we ve got a group of rowdy 7-year old boys. they re friends which means peer pressure could play a role will being with their buddies make it harder to resist touching the gun? meet ben, nate and sean. they were in the same gun safety training class as siblings luke and nevada and were told the same steps for gun safety. stop don t touch. run away. tell an adult. excellent. hi i m ben. reporter: do you have guns in the home? no. reporter: no guns in the home. no guns. reporter: and ben s mom is pretty confident ben will not touch the gun. i think he ll be frightened by the situation. i think he ll stay away. hi, my name is nate. reporter: do you have guns in your home? we do. we do. reporter: you do? our boys have not seen the gun. and it is secured. and i grew up with guns. so we are fine with having a gun in the house for safety. reporter: nate s mom also thinks her son will steer clear of the gun. i don t think he ll touch it. hi, my name is sea
research found the behavioral skills training is better, it isn t foolproof. he says it works about 50% of the time. for some kids, the attraction to guns is so strong, that they need to be trained over and over. he says after the role playing, and after you ve tested them, you need to train again and test them again. kids know their abcs and they know their basic addition and subtraction cause they ve practiced it over and over. it s the same with this skill. like a fire drill at school. absolutely. kids have to practice it. they have to know the exits. they have to get it under a certain amount of time. that s a perfect analogy. ooh, a gun. reporter: to show you what he means, we go back to these boys, nate, ben and sean. don t you dare ben, that s a real one. reporter: they failed the test after the just talk training. so would more training using the behavioral skills method make a difference? you didn t expect one today did you? reporter: on the day of the
reporter: we hear them come up with an elaborate prank. it s not going to work. we don t have blood. guys, we still have something else? reporter: then sean mimics a 911 call. there s a murder here. get your children out. reporter: all it takes is one of those kids just playing to pull the trigger. i m devastated he would pick up a gun and walk with it, especially among friends. reporter: it was a wake-up call for ben and nate s moms. this could happen. we don t have guns in our house. this could happen. clearly a bad idea. makes me sad. i m scared to death that if this was a real situation what could have happened. he didn t think twice. he went for it and grabbed it.
at first nate doesn t spot it just inches from his hands. candy. reporter: but then without a second thought, he reaches for it. oh a gun. reporter: oh, oh. it s a heart-stopping moment for all the moms especially nate s. i found a gun. reporter: ben leans in and reaches for the gun. he picks it up by the barrel which is pointing right at him. don t you dare ben that s a real one! reporter: when he drops it the barrel is now pointing at sean. yes that is. no it s heavy, it s heavy! reporter: then it occurs to sean. no, guys, the gun safety class. reporter: sean s mom is relieved he remembered the rules. you were the one who thought sean was gonna go for it right away. yeah. reporter: but for ben and nate s moms. it s hard, very hard. and he was quick. and he could ve had his finger
house, all of them locked. do the kids know that you have guns in the house? they do. we always check to make sure it s empty. i ve let them handle them. of course there s they weren t not loaded, but just to take the mystery away of holding a handgun. reporter: so, it was important for you to give them the exposure. yes. reporter: but she s worried because her son is familiar with guns, that he might touch it. i will be crushed if he grabs that gun, but i would not be surprised. reporter: all right, you ready to see how they do? yeah. reese s pieces. reporter: it s a bit of a challenge for the research assistant to get the boys to focus on making the candy baskets. no, no! he s gonna need a break after being with the three of them. reporter: then he tells them it s time for a break and nate and ben take off. you guys can go head okay? reporter: their moms eyes are glued to the monitors as they watch their sons head towards the room with the gun. will t