OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- Ocean Springs superintendent Bonita Coleman sighed forlornly.

"I don't know how much more we can impress upon gun owners they need to secure their weapons," Coleman said. "I just don't know."

Coleman was speaking just a few hours after a 5-year-old was found with a loaded handgun in his/her backpack at Oak Park Elementary, located at the corner of Government Street and Holcomb Boulevard.

Ocean Springs police were notified of the weapon just after 10 a.m. Coleman said the teacher was doing a backpack check -- performed each day primarily to ensure lunches and juices brought from home are properly stored -- when she discovered the loaded weapon.

"When she reached in, she found the gun," Coleman said. "She called her principal and assistant principal and they in turn notified me and Jesse (Galloway, chief of the school police department)."

School officials notified Ocean Springs police, who arrived to take possession of the weapon and contacted the child's parent or guardian, who came to the school. Oak Park parents were notified of the situation via an automated phone message.

"I have to commend the teachers for following the protocols that are in place and their quick action," Coleman said, "but I hate that schools are being placed in this position because of the irresponsibility. And that's what it is -- irresponsibility.

"Gun owners need to put their guns up. They need to lock them up. A lot of what we've seen in schools would be solved if people would just be responsible gun owners."

Later Tuesday, Capt. Chuck Jackson of the Ocean Springs Police Department said no charges are being immediately filed against the child's guardian, who told investigators he/she placed the gun in the backpack over the weekend while running errands and forgot it was there. The child did not take the backpack to school Monday.

The case will, however, be turned over to the Jackson County Grand Jury to determine if a charge of possession of a weapon on school property is in order. In the interim, Jackson said the OSPD will maintain possession of the weapon.

Jackson also said late Tuesday that, due to what he called "extraordinary circumstances," all reports and evidence will be turned over to the Child Protective Services division of the Jackson County Youth Court.