Secure storage prevents gun violence, protects youth

Democrat Melissa Ontiveros will announce plans to run for the District 31 seat in the New Mexico State Senate.
Democrat Melissa Ontiveros will announce plans to run for the District 31 seat in the New Mexico State Senate.

I’ve spent my entire life in the Land of Enchantment — from growing up in Albuquerque to living in Las Cruces in my adulthood. The state has seen me evolve into who I am today. But, as I have changed, one thing hasn’t: our gun violence epidemic.

As a teen in Albuquerque, it became common that our high school parties ended with gun violence. In high school, someone close to me was threatened with a gun to their head after rejecting a man at the state fair. He promised to kill them that day. Weeks later, he showed up to a party and started shooting. Those are the types of experiences we grew up on.

Today, gun violence in New Mexico is at an all-time high with no signs of slowing. Firearms are the leading cause of death for children, with over 30 children and teens shot and killed every year. New Mexico has the seventh highest rate of gun violence in the country and gun homicide rose nearly 90 percent in the last decade alone.

Most recently, our state was rocked by the death of Bennie Hargrove, a 13-year-old at Washington Middle School who was shot and killed at school by a student who got ahold of his father’s unsecured gun — which never should’ve happened. Bennie’s shooting is a part of a heartbreaking trend — incidents of gunfire on school grounds and unintentional shootings by children are on the rise in New Mexico and across the country. In fact, researchers have tracked the most instances of people shot at school in this year’s back-to-school period since 2013. Research shows that up to 80 percent of shooters under the age of 18 got the gun home — just like the child who shot and killed Bennie Hargrove.

We don’t have to live this way — and our children don’t have to die this way. These tragedies are preventable — and it starts with storing firearms securely. States with laws that require secure firearm storage have lower rates of gun violence on school grounds, unintentional shootings, and gun suicides. That’s why we’re urging Las Cruces leaders and Gov. Lujan Grisham to prioritize critical legislation this upcoming session to require firearms to be stored locked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition.

It’s not enough for parents to just teach their kids not to touch guns. Kids don’t always do what they are told — any parent can tell you that. They’re curious and make mistakes. The difference is these types of mistakes are deadly. For decades as a gang violence and violence prevention worker, I worked with young people who told me they knew their parents’ guns were unlocked and ready to use. That’s unacceptable.

Gun violence reverberates throughout the community. As the chair of the Behavior Health Coalition and the former Public Health Association president, I know all too well the consequences of gun violence and the trauma it can create. It’s critical our state addresses both gun safety and access to mental health resources as we face youth gun violence and one of the highest rates of gun suicides among children in the country.

Secure storage is one of the simplest methods to prevent gun violence. We must also work to combat city gun violence by investing in violence intervention groups and address police violence by building on last session’s work.

After growing up around gun violence in my own community, I joined Moms Demand Action and have been fighting against this public health crisis ever since. It’s urgent that state lawmakers take action on proven common-sense measures to prevent gun violence. We must protect our children and communities.

Melissa Ontiveros is a New Mexico resident and currently a resident of Las Cruces.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Secure storage prevents gun violence, protects youth