Mental health experts in the east encourage parents to talk gun safety

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - Mental Health experts here in the East are emphasizing the importance of educating children on gun safety after recent events.

Last week’s school shooting in Virginia and a lockdown here in the East at Farmville Central High School have mental health experts urging parents to educate their kids on gun safety.

“Parents really need to be aware of their own child and their own child’s ability to process and understand. We certainly want to make sure that we are being good parents and communicating truths and facts,” mental health expert Keith Hamm said.

Parents in Pitt County say that education starts at home with open conversations with kids emphasizing the danger of guns and how to handle them.

“I think it goes back to how they’re raised. I mean I raised my kids around guns and they were taught from an early age to respect them and not touch them and of course, we kept them locked up so it really falls back on the parents responsibility,” Todd Karriker said. “My son had a BB gun when he was little and we taught them before they even held a BB gun, the gun safety laws, always treat a gun as loaded, don’t touch it unless there is a grown up around, and if you find one let a grown up know,” Karriker continued on to say.

As parents here in the East help their children deal with the stress of gun violence, Pitt County Schools Public Information Officer says that PCS staff has completed training on trauma-informed care and resiliency in partnership with local agencies such as TEDI Bear, Department of Social Services, North Carolina Area Health Education Centers, and other health care providers.”

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