Students ages 5 to 13 get gun safety education at Columbus charter school
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Students at a private Columbus charter school are getting a lesson that teachers said may save a life. Instructors are demonstrating gun safety in the classroom.
At Shepard School on Walcott Avenue, Principal Amber Estis said the children from kindergarten through sixth grade are learning about the rules of safe gun handling and about how guns are tools.
"Just like a hammer or anything else in the house, how do you use that tool, how do you keep that tool, are you able to touch that tool,” Estis said.
Estis, a new mom herself said parents have been supportive of gun safety education and were invited to the event.
Estis said she’s had former students killed in gun violence, so she sees the need for change.
“It is really really personal for me to make sure that my kiddos in this building are educated and they do know. They do know it is not something to play with,” Estis said.
The Onyx Gun Club teamed up with the Columbus Division of Police to teach kids what to do if they find a gun.
Thomas Cunningham said it was good for students to interact with police in that setting. “The kids need to also see that they can have a conversation with a police officer, they can ask a police officer a question and it takes away some of the other things they hear and see on TV,” Cunningham said.
One in three families with kids has at least one gun in the home according to Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Nearly 1,300 children under 18 die from shootings each year in the United States.
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“Being an open carry state there is a higher probability of kids running into guns," Estis said. "They are just very accessible in the state of Ohio so we want to make sure our kids know if you see a gun what do you do."
Students signed a gun safety pledge that said in part, even if a gun looks like a toy, I will not touch it and tell a grown-up.
“If one kid inside that gym follows the rules if he or she, unfortunately, finds a gun. One kid. Then we have done our job,” Cunningham said.
