More than a dozen kids in the Grand Valley learned a valuable, potentially life-saving lesson today about gun safety.
The Grand Valley Training Club, The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office and the National Rifle Association held a class teaching kids what to do and what not to do if they accidentally encounter a weapon. The class was a part of Eddie Eagle’s GunSafe Program.
According to instructor Linn Armstrong of Grand Valley Training Club, there are four, simple steps kids are taught to do if they find a gun: “stop, don’t touch, leave the area, tell a responsible adult.”
“The NRA and other training groups like Grand Valley Training groups think it’s essential for everybody whether you’re in kindergarten or you’re 80 years old to have proper firearm safety consciousness on your mind,” Linn says. “The Eddie Eagle program deals specifically with the very young in our society.”
Eddie Eagle teaches kids to treat every gun as if it’s loaded. For Grand Junction mom Melissa Armstrong, keeping her three kids safe is her top priority.
“We have a lot of hunters in the Valley and, even if you don’t have guns at home, chances are your kids’ friends do so it’s really important that kids understand what to do if you see one or if someone brings a gun to school what to do,” Melissa says. “I think it’s important for them to hear it not only from parents but also law enforcement, teachers, basically anyone in authority that can help drive the point home.”
Gun safety is a matter that hits close to home for instructor Sara Harden.
“I love my daughter, I don’t want anything to happen to her,” Harden says. “I think every little kid deserves a fair chance and accidents happen and you need to know what not to do.”
The next Eddie Eagle GunSafe program will be held this fall. The exact date and details will be posted at: wccc.coloradomesa.edu/cec
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