Kelloggsville — For Eunice Benavidez, if people put fences around their pools to protect children, then it only makes sense that they lock up their guns.
“Children are curious,” said Benavidez, a social worker at Kelloggsville Public Schools. “As adults are busy visiting or doing other tasks, they go off and explore and they have the potential of finding something they should not be playing with.”
With Michigan’s new gun safety law in effect as of Feb. 13 (the one-year anniversary of the Michigan State University shootings), Benavidez proposed a districtwide secured safety initiative, which the Kelloggsville Board of Education approved in May. The initiative’s focus is on educating parents about the importance and best practice of secure gun storage and the legal consequences to parents.
“This is a proactive approach of how do we keep the guns from even coming into the schools,” Benavidez said, adding that former Kelloggsville students have experienced gun violence, though the district has not had any gun incidents at its schools. “We need to step up because our children are dying, which may sound drastic but guns are a leading cause of death among children.
“We need to educate our caregivers about how safe storage can save lives and prevent tragedies.”
The Wyoming Department of Public Safety provided gun locks to Kelloggsville for distribution. The locks are currently available at the district’s Administration Office, 242 52nd St. SE. The locks also will be available at student registration and the annual Kelloggsville Community Celebration in the fall. The Wyoming Department of Public Safety, Kent County Sheriff’s Office and the Kent County Health Department also have free gun locks available.
In the spring, the district also shared a letter to all families about secure storage and has a landing page on the district’s website about secure storage and gun safety.
From Personal Tragedy to Becoming an Advocate
Benavidez speaks from experience as she is a survivor of gun violence. Her father, Alejandro Guerrero, was a New York taxi driver who was shot and killed during a 1992 robbery. About 10 years later, her brother, Alejandro Guerrero Jr., died at sleepover when a friend unintentionally shot him with an unsecured gun.
“He went to do something that was just a normal teenage activity and he didn’t come back,” Benavidez said, adding you never stop grieving the loss.
To help with her grief, Benavidez decided to join the Everytown Survivor Network, part of the Everytown for Gun Safety organization. Through Everytown, Benavidez connected with others who had experienced gun violence. She learned quickly she was not alone in dealing with her loss. Research from the organization showed that 59% of adults reported that they or someone they know or cared about have experienced gun violence in their lifetime.
“This was the first-time I had connected with others who had shared experiences,” Benavidez said, adding the organization helped her to be able to share her story with others, something she does on a regular basis as a volunteer for the Be SMART campaign.
An Everytown for Gun Safety initiative, Be SMART is designed to help parents and adults normalize conversations about safety and take responsible actions that can prevent child gun deaths and injuries. Benavidez said.
“It is not just about securing firearms, but also educating parents about how to talk about gun safety,” she said. “It is educating parents to ask ‘Is there a gun in the home?’ ‘Is it secure?’ when their children are going over to play or visit another person’s home.”
Teaching People to Be SMART
Without any prompts, Benavidez recited what the Be SMART acronym means:
Secure all firearms in your home and vehicle
Model responsible behavior around all firearms
Ask about the presence of unsecured firearms in other homes
Recognize the role of firearms in suicide
Tell your peers to be SMART
According to the Be SMART website, 4.6 million children live in a home with at least one loaded, unsecured gun. Everytown for Gun Safety estimated that every year, about 350 children under the age of 18 gain access to a firearm and unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else.
Another statistic that concerns Benavidez is that about 700 children die by gun suicide, she said.
“Kids are experiencing crises,” she said, noting these are different times than what others have experienced even 10 years ago. “We need to make sure we are doing everything we can to keep them safe and raise awareness.”
‘We need to educate our caregivers about how safe storage can save lives and prevent tragedies.’
— Kelloggsville social worker Eunice Benavidez
About 90% of suicides using a gun are fatal, according to a case study published in the National Library of Medicine. Securing guns reduces access to them and in turn could help save a life, Benavidez said.
Benavidez, whose advocacy work with Everytown has given her the opportunity to meet both President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, said she hopes Kelloggsville’s secured storage initiative will encourage other area districts to follow suit.
“I wish my family would have had this information 23 years ago,” Benavidez said, adding she hopes that by raising awareness it prevents another family from experiencing what hers has.
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