Charlotte-area man teaches gun class tailored to children as young as six
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Children in the Charlotte area are getting schooled in gun safety thanks to a course that's been tailored just for them.
The classes at Echo Firearm Training, which are crafted for children as young as six, focus on time spent both in the classroom and at the range.
"There was no other class like this," Michael Pegram told WBTV. "So, I decided to come up with it."
During training, kids work their way up from a Nerf gun to a .22 or nine-millimeter.
His students said they understand guns are not toys.
"If you see a gun tell your parents," 9-year-old Aiden said. "Never point a gun at people."
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Pegram said the sole purpose of the classes is to teach children how to be safe around guns if they come across one.
While he's recieved some push back on social media, he said it's clearly a service parents want.
"It's the parents' choice of what their kids should be around," Pegram said. "I'm just offering a class to let them learn to be safe, if they're going to be around them."
Some question if the classes would help solve gun issues or create more.
"On one hand, maybe it's good to teach gun safety," Bryan Moore said. "But then on the other hand, that would be my one concern, is it would make kids comfortable handling guns, and could lead to more accidents, possibly."
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