ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A gun safety instructor is reacting after Rochester Police say a young child got ahold of his father’s gun and accidentally shot him. The father was rushed to the hospital.

The shooting happened on Sunday evening at a home on Velox Street, off Dewey Avenue. The father is in stable condition at the hospital and the child was not hurt. The man is charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child.

Gun expert David Jenkins, who’s been teaching gun safety for nearly 20 years, reacted to hearing the news.

“I just ask why? In my world, I’ve grown up around firearms, it was instilled in me as a youth, that guns can be dangerous in the wrong hands.”

Eriketa Cost: “Sounds like gun safety 101?”

David Jenkins, founder of Rochester Personal Defense LLC: “It does. Any new applicant has to take an 18 hour course, which we do, and we’ve been doing quite a few people because we’re known in the community. But in that course, we teach not only firearm safety, we also teach the safe storage, and we go in-depth on that.”

In New York State, gun applicants must go through 16-hours in the classroom and 2-hours of live-fire firearm safety training.

“Let’s say you come into one of our classes,” said Jenkins. “I want to make sure that you never have to make that phone call, because your gun got stolen, or you misplaced it, or something bad happened to it, maybe someone else got access to it, and someone got hurt.”

If the gun is out of your direct control, it has to be secured. 

Jenkins demonstrated how to use one small option for a case, costing anywhere from $20 to $50, depending on manufacturer and quality.

 “Since we’re talking about a vehicle, this is one thing that I tend to recommend on the lower end of security. It’s got a really nice cable,” he said, demonstrating how the cable connects to a car seat.

There are larger options, even for the car. 

Jenkins said in this case, the gunowner’s license will likely be suspended. Depending on the circumstances, he could get his other pistols taken away and license revoked.

If the judge gives the gunowner a second chance down the road, he’ll have to go through safety training again. Jenkins says it’s a good idea to teach any and all kids about gun safety. Even as young as five-years-old.

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