GUN SAFETY AND CHILDREN
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – A shocking statistic that no parent wants to hear. According to the FBI and Centers for Disease Control, more pre-schoolers are dying from guns.
Most incidents involve children finding their parent’s guns. WCBI’s Renae Skinner talks to local experts about the importance of Gun safety.
” It’s not enough to just hide the gun. You have to explain what the gun is for”
Gwendolyn Gray is an Outpatient Children’s Therapist at the Community Counseling Center… and she’s a mom.
When she and her husband bought a gun for protection, they all sat down for a talk.
“Explain to them what they see in the movies or TV or in video games even…is not real”
It’s something she suggests all parents who have guns in the home do with their kids.
“When we watch TV and people get shot they may get back up. In real life that doesn’t happen. A gun is not a toy.”
A recent study says there’s been a lack of explaining when it comes to gun safety in the home.
Reports done by the FBI and the CDC show in 2013 more preschool children from newborns to 5 years old were killed than police officers in the line of duty.
The report cited children getting a hold of their parents’ weapons and not knowing the dangers.
Conversations that could have saved precious lives. But there’s one project that is aimed at saving little ones from tragic accidents.
“If you don’t know how to talk gun safety with your child, Project “Child Safe”can give you some pointers. You can log on to the website projectchildsafe.org and there’s even an instructional video on where to begin the conversation.”
Project Child Safe is a nonprofit organization that promotes firearm safety in the home by using trigger locks.
“If it avoids one injury or accidental shooting that will be worth it no matter how many we give away.”
Gun range officer James Hanson is hoping a partnership between project child safe and the Columbus Police Department will help prevent senseless shootings.
“With that partnership, we’ll be able to give away two gunlocks per household.”
In the mean time Officer Hanson says parents not only should talk to their children about firearm safety..but also walk the walk.
“Leave it unloaded, keep the ammunition somewhere else. Use Child safety locks use gun locks, use gun safes.”
Full article can be found on WCBI.