Cuyahoga County is trying a new tack to prevent gun injuries and deaths among kids.
Instead of running away from weapons, the county board of health is partnering with a shooting range that sells them. Why?
Myesha Watkins, who heads the county’s new violence prevention office, was interested in offering more firearm safety classes — but she had no budget for it at the time. She reached out to the county’s Board of Health, for whom violence prevention is also a priority, to see where they could partner.
The board got back to her with an idea — a free one. Why not try Parma Armory, a local shooting center, gun store and safety training institute? Suzanne Hrusch, the board of health’s director of external affairs, knew the owners. They already taught a gun safety class at their venue.
Hrusch reached out, and the partnership was born. Over the last year, staff at the Parma Armory have given more than 10 free gun safety classes across Cuyahoga County, at no charge to taxpayers. The classes are geared to kids, but adults are incentivized to attend as well. The armory hands out one free hour of time at the shooting range for adults who participate.
Watkins said the classes are a way to include gun owners in conversations about gun safety, when the debate about the Second Amendment is polarizing. Her goal at the Office of Violence Prevention, she said, is not to discourage residents from owning guns. It’s to ensure they handle them safely.
“The stance is not whether you should or shouldn’t,” Watkins said. “It’s that if you do, please lock it up, so that we can ensure that communities are safe, your families are safe, your loved ones are safe.”
The Academy of Medicine in Northern Ohio gives out free gun safes — to store firearms and ammunition — at the events. Cleveland residents over 18 can also pick up free gun safes at three Cleveland Public Library branches: Rice, Glenville and Lorain.
The next firearm safety training is Sept. 29 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in North Olmsted, at 28114 Lorain Rd. More information is available here.
The disease of gun violence
Firearms surpassed motor-vehicle accidents as the leading cause of death among kids aged one to 19 in the U.S. in 2020. Those shootings can be accidental or intentional. In 2024 in Cuyahoga County, homicide, most by gun, was the top cause of death for kids between one and 17. An unintentional shooting also killed at least one kid.
To prevent homicides and reduce gun access among kids, the county’s board of health recommended promoting gun safety at home. With the partnership, it’s now able to offer the training at locations across the county. So far, it has hosted gun safety training in Maple Heights, Shaker Heights and North Olmsted. Watkins’ office also helped facilitate training at three Cleveland library branches on the East and West sides.
“Though violence prevention is something we want to get into, we haven’t really cracked that nut until right about now, in the last year or two,” Hrusch said.
The trainers at Parma Armory also wanted to provide training for kids because they wanted to keep their own children safe, said Will Ortiz, one of the instructors.
“I have four children myself, and they get into everything,” Ortiz said. “It took me the longest time to figure out that they were finding their Christmas presents, opening them up, wrapping them back up and putting them away.”
What’s in the gun safety training?
Ortiz developed the training in partnership with other employees and instructors at Parma Armory, most of whom are former police or military. Other slides came from the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, a gun advocacy organization.
The training focuses on four rules for kids:
- Assume that every gun is real
- Assume that every gun is loaded
- Don’t touch the gun
- Tell an adult if you see a gun
No firearms are involved in the trainings with the county and the board of health. The Parma Armory does offer a family safety class at their facility, in which parents can allow their children to touch a firearm without a magazine or bullets in it. That isn’t offered outside the facility.
While kids are the focus, Watkins also recommends it for adults — especially if they’re a parent or grandparent. The trainers advise all gun owners to lock their device in a safe at all times so that children can’t access them. These safes can be portable and small, if owners want the gun in a nightstand or car.
Interested in gun safety training?
The county doesn’t have any trainings scheduled after Sept. 29. But they do plan to offer more, Hrusch said.
Residents interested in training sessions can email Hrusch at shrusch@ccbh.net to receive notices about upcoming gun safety classes. Hrusch also invited municipalities, businesses or other groups seeking gun safety trainings to contact her.
