Why This Teacher Is Spreading the Word About Secure Storage During SMART Week

August 26–30, 2024, marks the first annual SMART Week. This week is a time when we come together to spread the word on the critical importance of secure gun storage to prevent gun violence.

Each day, we’ll be sharing a blog post expanding on each letter of the “SMART” acronym:

• Secure

• Model

• Ask

• Recognize

• Tell

SMART Week is built on the foundation of the Be SMART public education program. Be SMART promotes secure gun storage as a means to prevent kids under 18 and other unauthorized users from accessing guns.

As young people head back to school, SMART Week reminds us that adults have homework too. The assignment? To spread the word about secure gun storage and how to be SMART.

As a teacher for 32 years, this message is deeply personal.

I was a second-grade teacher at Sandy Hook School and was in the classroom with my students during the devastating mass shooting on December 14, 2012. I carry that horrific day with me. Twenty innocent first-grade children and six of my colleagues were killed. They should still be here.

A few short months after the Sandy Hook shooting, I attended my first Moms Demand Action meeting, and I volunteered with Moms Demand Action in various roles for nearly a decade afterward. Through this work, I’ve participated in Be SMART meetings and presentations. Be SMART is very actionable. It promotes the culture change we need: responsibility when you own a firearm.

“Secure firearm storage is the culture change that I believe will make the most difference in saving lives.”

—Abbey Clements, co-founder of Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence

Securing guns in homes and vehicles saves lives. More than half of all gun owners in the U.S. leave at least one of their firearms unsecured. We must change this practice. And school leaders play a critical role in spreading the word about secure firearm storage.

The educator perspective has essentially been missing from policy and safety discussions for far too long. That is why I, along with two other teachers and activists, launched our organization, Teachers Unify To End Gun Violence, in 2021. We provide educators and school staff with ways to encourage school leaders to communicate with students’ families about secure firearm storage.

I have been in the gun violence prevention movement for almost 12 years. I have heard too many stories of tragedy due to unsecured firearms—so much trauma and heartbreak could have been avoided. Secure firearm storage is the culture change that I believe will make the most difference in saving lives.

That’s why Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence will be partnering with and amplifying the SMART Week campaign. All three of us co-founders are American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union members. We worked with AFT to devise an online tool for folks to reach out to school leaders. This tool encourages school leaders to send secure firearm storage information to families—and we’ll be elevating this resource during SMART Week and year-round.

The scope, statistics, and stories about the gun violence crisis in the United States can feel overwhelming or hopeless at times. But change is possible!

Be SMART and other secure firearm storage campaigns offer activists, volunteers, parents, and concerned citizens a way to make change directly. Protect yourself and your loved ones by securing your firearms and spreading the message about secure storage—and ask others to do the same.

Spread the Message About Secure Gun Storage

• Learn more about how to Be SMART—during SMART Week and beyond
• Click here to learn more about how to get involved with Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence

Abbey Clements (she/her) was a longtime Moms Demand Action volunteer and is a co-founder of Teachers Unify To End Gun Violence.