At the barbershop, talk turns to solutions to gun violence
A new kind of conversation is happening inside a downtown Raleigh institution. Gun safety advocates are visiting barbershops and consultants are working with barbers in training about the importance of a gun lock.
"We don't want our children to have access to a weapon," said trainer Bettie Murchison, CEO of Oasis Health and Wellness Centers International.
"We definitely want to help you keep your family safe," she tells barbers.
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.
Deputy Ryne Doxsie shows a lock. "These are pretty universal," he said. "They'll fit handguns, shotguns, rifles, pretty much any gun out there."
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.
"In lieu of that, if people can't afford a safe, or if they don't have a place to put a safe, these (free locks the sheriff's office is giving out) are a cheap alternative. It may not necessarily keep somebody from taking it and carrying away if their house is broken into, but at least it'll keep it out of the hands of children."
Just this week, the WRAL Documentary Unit released its latest documentary about gun violence in North Carolina. The team set out to uncover why kids in North Carolina are 51% more likely to die from gun violence.
You can watch "UnSafe: North Carolina kids dying from gun violence" on WRAL.com. The documentary is also available everywhere you stream WRAL.
Gun safety resources
Learn about how to store your firearms safely at home and on the go, how to talk to your children about gun safety and how to make sure that schools and playdates are a safe environment from NC S.A.F.E.
Download a free gun safety kit or request a free gun lock from Project Child Safe.
The Durham County Gun Safety Program also offers outreach events, best safety practices and free gun locks on request.
