Organizer brings gun safety message to Rock Hill in wake of 3-year-old’s death

Jack Logan knows there’s nothing he can do to bring back the 3-year-old Rock Hill boy who police say accidentally shot and killed himself in his family’s home Sunday.

But Logan, founder of Put Down the Guns Now Young People, wants to prevent the next death by gun violence. That’s why he spent Tuesday in Rock Hill, educating people about gun safety and even walking door-to-door to distribute gun locks.

Logan came from Greenville to Rock Hill after seeing news reports of the death of 3-year-old Sa’Vion Barrow. Investigators say the toddler accidentally shot himself Sunday after getting his hands on a gun in his family’s home.

Police are saying little about the ongoing investigation. A Rock Hill Police Department spokesman on Tuesday could not comment on specifics of the incident or the possibility of any criminal charges.

Sunday’s accidental shooting inside a house on Amelia Avenue was the second one in Rock Hill in barely a month that involved a toddler. Last month, a 2-year-old boy was able to get his hands on a loaded gun in the back seat of his great-aunt’s car and shoot his grandmother. The grandmother survived and the great-aunt was charged with unlawful carry of a handgun.

“I’m gonna take the blame for this child’s death. We should have been here,” Logan said of Sa’Vion. “That child should not have been able to pull that trigger.”

He stood in front of two banners erected on India Hook Road across the street from Ebinport Elementary School for a couple of hours Tuesday afternoon.

Logan started his grass-roots effort in 2010 after the death of a close friend, with whom Logan had previously discussed the need to educate children and teenagers about gun violence. He and another friend got to work, handing out materials around Greenville and holding educational rallies.

“We didn’t have any money,” Logan said. “We would go around picking up scrap metal on the side of the road and take it to a scrap yard to sell for us to have enough money to go to Kinko’s to get our literature made up and hand out to kids.”

One of the events the organization holds is a scavenger hunt during which they hide toy guns, Logan said. The hope is that the children will see the gun and not play with or touch it; if they do, officials recommend to parents that they get a gun lock.

On a regular basis, members of the group walk door-to-door in neighborhoods and give a cable-style gun lock to each home. Logan on Tuesday walked through the neighborhood near where Sa’Vion was killed. Nearly every door he knocked on, the person who answered took the gun lock and thanked him.

“It’s a wonderful thing. If it helps save a child’s life, I’m all for it,” said Rock Hill resident Linda Lewis, who accepted one of the locks Tuesday. “I’m a grandmother, and a lot of the kids in the neighborhood call me ‘Grandma.’ I knew the little child that got killed. It’s just a sad thing.”

Many law enforcement agencies, including the Rock Hill Police Department and the York County Sheriff’s Office, offer similar locks at no charge. Logan said he understands some people are apprehensive about going into a police agency.

“Some organizations, like ours, take it upon themselves to knock on the door or set up a table at a convenience store or publicize it in the media: Come get a gun lock,” he said. “We can’t bring (Sa’Vion) back, but we can protect that next child.”

Logan estimates they’ve handed out more than 5,500 gun locks since 2011.

“We do a lot of door-to-door grass-rooting,” he said. “I’ve not enjoyed going to tragedies, but I’ve enjoyed meeting people and helping prevent a mother going to a mortuary.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 10:52 AM with the headline "Organizer brings gun safety message to Rock Hill in wake of 3-year-old’s death."