Child firearm safety course offered in Kalamazoo, aims to prevent tragic accidents

In Kalamazoo on Sunday, children learned that firearms are not toys. After tragic incidents around the country with younger and younger children behind the trigger, Action Matters Kalamazoo introduced grade school and middle school students to the basics of gun safety. The group's Fathers Inspiring Sons Together (FIST) organization helped parents and children bond over practical skills like car care in the past. After years of deliberation, they have now expanded those skills to a topic difficult for many parents to discuss: firearms and healthy ways to use them. Kalamazoo County : Everyone evacuated safely, no one hurt after Comstock Township residential structure fire Certified gun trainer Charles Abrams stated off with a lesson on how guns work and what can go wrong with their misuse. He then let them try shooting targets with realistic-looking plastic guns that only shot plastic pellets. With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention naming accidents as the number one cause of death for children in the United States, FIST says it wants to show children proper gun uses before they encounter one outside of the home. A take-home workbook also taught them firearm parts and gun terms. "Safety, safety, safety. And then the proper reasons for using a firearm too," Action Matters President O'Neal Ollie said of the reasons behind the event. The training was also intended for parents, showing them the proper way to store their firearms in a gun safe. "More and more you hear about the tragic incidents that are going on with kids, elementary kids, carrying guns to school," he said. One student said he had heard about the Second Amendment and the use of weapons in the military, but not about their other uses. Gun violence : Man charged with murder in fatal southeast Grand Rapids shooting Others described surprise in how much weight there was to a gun, and the knowledge required to safely handle one. One said he could feel the responsibility he held in his hands. "It was a lot of pressure because I never shot a gun before or any kind of gun except a Nerf gun," Chance White said. "It was a lot because you had to put it on safety, it was more controls." FIST plans to hold courses in the future for teenagers and young adults, and another for parents to become certified, hoping to spark an uncomfortable but necessary conversation about guns. "We felt it would be very necessary, because they're gonna hear about it," Ollie said. "They're gonna hear about it. And so we want them to hear about it in the right way.”