Hospital program shows parents what happens when their kids find a gun

FORT WORTH, Texas - One North Texas hospital is showing parents the shocking truth about what their children might do with an unsecured gun.

Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth called this past weekend gut-wrenching. A total of 5 children were treated on Sunday for gunshot wounds including two who were shot accidentally by a sibling.

Now the hospital wants to remind parents about the importance of knowing how to prevent these situations.

The hospital’s Aim for Safety Program puts kids alone in a room with an unloaded weapon. A hidden camera then shows their parents what could happen.

Dr. Chad Hamner participated in the course Monday with his wife and children. Curiosity got the best of their children and they grabbed the gun.

Parents watch what happens when their kids find an unloaded gun during a Cook Children's Medical Center gun safety course.

It was shocking for the parents to see. However, it proved the point that accidental shootings could happen to anyone.

The hospital said it’s important for parents to make sure their kids know what to do if they find a gun so that they can apply that information even they aren’t at home.

“We do have guns in our house. They are kept in locked safes. But you never know when they’re gonna find something anywhere,” said Dr. Hamner, Cook Children’s medical director for trauma. “Since a lot of these incidents I’ve heard happen outside their home, also reiterating to my kids when you go somewhere else and I’m not there and the parents may not have the same kind of values we do or at least don’t stress the same importance about safety with these things. You can’t control what happens with your kids when they’re at another place.”

The program goes over with it calls the three T’s of gun safety for children – talking, teaching and taking. It is open to the public.

Those who are interested should contact the hospital directly for details about registration.