CountGlockula
Member
I wish every kid had this opportunity.
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061226/NEWS01/612260314
Good for them.
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061226/NEWS01/612260314
Children learn gun safety
December 26, 2006
By Adam Kealoha Causey
[email protected]
The pops of .22 rifles firing and the pings of shells hitting concrete a second later filled the brisk air on a recent Saturday.
A row of five boys -- all about 8 to 10 years old -- faced shooting targets with parents, grandparents and Caddo sheriff's deputies directly behind or beside. The group braved the 30-degree temperatures for one purpose: learning the safe use of firearms.
The youngsters attended the first of three offerings of the Caddo sheriff's office "First Gun" courses for the fifth consecutive year at the Sheriff's Regional Training Academy in southern Caddo Parish. The classes are aimed at providing basic instruction for children who have never fired a gun.
Joseph Fuller, 8, of Shreveport, appeared intensely focused on his target and his .22 as he listened to marksman's tips from Deputy Kevin McCullin. "Close your left eye," the deputy said.
"I got his tail!" Fuller said while the boys shot at targets resembling cartoon gophers.
Robert Fuller, Joseph's grandfather, brought him to the course. He said that even with the many hunters and shooters in northwest Louisiana, children don't seem to realize the dangers guns pose. He said he made this point with his grandson after allowing him to shoot a can with a BB gun.
"I said, "See? What would that do to flesh?'" the grandfather said.
The first shot Nelson Hathorn took that day was his first ever. When asked why he decided to attend, he shot straight: "So I could learn how to shoot a gun."
But with a look from his mom he added, "Safely."
Hathorn, 12, of Minden, received a BB gun for his birthday the week before.
"I told him, 'Dad got him the gun, and Mom got him the safety course for his present," his mother, Carrie Hathorn, said.
Hathorn said her brother died from a gunshot wound and that she wants her son to be familiar with the dangers of a gun. "I know he's going to go in a house with a gun, and I want him to know guns can kill."
Captain Kenny Sanders, director of the training academy, said he wished more children could have attended. He said the cold weather likely kept them away.
"But here are five that will be prepared to act responsibly," he said.
Sanders said the sheriff's office started offering the course after studying guns. A BB gun shot exits at a velocity quicker than the pistol he carries on patrols, he said.
Good for them.
