At MMOC’s Fall Conference on the cost of violence, information will be provided by BeSMART (besmartforkids.org), an organization dedicated to teaching safe gun storage.  Their campaign was launched in 2015 to promote responsible gun ownership in order to reduce the deaths, injuries, and trauma that can result when a child or teen can access a gun.  BeSMART encourages parents and caretakers to: Secure all guns in homes and vehicles; Model responsible behavior around guns; Ask about unsecured guns in other homes; Recognize the role of guns in suicide; and Tell your peers to BeSMART.  The BeSMART campaign’s purpose is to raise awareness that secure gun storage—storing guns locked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition—can save children’s lives.  It is an adult responsibility to keep kids from accessing guns, and every adult can play a role in keeping kids and communities safe.  More than one-third of child gun deaths are suicides, with over 80% of children under 18 using a gun belonging to a parent or relative.  Access to a gun increases the risk of death by suicide across all ages by three times.  Gun use increases fatalities in suicide attempts to 90%, compared to 47% by other means of self-harm.  One study showed that households that locked both firearms and ammunition had a 78% lower rate of self-inflicted firearms injuries among children and teenagers (See website for more information).                    
 
Submitted by Sharon Barron  314-892-2331