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Police shares ways you can keep your child safe from guns

We wanted to know more about gun safety and storage after a 4-year-old in High Point accidentally shot and killed himself.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — We're getting new information related to the 4-year-old boy who accidentally shot and killed himself.

At the time of the shooting, High Point police said several adults were in the other room having dinner, playing cards, drinking and smoking pot.

Police said the boy found the gun under a couch cushion.

Two people face charges including the child's mother who's charged with felony child abuse. 

We wanted to know more about gun safety and storage. WFMY News 2 brought questions to Greensboro Police.

RELATED: 4-year-old shoots, kills himself while adults smoked pot, played cards, ate dinner, according to High Point Police

"It's always a bad day when you have to hear that 911 call when it's a child involved with a firearm," said Community Resource Officer Larry Roberts.

Roberts says if you own a gun and children are around always unload it and make sure it is locked in a secure location. "Also, keep the ammunition separate from where the gun is actually hidden at and of course never tell your children where the gun is at." 

He says it's up to the parents to teach their child how to react when they might come across a gun. "They immediately need to tell the closest adult, the closest teacher, closest police officer, whoever is a ear shot. They need to make them aware and they need to understand that they do not need to touch the firearm, not even to bring it to their parents, said Roberts. 

We asked Roberts what are some ways you can teach a young child that guns should never be messed with. "I know there was a local preschool, they started out with flashcards. Just how you learn your ABC's where you would show up the A, the B, they would show up whether it be a knife or a firearm and they would show the no symbol or the don't touch symbol."

Lastly, if you ever see a child approaching a gun, Roberts says the "quick response of unfortunately yelling at the kid, saying stop or no and then moving towards the fact that if he does have the gun or a knife you have to immediately call 911."  

In the beginning of July, an Elon officer was charged with misdemeanor failure to secure a firearm. 

Police say his child was found with a gunshot wound after accidentally shooting himself. 

 

 

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