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In reply to the discussion: Philadelphia Boy, Two, Fatally Shoots 11-Year-Old Sister: Police [View all]RobinA
(9,945 posts)In grad school we saw a video about research into a gun program for toddlers. The idea was to teach kids that when they came across a gun they should not touch it and immediately report it to an adult. The study was to see if the program was effective. So they went through this whole 1:1 lesson with each toddler about guns being bad, and they could hurt people, and that they should never ever touch one. They acted out with the kid finding a gun, what should be done, etc. They rehearsed with each kid showing the adult what they would do if they found a gun. Kids all knew exactly what to do and could play act what they were supposed to do. Oh, and they used the kids' parents as the teachers, following a script that had been designed to be appropriate to a toddler's developmental ability.
Then they put each kid in a room by himself with toys to play with and a gun hidden somewhere. They filmed each kid to see what he or she would do. Each kid explored the room and eventually found the gun. Each kid picked up the gun, looked at it and handled it a bit. Then they held up the gun and aimed it. Exactly like you would aim a gun. They didn't point it up, or down, they pointed it out as if to shoot something. A few looked down the barrel. Some pulled the trigger, some did not. Some made "pow" noises, some did not. Not one kid appeared to hesitate for a moment before picking up the gun when they found it. Some kids absolutely dove for the thing when they discovered it amongst the toys. It was incredible and completely not incredible at the same time.