Preventing Gun Violence in America Teach-Out

If you or someone close to you own a gun, make sure it’s safely stored. When guns are safely stored, the likelihood of violence or injury from gun use goes down substantially.

Take these steps to make sure that guns are stored safely and to have conversations with your family and others in your community about safe storage.

1. Have safety guidelines for guns in your home and discuss them with your family, especially young people.
2. Consider other locations your children and teenagers spend time including friends and grandparents, and ask about gun safety and storage.
3. Consider keeping guns unloaded, and double check a gun is unloaded when removing it from storage.
4. Consider storing ammunition in a separate from the firearm.
5. Consider a gun locking device that makes it inoperable. It is not a replacement for storage, but is an additional precaution.

If you want to support people in your life, learn and respond to the signs that someone is in distress, may harm themselves, or may be a danger to others.

One thing our experts want to stress is that gun violence and suicides are preventable. There is hope that we can save lives. One way to do this is to pay attention and support the people in your life.

People who use guns to hurt themselves or others often show signs before they act, but you can’t support if you aren’t sure what to watch for. Take this chance to learn or remind yourself of some concerning behaviors. These are also signs of when a person may need more support, even if they are not yet reaching the point of action.

Some concerning behaviors:

• Making threats for violence or bullying, even if it seems to be an empty threat
• Talking about wanting to die
• Expressing feelings of helplessness, loneliness, or despair
• Showing a lot of interest in or bragging about access to guns
• Dramatically shifting mood, sleep, or school and work performance
• Increasing or new substance abuse
• Being a victim of bullying or abuse
• Enduring recent traumatic life events like death of a loved one, major illness, job loss, or relationship change
• Lack of healthcare, especially for mental health or substance abuse

Potential steps to take:

• Read more or seek out a training about violence and suicide prevention.
• If you sense immediate danger, contact 911.
• Alert families, counselors, teachers, or local law authorities of the person you’re concerned about.
• Don’t go it alone, reach out for professional help to support someone you’re concerned about.
 
• Consider discussing directly with the individual, but use your judgement.
• If you have children you want to support, encourage them to tell you if they see some of the signs above. Your school community may have trainings, or you could use the resources below to suggest some.

If you want to be part of reducing gun violence in your community, find ways to volunteer or support related programs.

As you heard from some experts in this Teach-Out, there are many ways to have an impact. Here are some ideas of efforts or organizations you can search for in your local area, but seek out what feels important to you.

• Domestic violence, community violence, and suicide prevention centers or trainings
• School climate / bullying prevention programs
• Neighborhood greening or public space improvements
• Youth community programs