As the school year begins across Vermont, providing a safe educational environment must be our top priority.
Studies of school-based gun violence all point to the same significant point of intervention — addressing students’ unauthorized access to guns in the home. Unsecured guns in the home pose a risk to students beyond gun violence in schools. In the U.S. each year, nearly 350 children under the age of 18 unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else. More than 600 children die by gun suicide. 86% of gun deaths in Vermont are suicides. In the overwhelming majority of these incidents, the gun used was one that belonged to someone in their home.
Research has shown that secure firearm storage practices are associated with up to an 85 percent reduction in the risk of self-inflicted and unintentional firearm injuries among children and teens. To protect our community and school, I urge you to do the following:
- Unload. Gun owners should remove ammunition from the firearm, including removing any chambered rounds.
- Lock. Unloaded firearms should be secured with a firearm locking device, such as a jacket lock, or in a locked location like a safe.
- Separate. Ammunition should be stored separately from the firearm in a secure location.
Storing firearms securely protects any child in the home as well as students throughout the school district and community. You can find a secure storage fact sheet, tips for talking to your children about guns, and information on child firearm suicide, at BeSMARTforKids.org/resources.
Patricia Byrd
Jericho