PETERSBURG, Va. — When a child is shot or killed by the careless handling of a firearm, Kenrick Morgan believes in looking closely at what really happened.
"When these incidents happen, we look at the end result. But ultimately, if you peel it back far enough, you're going to find the actual result is, or issue is, negligence," Morgan said.
At 51, the firearm instructor and father of six believes in the right to bear arms. But it's a right Morgan also believes comes with an obligation.
"When you accept that right, you also accept the responsibility that goes along with it," Morgan said. "I would say the majority of us don't give it the respect that it actually deserves."
Morgan believes parents need to know how to talk to their children about gun safety — a conversation he says is important for households with or without guns inside.
"We're living in a world now where the firearm is pretty much everywhere," Morgan said.
And simply telling a child not to touch it, Morgan says, isn't effective.
"This is something that has to be a very, very direct message to your child," Morgan said. "Your duty as a parent usurps your actual feelings. So again, we acknowledge the firearm is everywhere, so if that is the case, why then as a parent are you not having structured, informed conversations with your child in relations to coming in contact with a firearm?"
Not having a gun in the home, Morgan says, is not a good reason to avoid the conversation with their children.
"The unfortunate reality is, the majority of our children, their first interaction with a firearm is going to be outside the scope of a controlled environment," Morgan said.
Morgan teaches free classes to parents on both sides of the gun debate, with the end goal, he says, of helping foster that conversation.
"A lot of times we try to separate the two, the firearm and the kids, and that is where we are making a lot of mistakes," Morgan said. "We encourage all parents to come in with their children, and we do this because a lot of time parents get in the space with their child and they come to realize that their children know a lot more than they actually think."
Morgan says you can't really shield a child from guns today, but fostering a conversation can help keep them safe in a real-world situation.
Morgan's next free class is scheduled for June 6 at noon at The Love Center, located at 3600 S. Crater Road in Petersburg.
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