With help from a group of parents, kids and hidden cameras, the Fox O&O in Charlotte, N.C. has found that if you give young children access to a gun, it won’t take long for one of them to start using it.
In the two-part WJZY investigation, the first part of which ran Wednesday, it took a child in a group of 6- to 8-years-olds, unsupervised in a room filled with toys, just 60 seconds to find a realistic looking BB gun – and less than four minutes to pull the trigger. Twelve minutes of uninterrupted gun play – complete with playing dead – followed.
The kids' parents, including Carolina Panther Thomas Davis, seemed shocked and vowed to make gun safety a priority. “You know there have been so many kids who have lost their lives you know, thinking that they were playing with a toy…you know not really knowing. What if this wasn't a test," Davis said.
