By Brody Gray
Nearly 1,300 children 18 and younger die every year from something preventable. What do you think it is?
Accidental shootings, according to nationwidechildrens.org.
Mr. Scott Blakely, safety and student wellness director for Delaware Community Schools, also served as a deputy in the Blackford County Sheriff’s Department.
“If there are weapons and guns in the house it’s an absolute must that kids need to know to stay away from them,” Blakely said. “I think it’s important if they’re going to learn how to shoot them, they learn how to do it right and they take a gun safety class as well.”
One out of every three families with children have at least one firearm in the house. It is estimated there are more than 22 million children living in homes with firearms, nationwidechildrens.org stated.
Young kids often aim toy guns at each other.
“I think kids no older than five should be taught about gun safety, because they point Nerf guns at each other,” said Mr. Matt Medaris, school resource officer and Eaton police corporal.
There have been accidental shootings involving children that have been in the news in east-central Indiana in recent years.
In Muncie on July 26, 2022, a 6-year-old boy shot and fatally killed his 5-year-old sister. On the day of her death, a key was needed to open the safe and it apparently had been left in its keyhole.
On Nov. 13, 2022, a 4-year-old boy fatally shot himself in the head accidentally when a loaded handgun was left on a child’s dollhouse. Later in the day the boy’s mother and her boyfriend were arrested on preliminary counts of neglect resulting in death, a level 1 felony carrying up to 40 years in prison.
According to the boyfriend, he routinely left the handgun sitting on a dollhouse in the bedroom he shared with the mother and her two kids, ages four and two.
On Jan. 18 2025, a 9-year-old boy shot and injured his 4-year-old brother. He was taken to Ball Memorial Hospital and later transferred to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. He was reported to be stable the next day.
Delaware County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Johnny Angel, a SWAT team leader, said “awareness helps the child to be less likely to play with a firearm or mess with it without permission.”
Guidance counselor Mr. Roger Spaulding accidentally shot himself when he was 51. He was downsizing to a micro from a full size and he went to the shooting range. Spaulding wasn’t used to the micro and went to shoot and shot himself between the fingers.
He has some advice to help parents.
“Store the ammo and firearms separately if possible,” Spaulding said.
If kids can’t get access to the ammo and you store your guns unloaded, it will lower the chances of a young kid accidentally shooting himself or herself.
“The most important thing kids should understand about firearms is don’t aim it at something you’re not intending to kill,” Medaris said.
NOTE: These are the officers’ own opinions and they may or may not align with the opinion of their law enforcement department. They were speaking on their own behalf, not on behalf of the law enforcement agency.
