Columbia Board of Education working on message to public about safe gun storage
Jazsmin Halliburton
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Columbia Board of Education met Thursday morning to discuss potentially implementing a public safety announcement on safe gun storage.
The board discussed the use of the Be SMART campaign in Columbia Public Schools. The Be SMART campaign was launched by Everytown for Gun Safety to promote responsible gun ownership and reduce child gun deaths.
The board also discussed a safe gun storage resolution and a community-wide PSA about safe gun storage. The resolution proposed in the board meeting recognizes that Missouri does not have secure-storage gun laws.
Board President John Lyman said the board has talked about these actions for a while. Lyman said that a Chamber of Commerce meeting on Wednesday morning inspired members to come together and take action on things that are happening in the community.
Lyman said the board will look at other school districts and see how resolutions were made regarding gun storage safety to base Columbia’s on. The board will also work with the community and CPD to gather data to better inform parents about the importance of safe storage.
“You don’t want to not store your gun properly,” said Lyman. “Bad things can happen. And when those bad things happen, it can be really bad. And so just letting folks know that it is a thing and people need to be aware of that, and know people need to also know that there are ways that they can help prevent it.”
According to Be SMART, roughly 360 children 17 years old and under unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else each year. The resolution states that secure firearm safety is an effective strategy to keep schools and students safe.
If the board approves the resolution, CPS would update the student handbook, send letters to parents and continue to work with law enforcement about securing guns in homes.
The resolution will be rediscussed in November and the board hopes the PSA can be distributed in December.