IQALUIT - "I had a kid come in who had been accidentally shot in the head by his brother," says Dr. Radha Jetty, a pediatrician at the Iqaluit hospital. "After that I decided I should know more about gun safety."

Wes Smith explains how to properly load a long rifle to his firearms safety class Oct. 17. - Erika Sherk/NNSL photo

Jetty was one of nine people in a school room at the Old Residence of Nunavut Arctic College Oct. 17 with a gun in their hands.

It might sound intimidating but the guns are all disarmed, and the group was there to learn how to be safe around such weapons.

Wes Smith, who teaches the local firearms safety courses, said he holds a course once or twice a month.

"I see it as a public service," he said. "If you teach safety, it's prevention. You never know whose life you saved but chances are you saved somebody somewhere along the line."

Enforcing firearms safety comes under the jurisdiction of the RCMP, Smith said, but people need to remember that it's not just a list of rules.

"I don't like rules. For me -- is it a good idea or a bad idea?" he said.

"I have a 10-year-old at home. Is it a good idea or a bad idea to have a trigger lock at home? It's a good idea."

It only makes sense for people to know how to be safe with guns, Smith said, especially in the North where people hunt and use them for protection from wildlife.

At the course, eight people, including a 12-year-old boy and his mother, were learning how to properly handle, store and shoot firearms.

"My son goes out camping with my father all the time," said Mary Kootoo. "I wanted him to know the safety and to respect that it is a weapon, not a toy."

Kootoo herself came because she wanted to get over her fear of guns, she said.

"It's good (to learn about guns) so I don't get hurt," said her son Daniel.

The course ends with a test. If students pass they're eligible for their possession/acquisition licence.

It's usually a good range of people that sign up for the course, Smith said. Northerners who have been hunting all their life will sit next to people newly from the South who have never touched a gun before.

"I just love people who have never handled them," Smith laughed. "They don't have the bad habits."

He donates most of the $50 fees for the course to charity, most recently to a work mission to Guyana.

"I'm not out to make money on it, just to make the community safer."

Besides, he adds with a chuckle, "I like to talk about guns and it's one of those things you can't really talk about in the lunch room. You can talk about hockey. But if you say 'I bought a really nice 270 Winchester,' people back away."

Smith is qualified as a master instructor which means he can teach other people to be firearms safety instructors. He said he's always looking for promising students to train, particularly in the communities, to spread the safety message further afield. Even beyond hunting, guns are a fact of life in the North, he said.

"If you're going to go camping or wandering, you should have something for polar bear protection," he said.

Is it a good idea or a bad idea to be safe about it?

According to Smith, it's a good idea.