The mobile kiosk, which stands more than 7-feet high and resembles a giant smartphone, rolled out in December at Defender Outdoors, a sports shooting and outdoors equipment retailer in Fort Worth. As part of a first-time collaboration with Cook Children’s, the kiosk was placed near the check-out registers in hopes it attracts the attention of parents and children alike.

“I think this could be a real breakthrough in how we educate our families,” says Dan Guzman, M.D., an emergency room physician who initiated Aim for Safety in 2017 after seeing too many children treated for accidental gun-related injuries at Cook Children’s Medical Center. “It’s a way that’s not in your face — where people may feel more comfortable as opposed to somebody coming up and directly speaking to them about safety (versus standard) practices."

The Aim for Safety educational kiosk — activated by touch — uses advanced technology to engage and teach children as they progress through four levels, stumbling upon unsecured guns hidden in places such as cabinets and drawers while moving through a virtual home. If they find a gun, they must correctly answer questions on how to safely handle the situation in order to progress through the program. Other gun safety-related questions are asked as objects in the rooms are found and touched.

Cook Children’s Aim for Safety program maintains a non-political approach, strictly focusing on educating families about ways to keep everyone safe when guns are in a home, Dr. Guzman says. The program emphasizes three steps: Safe Storage. Safe Children. Safe Play.

Using the kiosk’s touch-screen video program, participants interact and “learn something at the same time,” Dr. Guzman says, adding it’s less intimidating and “there’s no one there to judge you” on whether participants are familiar with standard gun-safety practices in their own homes.

“I think people are free and more open to change, and they’ll listen to the message and learn more about it before they actually make a decision,” Dr. Guzman says. “That’s the approach we want to have… and still deliver a high-quality educational piece that drives home the safety aspects of what we want to do with Aim for Safety.”

Edwina Parker, director of training at Defender Outdoors, says the retailer was “thrilled to be chosen to participate” in Cook Children’s educational kiosk rollout. The company makes gun safety “an integral part of our business, from the sales floor to the range check-in and throughout our training academy,” she says. It also offers private and group lessons with certified instructors on gun safety; handling and shooting; and situational and judgmental training.

“Our partnership with Cook Children’s is very near and dear to our hearts, and we believe education is a fundamental step in firearm safety for adults, as well as children,” Parker says. “We believe our customers will be curious about the kiosk and interested in using it with their children. Our clientele are conscientious gun owners who know and value safety above all, so it’s a natural fit for them.”

“Having an interactive learning tool for children,” she adds, “is a wonderful concept to keep their attention and educate them in a fun way.”

The concept for the Aim for Safety program began with a study led by Dr. Guzman in which Cook Children’s brought parents into a room to observe what their children in an adjacent room (unaware they were being watched) would do when they found a real handgun hidden in a box, backpack or purse. The study’s results showed 90% of the children — even if they had been repeatedly educated on safe gun practices by their parents — looked directly down the barrel of the gun or handled the firearm without telling any adults. Although they were real, the guns couldn’t fire.

The parents in the study who observed their children were shocked when they saw "their kids pick up a gun, pointing it toward their face, put their finger on the trigger — all the things they’d been told not to do,” Dr. Guzman says. They thought their children would "respect the gun" and not do what other kids were doing, “but their kids did the exact same thing,” he says.

Following that study, the Center for Children’s Health at Cook Children’s took the Aim for Safety program to schools and community gatherings to educate families about gun safety, including safe storage. The program also challenges families to have conversations about what to do when children go to other homes, such as a friend’s or relative’s home, where guns might be kept.

Based on what Dr. Guzman has seen, most gun-related injuries are accidental, he says. As of March, 12 children have been treated for gun-related injuries at Cook Children’s this year. Thankfully, none were fatal. Last year, the hospital system reported treating 63 unintentional gun-related injuries, resulting in five deaths.

 “Unfortunately, we see children injured by firearms in our community far too often,” says Rick Merrill, president and CEO of Cook Children’s. “We are so thankful to have incredible community partners like Defender Outdoors who recognize the importance of gun safety and want to join forces with us to keep children safe.”

The kiosk is another way the hospital system can further its reach in the community and educate more families about the safe handling and storage of firearms, says Amy Johnson, program coordinator for the Center for Children’s Health (C4CH) and Safe Kids North Texas Coalition led by Cook Children’s.

Johnson says she’s looking forward to the possibilities it offers. With additional Aim for Safety kiosks planned in the near future, it’s possible the booths could be taken into schools for children to use. Also, a link for the program is being developed for use on computers, she says.

“We could bring that link with us into the schools and have everything that’s on the kiosk there on their computers,” she says.

Dana Walraven, manager of community health within the Center for Children’s Health at Cook Children’s, says she’s also excited about the Aim for Safety kiosk and its potential to reach the community through education and conversations.

Safe storage is an important part of all home safety plans, whether you have children or not, she says.

“Safe storage is key for all items that may be considered dangerous to others, such as medication, cleaning products, and, yes, firearms,” Walraven says. “In fact, gun ammunition also should be stored safely and separate from guns.”

Cook Children’s hope is the Aim for Safety educational kiosk “will be a platform for kids to learn alongside their parents and other adult family members,” she adds.

“Creating safe habits early on will help model safer behaviors later in life,” Walraven says. “Children may still make mistakes as they grow, but making conversations about guns more routine may help encourage safer choices.”

“You’ll shoot your eye out,” she said.

Toy guns have changed since the release of that 1983 classic depicting a 1940s family. If Ralphie were a kid today, he may have his sights set on a water-based gel blaster—one of the popular toy guns of this generation. And Ralphie’s mom would likely say the same, for good reason.

Any toy with a projectile has the potential to cause an injury, especially to the eye. Dan Guzman, M.D., is a pediatric emergency medicine physician on the medical staff at Cook Children’s Medical Center. He also leads Cook Children’s Aim for Safety initiative, which is designed to reduce injuries through gun safety education. Dr. Guzman recently purchased a gel water ball gun to see for himself what hazards they pose to children. Also known as gel soft guns, these toy shooters are similar in design to airsoft guns, but their bullets are made of biodegradable water-filled beads.

“The bullets feel really squishy,” Dr. Guzman said. “But they’re definitely a projectile, and any projectile to the face or in the eye is going to hurt or may cause some injury. I shot them at a tree to see what they would do. Some of the bullets exploded into nothing, but there were some that seemed to be crystallized and actually turned into smaller projectiles once they exploded, which concerned me a little bit.”

A review of the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s electronic injury surveillance system found more than 6,500 cases of eye trauma from toy guns with projectiles between 2010 and 2019, according to a study published in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. The most common injury was ocular contusion, better known as a black eye. The most serious wound was an open globe injury. Most of those injured were boys, and more injuries occured in December than any other month of the year.

“I haven't seen a lot of injuries from these gel guns just yet, because I think they are relatively new, but I suspect after the holiday, I will,” Dr. Guzman said.

If Santa leaves a projectile-firing toy gun under your tree, Dr. Guzman has a few tips to help keep your child, and those anywhere near the line of fire, safe from injury.

“I'm not going to tell you you shouldn't have one,” Dr. Guzman said. “But I’m definitely going to tell you how to do it safely to make sure your kid doesn't end up in my ER with some horrible injury where they've lost vision in one of their eyes and they'll never be able to see out of that eye again.”

Wear eye protection. Many manufacturers place this warning on their toy gun products, and some even come with eye protection.

Supervise your child and teen when playing with toy guns. They may not be as life threatening but they do shoot powerful projectiles and can cause significant and life-altering injury. Kids—especially teens—are naturally impulsive and don’t always think through the potential consequences of their actions, like what could happen if you aim at someone’s head, or turn the gun towards your face to look down the barrel, or shoot from too close of a distance.

“We just want people to be safe,” Dr. Guzman said. “With these eye injuries, many recover, but some don’t. You truly could put an eye out and nobody wants to be responsible for that.”

Teach kids to respect the danger. To some degree, toy guns that shoot projectiles, be them water-based gel beads or plastic pellets, need to be treated with the same respect and caution as a real gun. Closely monitoring your child while playing with a toy gun gives you the opportunity to see how they interact with the gun, correct concerning behavior and opens the door for conversations about safety that may translate to real guns.

As an emergency department physician, Dr. Guzman has witnessed first hand the devastation that can occur when a gun isn’t handled or stored properly. That’s what drives his passion for gun safety.

“I want to give families the tools to be able to make a great decision,” he said. “If we’re going to play with a toy gun that shoots a projectile, it’s important to know some basic safety steps to keep the entire family safe. Those key safety points then help to shape the conversation about real guns.”

It’s a good idea to practice the same safety measures with projectile firing toy guns as you would with a real gun. When not in use, toy guns should be stored away where kids can’t freely access them. And if they do happen upon one, be sure they know how to respond.

“That's another key point,” Dr. Guzman explained. “What do you do when you find something like this, even a toy, when you go to a friend's house? You don't just pick it up and start pointing at people and playing with it. They need to know to respect that object so they can respond safely.”

Make sure your child knows to keep toy guns at home. Never take them to school or a public place where they can be mistaken for a real gun.

While we love taking care of our patients, the last place you want to spend your holiday if you can avoid it is in the emergency department. Play smart and be safe. We “triple-dog-dare ya.”

“We’ve seen gun sales increase significantly nationwide over the past several months,” said Dan Guzman, M.D., a Cook Children’s emergency physician. “Now, with many children being in the home for longer periods of time, curiosity and boredom are something we need to expect. We have to stay vigilant and make sure we’re doing everything we can to prevent a tragic accident.”

According to Small Arms Analytics and Forecasting, this year’s gun sales have already eclipsed 2019 by more than one million firearms.

“With the hunting season about to begin in earnest and the presidential election season about to start in earnest as well, 2020 will without doubt exceed the previous high of 16.6 million units sold in 2016,” SAAF chief economist Jurgen Brauer wrote in an emailed statement provided to FOX Business.

Last year, 41 children were admitted to Cook Children’s for injuries related to guns (including handguns, rifles, shotguns and other firearms such as BB guns.) With 23 children already injured in 2020, Dr. Guzman fears he could see more of these patients this year than last.

“I think most people think this ‘won’t happen to us’ because we’ve taught our kids to never touch guns,” Dr. Guzman said. “But if you aren’t taking the proper precautions as the adult and parent, it’s probably only a matter of when, not if, your life may be affected by an unintentional discharge involving someone you know, and maybe even your child.”

Building awareness for gun safety is a passion for Dr. Guzman. He’s the medical director of the Aim for Safety program at Cook Children’s, which promotes firearm safety for children. The program, which has been featured in several news stories, is a multi-step interactive experience that provides parental awareness and teaches children the steps they should take when they encounter a firearm.

“As parents need to feel comfortable having open-ended conversations with others where our children may play and stay,” he said. “That includes family members and close friends. Don’t be afraid to ask if there’s a gun in the home and if so, how it is stored. Keep the conversation focused on safety and not politics.”

Dr. Guzman offers these safety tips:

The 3 Ts of firearm safety and children

Talk – This includes your family, neighbors and friends. When your child visits other homes, ask the owners if there are guns in their homes and how they are stored. Dr. Guzman said this question is not to be insulting, but to keep your children safe from unsecured firearms.

Teach – Have a conversation with your kids about what to do if they see a gun:

• Stop
• Don’t touch the gun
• Run away
• Tell someone

Take – Dr. Guzman is asking gun owners to take action and store their firearms properly. And, to take personal responsibility for our children’s safety.

Link to story here.