them, kids will be kids. The only way to make sure your children don't play with guns is to do everything you can to make sure they never come across them unsupervised.
The responsibility must fall on us as parents, not on our children. That is why I support ASK. Simply asking is perhaps the easiest and most effective safety step we can do as parents to make sure our children don't come across guns.
The message is simple: ask if there is a gun where your children play.
Guns are everywhere in America. That's not going to change. But those of us who are worried about the safety of our children can do something to protect them from coming across guns. By all means, tell your children not to play with guns, but understand that alone is not enough.
Please ask if there are guns where your children play. Believe me, it's a question you don't want to regret not asking.