Gun Injuries and Fayetteville Child Neglect

A Fayetteville couple was recently charged with child neglect and were arrested in relation to shooting a 4-year-old boy.

NC Gun Safety for Kids

The couple, Qunisha Edwards and Vincent Massey, will be charged with child neglect, failure to store a firearm to protect a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. Massey faces additional charges for possession of a firearm by a felon. He turned himself in and is being held on $185,000 bond.

Child Injured by Gun

Qunisha Edward's son shot himself over the summer and police were only notified in October. Every year parents, guardians and family members don't take the necessary safety measures that gun owners need to practice. According to 2007 reports from the Center for Disease Control, over 1,500 children died because of gun-related injuries.

Safety Tips for Gun Owners

Anyone who possesses a gun needs to have it licensed and registered. Whether or not the gun owner lives in a home with children or not, they should develop safe practices to ensure the protection of minors and adults. According to the National Rifle Association, these are basic gun safety steps everyone should follow:

• Keep guns unloaded until they are ready to use.
  Have a locked storage unit (safe or case) to contain the unloaded gun.
  Store ammunition separate from the gun.

If you are a gun owner who is a parent or lives in a home with children, have a serious talk with them and discuss the dangers of guns and what they should do if they ever find a gun when no adults are around. The four steps children should follow that are outlined by the NRA are:

1. STOP
2. Don't touch the gun
3. Leave the area
4. Tell an adult

If your child or a child you know has been injured because of a gun owner's negligence, contact a child neglect attorney at Brent Adams & Associates. Our child neglect lawyers in Fayetteville, Raleigh and Dunn handle cases where innocent children are hurt or injured because of another's wrong-doing. Contact an NC child neglect attorney online or by calling 800.849.5931.