New NC program works with schools to get parents to safely store their guns

GARNER, N.C. — A new statewide campaign is putting gun owners on notice that it’s up to them to help prevent school and community tragedies by safely securing their firearms.

The N.C. S.A.F.E. for Schools program kicked off this week to provide all 115 school districts with information to share with their families about safe storage of firearms. The effort comes amid data showing half of North Carolina gun owners say they aren’t securely storing their weapons.

“We know in the United States you have a right to possess a firearm,” said William Lassiter, deputy secretary for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention at the state Department of Public Safety. “But you also have an awesome responsibility to make sure that that firearm does not end up in the hands of a child or a felon in your local community because you didn’t secure that firearm in your home or in your vehicle.”

Lassiter was joined at a news conference Thursday at Garner High School by several state and local leaders, including state Attorney General Jeff Jackson and Wake County Superintendent Robert Taylor.

The program kicked off Wednesday in the Wake County school system with a Parent Safety Night at Garner High, which included distribution of free gun locks. The program plans to distribute more free gun locks to schools across the state to give to parents.

“By working together as a community, we can and we will keep our students and our teachers safe from all preventable tragedies,” said Wake school board vice chair Tyler Swanson.

Gun deaths rising among NC children

Program leaders say the need for safe gun storage is even more pressing now that firearms are the leading cause of injury-related death for children and youths in North Carolina.

Nearly 30% of North Carolina high school students surveyed in 2021 said it would take them less than an hour to get — and be ready to fire — a loaded gun without a parent’s or other adult’s permission.

The percentage of juvenile crimes in North Carolina involving a firearm has gone up 300% in the past five years.

Last year, Lassiter said 87 guns found their way onto North Carolina school campuses, leading to 267 charges that were filed. Those are preventable events, Lassiter said, because 75% of those guns came from the homes of those students.

These gun incidents at schools are terrorizing teachers and students and disrupting learning, Lassiter said.

“Our children are growing up in the world of gun violence that is no longer a distant story,” said Taylor, the Wake superintendent. “It is a reality that cuts too many communities, too many students and too many lives.”

Criminal charges for not properly storing firearms

The campaign is encouraging people to store their guns securely when they’re left in their cars or at home. For instance, Taylor said he keeps his gun safely stored at home in a safe with a gun lock.

Jackson, the attorney general, said it’s particularly important to secure firearms in vehicles because most of the guns that are stolen in North Carolina are from cars. He said people should take advantage of the free gun locks that are widely available, such as those given to National Guard members like himself.

“Safely securing your firearm is the central component of being a responsible gun owner, and it’s a piece of being a gun owner that just about all of us agree on,” Jackson said.

Under state law, a student who brings a firearm to school is required to be suspended for 365 days. The person who allowed the student access to the firearm could also face criminal charges.

“You will be charged with a crime if you violate this law,” said Garner Deputy Police Chief Chris Adams. “Too much tragedy has occurred for us to treat this matter lightly.”

In September, the father of the teenage suspect charged with killing five people in Raleigh’s Hedingham community pleaded guilty to improperly storing a 9 mm handgun on a bedside table, The News & Observer previously reported. He was sentenced to serve a year’s unsupervised probation for the misdemeanor charge of storing a firearm with a minor’s unsafe access.

Measuring success of program

Lassiter said the success of NC S.A.F.E. for Schools will be measured by several metrics, including:

▪ Reduce the percentage of North Carolina households not securely storing a firearm to 40% in the next three years.

▪ Reduce the number of guns found on school campuses.

▪ Reduce the number or cases of guns being used by juveniles in crimes.

▪ Reduce the percentage of high school students who say they can get easy access to a gun.

“We know for each of those guns that are secured, that’s one less gun that can end up on school campus, one less gun that can be used as an accidental death of a young person,” Lassiter said.