If Santa had a dime for every child who’s getting a bicycle, skateboard or rollerskates without the necessary safety helmet ... well, Santa could move south and retire wealthy.

Sure, Pop-pop and mamaw didn’t wear helmets when they were kids. Then again, football players wore leather helmets back then, and today the sport suffers an image problem over widespread and lingering concussion symptoms.

Safety gear for children is the standard now. Helmets and pads are inexpensive, lightweight and comfortable.

But this lecture on holiday gift safety gear has another mandatory chapter now.

More gun background checks were conducted this Black Friday than on any other day in U.S. history. There were 185,713 background checks initiated on Nov. 25, according to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The previous record: 185,345 checks on Black Friday the previous year.

The majority of those gun purchases likely were for Christmas gifts. Maybe not all, but probably most of them.

Buying a gun for someone as a gift is a popular idea these days. And it’s a major step up from Ralphie’s Daisy Red Ryder Range Model 1938 Air Rifle BB gun in the cult comedy, A Christmas Story — in which Santa rejects Ralphie’s request saying: “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.”

While we’re on this sidetrack, it’s worth mentioning that handguns are a popular gift for women, probably more so than for men, and the folks who track these things say self-protection is the most frequent reason cited for gifting a gun.

But the experts also advise us that there are things to keep in mind for such a gift.

First and foremost is safety.

Safety instructions should be a prerequisite with every gun gift — especially for first-time and younger gun recipients.

Also for first-timers, proper eye and ear protection are a must. Modern handguns eject hot bullet casings, or shells. typically made of brass. Eye protection prevents injury when an occasional shell bounces back in the shooter’s face. It happens rarely, but it happens.

Ear protection speaks for itself. Noise greater than 140 decibels can cause permanent hearing damage, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. A .22 caliber rifles on a recreational shooting range measures about 140 decibels; bigger guns can generate 175 decibels or more.

Then there’s the more practical rules. Treat every gun as if it’s loaded; don’t point the barrel in the direction of anything you wouldn’t shoot.

There are moral, ethical and legal ramifications. Remember, it’s a crime to commit what’s called a “straw purchase” for someone who cannot legally own a firearm. It’s like that underwear commercial: you can’t simply buy guns and give them to everyone.

If you are gifting a gun, buying the firearm should only be the first step. Help get the recipient into a gun safety class, too.

Identify a range where the recipient can get familiar with their new gun. And provide the eye and ear protective gear as well as a gun cleaning kit.

Include a gun lock.

Gun ownership is a responsibility as well as a right. Let’s not shoot anybody’s eye out this Christmas.