Artist hopes to promote gun safety through Firearm Coloring Book

BOISE, Idaho - An artist in Boise, Idaho has found a way to incorporate several of her passions together to help start a conversation about gun safety.

Sara Westman, a graphic artist and a firearm carrier who trains regularly, has created coloring books filled with precisely drawn firearm illustrations. "To kick off 2017 I created something I wanted to exist," Westman wrote on her website.

Westman paired up with Modern American Shooting & Firearms to create the Firearm Coloring Book. "I wanted to ensure I was doing my part to keep children safe. Firearms are not a toy, and should never be treated as such, so I wanted to direct this coloring book into being a teaching aid as well as a conversation starter."

The coloring books, Westman says, are ideal for older kids and adults because they are full of detail, but she is working on age specific books for kids which helps spread the message of firearm safety. "However, my three nieces (all under 5 years old) had a blast coloring with me over the weekend, and that time served as a refresher for how they are supposed to respond to unattended firearms," Westman told FOX 13.

"I firmly believe that we have to plan for the unexpected, and it is very important to me that regardless of if there are firearms in the home, if a child comes across an unattended firearm in any circumstance, they should at the very least know to stop, don't touch, and find an adult," she said.

Westman says her favorite gun to illustrate so far was the MP5K. "They're neat little firearms," she says.

Westman was born and raised in Michigan and went to Pensacola State College in Florida, but now calls Idaho home, where she loves the outdoors and specializes in logo and illustration as a graphic designer.

Right now, anyone who wants to purchase a Firearm Coloring Book can head to the website. 

She is hoping that stores will also start carrying them soon.