Students, parents learn about gun safety with A Gun Lock for a Life program
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Students at Como Elementary School were a part of a unique lesson Wednesday.
It was not about math or science; instead, the students and some parents learned about the importance of gun safety and what to do if you see a gun.
Thomas Cunningham, the president of the Onyx Gun Club, said if he gets through to one child, he’s done his job.
“There's nothing, nothing more positive than educating the children on what to do if they find the firearm,” Cunningham said.
The program is called A Gun Lock for a Life. Cunningham said the big message is to teach kids what to do if they see a gun in the open. The message he wants them to remember is to stop, run away and find an adult.
Cunningham wants to teach parents to be responsible gun owners, showing them how to properly store a gun using a gun lock.
Caroline Tyler is the great-grandmother to two children in the class. She said she is glad the students are a part of this class because you can control what happens inside your own home, but you can’t control what happens inside another person's home.
“When your child's running across to go over to their friend's house and there's one there, and they don't know if it's real or not real, what's the first thing going to do?” Tyler said. “Grab it, pick it up. What they see on video games, they see it all the time. They get shot, they get up. Real life, you don't get up.”
Paul Lynch’s step-child was also part of the class. He said children being involved with guns is becoming all too common. He said this might be a tough conversation to have with kids but it's an important one.
“Regardless of how we feel, like whether it's too early for this kind of thing or not, you got to change with the time,” he said. “You got to prepare your children for the times they live in now.”
Cunningham said the locks prevent both accidental shootings and guns being stolen to be used in a violent crime.
Cunningham asked students and parents to sign a gun safety pledge which asks them to never play with guns and seek them out. Cunningham said he hopes both the adults and children carry this pledge with them from now on.
“What this simple gun lock does, it saves lives,” he said. “That's why we call it a gun lock in exchange for life. So it takes one. If I get or if we get one kid that finds a gun and responds the way we want them to, we’ve done our job.”
Cunningham said they have been doing this program for two years and this is the seventh school in central Ohio to host the program.
He says more than 200 parents have contacted him in the last year to talk more about the gun safety pledge. He said they have given out thousands of gun locks and safe storage boxes since starting the gun club in 2018.