MILWAUKEE — After Milwaukee Police said several kids were shot and injured in the city this week, the Prince Hall Masonic Temple said they wanted to make sure everyone knew how to be safe around firearms.

They teamed up with Milwaukee’s Office of Violence Prevention on Saturday to host a gun safety class.

Audrian Brown is one person who signed up for the course. He said he has taken hunter safety courses in the past but believes it is never a bad idea to have a refresher.

“I wanted to make sure that I had the information in order to have guns and keep them as safe as possible,” said Brown.

As the Most Worshipful Grandmaster of the Prince Hall Masonic Temple, he said he wanted to provide a venue for the community to learn about gun safety.

“I believe it’s going to teach people how to handle the weapon, how to safely operate a weapon, because a lot of people out there have weapons and don’t really know how to use them, don’t really know what they are about,” said Brown. “It’s like buying a brand new electric car and knowing nothing about the electrical outwork of a car so we are hoping that folks can come out to enjoy us, enjoy the class and learn something.”

Jieire Vance of Guaranteed Protection Services is a firearm safety instructor. He stressed the importance of using gun safety locks and gun safety boxes as storage options.

“I know a lot of times in our community when it relates to families and kids, it’s a negative connotation with firearms and kids. We tend not to talk about it,” said Vance. “We do want to cover if you encounter a weapon, how to make that weapon safe and then prevent any accidents from happening doing so.”

Vance said there is a three-step process called “Avoid, Deny, Defend” that he recommends before resorting to a firearm to protect yourself

The first step is to avoid places that may lead to violence. However, he said if a threat finds you, deny it from escalation. If there is no other option, he said, then defend yourself.

“The goal of the entire process is to prevent violence to minimize these heinous crimes that’s going on with gun violence and even also how to be safe so that a gun isn’t stolen because we have a huge problem with stolen cars, stolen weapons as well,” said Vance.

For Brown, the hope is that if adults take gun safety seriously, it will also benefit the youth.

“Our sole purpose is that the pre-teens will stop getting their hands on guns and shooting themselves; that’s generally an accidental death,” said Brown.

The Prince Hall Masonic Temple plans to continue promoting gun safety with another course next Saturday, July 29, from noon to 2 p.m.

It will also be hosting a free gun lock giveaway in a few weeks on Saturday, Aug. 5, from noon to 4 p.m.