GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Kids handling guns, showing their friends, taking them around town and even to school, we have seen that happen over and over.
One Greensboro couple is hoping to stop that type of behavior, by teaching kids how to respond in those situations.
It’s all about education. Inside an office building off South Holden Road, they hope to create a new standard for today’s youth. Their goal is to empower kids to step up and do what’s right before it turns tragic.
“Parents, train and educate your children, if you don’t, a friend, the streets, someone else will,” said Erica Maness-Donnell, owner of Sharp Shooterz Tactical Solutions. She is putting out a plea to put an end to gun violence. “Let’s try to be a part of the solution,” said her husband, Dontae Donell.
The couple owns Sharp Shooterz Tactical Solutions in Greensboro and are making it their mission to educate kids about firearms.
For Erica, it’s her drive as a mom. “Education is everything, if you know better, you do better,” she said.
For Dontae, it’s his past that pushes him to get involved. “I had a situation where a classmate brought a firearm to school and I didn’t come from the background where we were educated on firearms safety and I made a bad decision to carry the firearm for a few periods,” he said. “As a result it landed me in the courts, i got suspended from school for a year, I had a felony gun charge as an adolescent.”
He wants to prevent teenagers today from ending up in the same situation. “This is the starting point, it is vitally important to at least start,” Dontae said. Sharp Shooterz Tactical Solutions are hosting classes for kids ages 7 to 17, going through gun safety, real-life scenarios and hands-on learning. “We talk about what are some ways you can notify your teacher without looking suspicious or how do you get out of the classroom to go the principals office to let someone know,” Erica said.
Those lessons, one Greensboro mom wanted her son to learn before heading to high school in a few weeks. “To be honest, before he took this class, I had never had any conversations with him about gun safety and that was the main reason why I wanted him to take the class,” said Kristy McDougald. Her 14-year-old son was in the first class the group hosted.
But it’s something the instructors, Erica and Dontae have been doing for years with their own kids. “I think that takes the temptation out of them wanting to handle a firearm without permission because we shoot as a family so it is not anything new to them, it is not so super exciting, we take the wow factor out of it, you get to hold the gun, we get to train you on the gun so why are you going behind out back touching guns,” Erica said.
If you are interested in signing up your child to take a class please visit the Sharp Shooterz website.
