St. Margaret of Scotland parents, parishioners hear from Be SMART initiative with tips on keeping kids safe
Rheagan Reynolds has made gun safety a regular part of her conversations with other parents when arranging for her children to play at their friends’ houses.
Just like asking about food allergies and who will supervise, Reynolds has incorporated the topic into her texts with other parents in the past year as a normal part of the conversation.
“With my neighbor across the street, our kids are in and out of our houses all the time. And so I started it by saying, ‘Hey, I know the kids are in and out, back and forth all the time, so I just wanted to start the conversation,’” she said. “The more you can be firm in your belief, like this is something you need to know, the better.”
What’s helped her have been the discussions and other activities that Gun Sense: For the Common Good, a ministry at St. Margaret of Scotland Parish, has offered since the group formed in 2022 in the wake of the shooting at Central Visual & Performing Arts High School.
Reynolds joined other parents and parishioners on Nov. 21 for a discussion on talking to children about gun safety. It was the last in a four-part series, “From Outrage to Action,” to raise awareness about gun violence and advocate for change.
Peggy Neufeld, a local volunteer with Be SMART, a program of Everytown for Gun Safety, offered suggestions on what families can do in their own homes to keep kids safe around firearms.
“We just want our kids to grow up happy and healthy,” Neufeld said. “We each have the right to make responsible decisions about how to protect our homes and families, and that means having a gun if that’s what they need to do. If we can prevent even just one child gun death and one injury, it’s our responsibility to do so.”
Using the acronym SMART, Neufeld walked through five basic steps — Secure all guns in your home or vehicle; Model responsible behavior around guns; Ask about the presence of unsecured guns in other homes; Recognize the role of guns in suicide; and Tell others about the message of Be SMART.
“It’s always the adult’s responsibility to prevent unauthorized access to guns, not a curious child’s responsibility to avoid guns,” Neufeld said. “What we encourage is that you make it part of your normal safety conversations you have with children.”
Unintentional shootings make up 5 percent of annual gun deaths among children 17 and younger. In 2023, there were more than 400 unintentional shootings by children in the United States. Tiffany Taylor, manager of the Trauma Program at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, said that’s a statistic she would like to see reach zero.
“The big piece here is that we know that not every death is going to be preventable, but those unintentional ones are the ones we really have to focus on,” she said. “We should not have unintentional deaths from guns, because we have these tools with us to educate ourselves and educate everyone around us.”
“I think the biggest thing I could tell you all is to have the hard conversation,” Taylor said. “It’s so much easier to have the uncomfortable conversation than it is to have the funeral, right?”
St. Margaret of Scotland School has partnered with Be SMART as it plans to expand its curriculum to include gun safety for students and their families. Parents have been invited to sign a pledge to secure guns in the home and in vehicles, model responsible behavior with guns and ask other adults about unsecured guns.
The school also plans to keep the conversation front and center throughout the year, said Michael Sonntag, who serves on the core team for the Gun Sense group at St. Margaret of Scotland.
“There will be consistent messaging throughout the year,” he said. “Any time the holidays come around, we will have reminders about having the difficult conversations with family you may not see often … This will be a consistent thing that shouldn’t feel like, ‘oh, here they come again.’ It’s just part of what we do. I think the more we talk about it, then the less uncomfortable it becomes.”
Be SMART, an initiative of Everytown for Gun Safety, offers these safety tips for talking to your children and adolescents. To learn more about Be SMART, visit besmartforkids.org.
>> For young children
Make it a part of the normal safety conversation you have with your own children.
Keep the language simple; for example, “If you see a gun, don’t touch it. Tell an adult right away.”
Tell children not to touch a gun, even if it looks like a toy.
Assure children they will not get in trouble if they tell an adult they’ve seen a gun.
Repeat it on a regular basis.
>> For adolescents
Include it in your general safety conversations about topics like drugs, alcohol and drunk driving.
Tell them to immediately leave any situation where an unsecured gun is present.
Tell them not to listen to a friend who says a gun is unloaded or otherwise safe.
Give your teens strategies to get out of a situation where a gun is present. For example, your teen could say, “Mom just texted me that I have to get home right now.”
Assure them that it’s OK to ask people about the presence of unsecured guns in other homes they may be visiting, but offer to do it for them if they don’t feel comfortable.
>> Tips for firearms owners
Model, advocate and teach safe and responsible firearms handling.
Keep firearms unloaded until you’re ready to use them.
Properly secure firearms and ammunition to prevent unauthorized access using gun locks, safes or lockboxes.
Think like a child; merely hiding firearms doesn’t stop a child’s curiosity or an adolescent’s impulse.
