‘It’s not like the cartoons’: Practicing gun safety around kids

PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) – An uptick in accidental shootings involving children has some in law enforcement speaking out.

Lamar County Sheriff Danny Rigel said gun safety practices around children should start with a conversation

“There’s the little limerick thing that we try to ingrain in children,” Rigel said. “And, like I said, four or five years old, if you find a gun, don’t touch it, tell an adult.”

These conversations must be backed up by actions.

“I’ve had gun owners say, ‘Well, I keep a gun in my nightstand in case somebody breaks in the house in the middle of the night,’” Rigel said, “Well, they also make stuff that’s easily accessible just to you with either a fingerprint, touch pad or a combination code.”

Although not often, unsafe gun storage can result in tragic accidents that weigh on first responders and families.

“One of the hardest calls, and we just had to go to one the last couple of weeks, where it was an accidental shooting, where I believe that a child shot themselves,” Rigel said. “And I couldn’t imagine what the parents are going through,” Rigel said.

In many cases, curiosity is to blame, Rigel said.

The best practice to squelch such inquisitiveness may be the simplest: Don’t tell anyone where the weapon is located..

“You’d be surprised if that child knows that there’s a firearm on that shelf in the closet, they are going to find a way to get up on that shelf,” Rigel said, “It might mean relocating everything in the bedroom to climb up there, but they’re going to find a way to get up there.”

Even if there aren’t fatal consequence in an accidental shooting, there could be legal ones.

“If the child has availability or access to it, then the parent could be charged, depending on what the grand jury indicts them on,” Rigel said.

At the very least, an adult could be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Rigel said all accidental shooting cases are presented to the grand jury.

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