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With youth hunting weekends and rifle seasons starting up in
many areas I thought it would be appropriate to share a story about gun safety
that a Twitter friend sent me. His name is David Ivy and you might know him on
twitter (@BigDave1961). Instead of posting mounds of information on gun safety
tips that can easily be found anywhere online I just want to share his personal
story.
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Take it and read it to your kids, your friends, and anybody
who will listen. It’s a great way to start the conversation on gun safety.
Educate your kids on guns, don’t try to hide guns from them without informing
them what they are. Curiosity will be in every child’s head and they will find
your guns or be around them at some point and education is the only way to ensure
smart decisions.
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Please do not judge David, his buddy or the actions in this
story. This is real.
My hunting buddy took his 1st breath of air on March 23,
1990...while he's yet to figure out the big plan for his life we know there is
one...
My buddy started tagging along with me fishing and hunting at an early age. A young hunter in the making he had harvested some trophy bucks and awesome gobblers, before taking his required hunter education course when he was 11.
In early March of 2004, I purchased his birthday present, a Benilli turkey shot gun, but I left it at the local store knowing I would pick it up on the 23rd. We were scheduled to turkey hunt with a close friend on the weekend following his birthday.
Life was good until...2:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 18th. My buddy had gone to spend the night at a friend’s house the evening of March 17th. Now understand I'm not knocking single moms, but the friend’s mom was single and not knowledgeable about firearms.
At 2:30 a.m. I answered the ringing phone to hear my son state that he had been accidentally shot with an unloaded .22 in the face, while playing video games. The friend’s mom wasn't able to talk to me as she was still asleep. Petrified I asked my son if he had called 911, he replied yes. He told me that he loved his mom and myself, and that he was sorry for fussing with his mom earlier the previous day.
I told him we were on the way and to have the medics call us when they got there. The home he was visiting was out in the county and the nearest hospital was just a small town medical facility.
When we arrived at the hospital the ER personnel were kind and they advised us that he was stable and was going to be air lifted to the University Medical Center Pediatric Trauma center some 80 miles away.
When we arrived by ground at the Medical Center and he wasn't there we learned that turbulent weather caused the chopper to return him to the local hospital. Finally after what seemed like forever an ambulance arrived, with my son being rolled in on a stretcher he gave me his thumbs up. I think he could see the stress and worry on my face.
Shortly upon arrival at the Trauma Center a young doctor came in to perform a visual examination, which led to X-rays, etc. The doctor was amazed that there was no apparent nerve damage, only broken teeth, bullet fragments in his jaw, and a broken jaw. Surgery was performed later in the afternoon to clean up the jaw, and to wire his mouth closed.
On Saturday afternoon he was released from the hospital. I told the doctor about the birthday present that was to be picked up the first of the week. His advice was simple, give it to him. My next concern was that his mom was going to tell me to get rid of all the guns in the house, but thankfully that didn't happen.
On Tuesday night the 23rd we had a small birthday party. When he opened the box tears filled his eyes. We had to postpone his turkey trip a few weeks, the doctor said he shouldn't hunt until he was off the pain meds.
In late April we made that turkey hunt and with 2 big gobblers just out of gun range my buddy said “Dad I don't think I can do this”. I said a little prayer that these birds would stay out of gun range so that he wouldn't feel bad about not being able to squeeze the trigger. Later that morning back at the camp house some of the other guys took him out to the range to help him overcome his new fear. About 30 minutes later he said “Dad I'm ready let's get a bird this afternoon.”
Later that summer he was invited to speak at a Jakes Day event on gun safety. One could have heard a pin drop when he introduced himself and started his story with "my friend accidentally shot me" with an unloaded gun.
I never questioned any parent(s) before that night about whether they kept guns in their house. I never questioned whether they kept their weapons properly stored. As you might imagine after that night I certainly asked questions and if the answers weren't right, I was a bad parent for keeping my son at home.
My buddy started tagging along with me fishing and hunting at an early age. A young hunter in the making he had harvested some trophy bucks and awesome gobblers, before taking his required hunter education course when he was 11.
In early March of 2004, I purchased his birthday present, a Benilli turkey shot gun, but I left it at the local store knowing I would pick it up on the 23rd. We were scheduled to turkey hunt with a close friend on the weekend following his birthday.
Life was good until...2:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 18th. My buddy had gone to spend the night at a friend’s house the evening of March 17th. Now understand I'm not knocking single moms, but the friend’s mom was single and not knowledgeable about firearms.
At 2:30 a.m. I answered the ringing phone to hear my son state that he had been accidentally shot with an unloaded .22 in the face, while playing video games. The friend’s mom wasn't able to talk to me as she was still asleep. Petrified I asked my son if he had called 911, he replied yes. He told me that he loved his mom and myself, and that he was sorry for fussing with his mom earlier the previous day.
I told him we were on the way and to have the medics call us when they got there. The home he was visiting was out in the county and the nearest hospital was just a small town medical facility.
When we arrived at the hospital the ER personnel were kind and they advised us that he was stable and was going to be air lifted to the University Medical Center Pediatric Trauma center some 80 miles away.
When we arrived by ground at the Medical Center and he wasn't there we learned that turbulent weather caused the chopper to return him to the local hospital. Finally after what seemed like forever an ambulance arrived, with my son being rolled in on a stretcher he gave me his thumbs up. I think he could see the stress and worry on my face.
Shortly upon arrival at the Trauma Center a young doctor came in to perform a visual examination, which led to X-rays, etc. The doctor was amazed that there was no apparent nerve damage, only broken teeth, bullet fragments in his jaw, and a broken jaw. Surgery was performed later in the afternoon to clean up the jaw, and to wire his mouth closed.
On Saturday afternoon he was released from the hospital. I told the doctor about the birthday present that was to be picked up the first of the week. His advice was simple, give it to him. My next concern was that his mom was going to tell me to get rid of all the guns in the house, but thankfully that didn't happen.
On Tuesday night the 23rd we had a small birthday party. When he opened the box tears filled his eyes. We had to postpone his turkey trip a few weeks, the doctor said he shouldn't hunt until he was off the pain meds.
In late April we made that turkey hunt and with 2 big gobblers just out of gun range my buddy said “Dad I don't think I can do this”. I said a little prayer that these birds would stay out of gun range so that he wouldn't feel bad about not being able to squeeze the trigger. Later that morning back at the camp house some of the other guys took him out to the range to help him overcome his new fear. About 30 minutes later he said “Dad I'm ready let's get a bird this afternoon.”
Later that summer he was invited to speak at a Jakes Day event on gun safety. One could have heard a pin drop when he introduced himself and started his story with "my friend accidentally shot me" with an unloaded gun.
I never questioned any parent(s) before that night about whether they kept guns in their house. I never questioned whether they kept their weapons properly stored. As you might imagine after that night I certainly asked questions and if the answers weren't right, I was a bad parent for keeping my son at home.
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Unfortunately we weren’t able to obtain the
pictures of the x-rays to show the damage but I think the facts of the story
are powerful enough. Talk to your kids, educate them, and hopefully we can
eliminate these kinds of incidents.
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