BVSD parents touched by tragedy spread the word about secure firearm storage

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Content Warning: This article contains information about the death of a child and may be difficult for some to read, especially those that have lost loved ones or have been involved in gun-related incidents.

Alana Tempest-Mitchell never got to meet her brother, Teddy. He was killed, at the age of 10, in a senseless shooting.

“My brother was at his friend's house, down the hall in their apartment complex. They were playing only about 50 feet away, when his 13-year-old friend shot him accidentally in the head with a shotgun and killed him,” explained Tempest-Mitchell. “The other boy called and said, ‘Teddy is dead.’ My dad was the one to find him. He rushed over to the other apartment and found his lifeless body.”

Teddy was buried in his beloved pee-wee football uniform that he never got to wear in a game. His community came together to mourn the loss of a young life. While Tempest-Mitchell wasn’t born yet, the tragedy had a profound impact on everyone in Tempest-Mitchell’s family, including her’s.

“My entire life has been shaped around gun storage and gun violence and secure guns,” Tempest-Mitchell recalled. “My dad has PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). The preventable nature of it haunted my mom to the point that she could not function anymore. She raised me, and this was our entire life – guns kill kids. So, since I was a kid, we have been the people who ask, ‘Do you have firearms in the home?’”

She says that question never occurred to her parents, before the accident.

“No one thought to ask, do you have a gun in the home? Is it locked up? Is it secure? This wasn't a thought,” Tempest-Mitchell said.

She and others involved in Be SMART, however, are hoping to change that now.

The non-partisan Be SMART campaign was launched in 2015 to promote responsible gun ownership in order to reduce child gun deaths. 

SMART stands for:

Secure all guns in your home and vehicles
Model responsible behavior around guns
Ask about the presence of unsecured guns in other homes
Recognize the role of guns in suicide
Tell your peers to be SMART

“What I like about Be SMART is the acronym,” Tempest-Mitchell said. “It makes it easy for people to understand. Really, I focus on the ‘A’ - the ‘Ask.’ That is the main thing that I push.”

While she acknowledges that it might seem momentarily awkward to ask the question before a play date, it can be life-saving.

“It's worth the 10 seconds to ask, ‘Before my kiddo comes over, do you have firearms in your home? And are they secured?’ I have never had a negative response,” Tempest-Mitchell said. “In fact, everyone has always said, ‘thank you for asking.’”

To normalize the question, Tempest-Mitchell has even worked to integrate it into the bylaws of mom’s groups she has been in. Growing up in North Dakota, where nearly everyone owns a gun, she’s appreciative of the non-partisan approach of this effort.

Recently, Tempest-Mitchell, the mother of a student at Louisville Elementary and another at Louisville Middle School joined with Peggy Darrah, who has kids at Angevine Middle School and Centaurus High School to speak to other parents at Angevine’s Community BBQ. And they handed out about 75 gun locks at the Louisville Labor Day Parade and 50 gun locks at the Superior Independence Day parade. 

“We go to events, parades, trunk-or-treats and hand out Be SMART information and gun locks. We are just doing what we can to get the word out to people to secure their weapons so our kids don't get hurt,” Darrah said. “It is not controversial.”

Sheila Chester, a parent of a student at Angevine and two more at Lafayette Elementary School, was at the BBQ and stopped by the Be SMART booth. Says she has a typical Colorado family. Her brother and father hunt and sometimes take along her son. She feels comfortable, because, as responsible gun owners, they understand the importance of gun safety, including safe gun storage and handling.

“You know, any time before my son is around weapons with my father or my brother has him recite the rules. ‘Tell me the rules again. What are the rules? It is not a toy,” Chester recalled.

Whether you’re a gun owner, or you know someone who owns a gun, there is a role for everyone in the conversation around secure gun storage. Be SMART is a framework that parents, caretakers, and community leaders can follow to help keep their communities safe. Ultimately, adults can help prevent kids from accessing firearms by storing them securely, and encouraging others to do the same. Because children deserve to feel safe, no matter where they are.

Sadly, firearms are the leading cause of death for American children and teens. Here are some additional facts:

• An estimated 4.6 million American children live in households with at least one loaded, unlocked firearm.
• Every year, nearly 350 children under the age of 18 unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else. Another 700 children die by gun suicide each year, most often using guns belonging to a family member.
• In incidents of gun violence on school grounds, 75% of active shooters are current students or recent graduates, and 78% of shooters under the age of 18 obtained their guns from their own home, a relative’s home or from friends.
• Research shows that secure firearm storage practices are associated with up to a 78% reduction in the risk of self-inflicted firearm injuries and an 85% reduction in the risk of unintentional firearm injuries among children and teens. 

Moved by these startling statistics, in March 2021 the Boulder Valley School District Board of Education took action, passing Resolution 21-12 in Support of Secure Storage encouraging gun safety and especially the secure storage of firearms.

While incredibly appreciative, Darrah and Tempest-Mitchell often feel overwhelmed by the continuous news of preventable gun violence. Darrah, who became active following the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre admits that it is hard not to feel defeated when you hear about another school shooting, like the recent one in Georgia – but they trudge on.

“That's all we can do,” Darrah said. “I will keep talking about securing firearms and at the end of the day my hope is that nothing horrible happens in this community. We’ve tried and I'll keep trying. And, yeah, that's all we can do.”

“Yeah. I mean, history is never made unless people are making a stink. It just feels like a long slog, though,” Tempest-Mitchell said. 

“It shouldn’t be so hard,” Darrah added.

While it might feel like a daunting task, Chester said she and her kids went to the doctor’s office this week and there are signs that the message is starting to get out.

“Yeah, I took my son to the pediatrician today, and her final recommendations were for gun safety,” Chester said. “She asked the kids, ‘if you see a gun, what to do? Never touch a weapon.’I was really grateful, and I told her, I thanked her for doing that.”

Learn more about Be SMART and join the effort to spread the message at https://besmartforkids.org/.