At the barbershop, talk turns to solutions to gun violence
Gun safety advocates are visiting barbershops and consultants are working with barbers in training about the importance of a gun lock.
Posted — Updated"We don't want our children to have access to a weapon," said trainer Bettie Murchison, CEO of Oasis Health and Wellness Centers International.
Advocates and law enforcement officials are talking about guns and safe storage with students and customers at Harris Barber College and at barbershops across the area.
"We also know that for kids – 0 to 19 – the leading cause of death involves guns. And so, particularly in communities of color, that was real important for us that we engaged, and we knew a natural spot for that would be the barbershop, said Rodney Harris.
Statistics show that 600 kids in North Carolina have died from guns since 2017.
More than 1.7 million homes have guns in North Carolina.
And 840,000 of those homes have a firearm that not safely stored.
"Customers don't really know the numbers," said Reggie Winston, owner of four locations of The Bar Ber Shop in the Triangle.
"We hear about the gunshots and gun violence, but we don't hear about the accidental (deaths) and the suicides... When you present those numbers to them and explain how it affects our community so much, they're blown away."
And they want to talk about how to solve the problem.
"A lot of times the customers want to take it a step further," Winston said. "Like, 'Hey, this is good. Thank y'all for coming out, but what more can we do?'"
Wake County sheriff's deputies demonstrate how to use a gun lock, and advocates give them away for free. It’s all part of a statewide push to get people to safely store their guns.
Doxsie recommends that all gun owners keep their weapons in a safe.
"Obviously a safe is the best option," he said. "We want to see people with a safe, and if it's a smaller safe, something that can be carried away, we want to see it bolted down to a floor or to a closet.
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