Local CCW instructor preaches the importance of gun safety

SHASTA COUNTY, Calif. — The topic of guns and gun safety is trending in our country. In Redding, we’ve had a gun scare at Enterprise High School and a shooting inside a Grocery Outlet just this week alone.

Gun safety is especially relevant right now, and KRCR spoke with a local veteran on Thursday who teaches CCW classes.

Carl Bott, a Redding radio personality, was in the Marines for 32 years and has been leading CCW classes for over a decade. He’s frustrated by the events of this week but believes the proper laws are in place in California.

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Bott thinks the necessity is greater in 2022 to be responsible with your firearms, especially with the growing issue of mental illness. Roughly 12,000 people have their CCWs in Shasta County. Bott says that group embodies what it means to be gun safe.

But he believes proper gun safety is not common enough in our nation.

"One of the issues is that people need to keep their firearms under lock and key, especially if you have children," Bott explained. "And there's three categories: children, felons, and those that have mental problems. By law, you have to keep firearms away from them."

For those with CCWs, Bott said their guns should not be left in their car's glove box; instead, they should be in a safe or locked case in the trunk.

Overall, Bott thinks there's been a "sea change" in how we handle the topic of guns:

"Lack of parental responsibility; lack of telling kids what's right and wrong—it goes back to that."

Bott emphasized how strict and thorough gun training classes are. In the school setting, Carl encourages students to always point out suspicious behavior—even, like in the case of Wednesday at Enterprise High, if it proves to be a false alarm. Bott is also in favor of hardening our schools to make access harder for those who want to commit harm.

As for parents who own guns but allow their children to get ahold of them, Bott said they deserve to be “hammered” for their poor safety practices.

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