The U.S. Secretary of Education is sending a letter to school principals across the nation encouraging safe firearms storage.

What You Need To Know

  • Gerald Givens Jr. has seven family members who were killed by gun violence

  • Givens uses his life experience as a board of directors member with the North Carolinians Against Gun Violence nonprofit advocacy group

  • The North Carolina Department of Public Safety provides gun locks to health agencies and police stations for the public at no cost

The letter is born out of an executive order from President Biden connecting schools and the families they serve with resources to keep guns out of the hands of children.

William Lassiter, the deputy secretary of the Juvenile Justice Division of the N.C. Department of Public Safety, said DPS has sent gun tie locking devices to health departments and police stations across the state at no cost to gun owners.

As DPS continues to stress resources, Gerald Givens Jr. is pushing a message of what can happen to young children when you don’t lock up your guns.

Givens, 52, said he is missing seven branches from his family tree due to gun violence, and the losses began early in his life.

“It started out with my grandfather when I was 3 years old and then my little brother in the late 90s,” Givens said.

Most recently, he said 2-year-old cousin Israel got ahold of his father’s gun and accidentally took his own life in 2022.

“I highly encourage people in our communities to safely store their firearms,” Givens said.

Givens said he takes these stories into many public schools throughout Wake County as part of the nonprofit North Carolinians Against Gun Violence.

He turns his pain into a real-life message for parents, educators and students — from kindergarteners to high school seniors.

“I go through these lengths, because I know what the pain feels like. My 90-year-old grandmother, hearing her voice at the sound of hearing that another tragedy happened for the seventh time and this was with a 2-year-old,” Givens said.

The retired Air Force technical sergeant wants this experience for no one. It’s why he makes it a point to work with NCAGV to help communities in Wake County grasp the reality of what can happen when guns are not secure. 

The issue is so pervasive, the U.S. Department of Education is joining the conversation. 

In the letter signed by Miguel Cardona, he referenced a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistic from 2021. The nation’s leading agency listed firearms as the cause of death for 16% of children ages 1 to 17, which makes it the leading cause of death in the country for children.

“Let’s continue to be vigilant and pay attention to what’s going on and make yourself approachable for the kids in our schools,” Givens said.

Lassiter has seen his fair share of gun-related threats in his own family.

“My kids' schools had several lockdowns in the time they have been on campus. It’s scary for them. It’s scary for the families. It’s scary for the staff,” Lassiter said.

In his job, Lassiter is at the forefront of the problem.

“We see gun violence as a public health issue,” Lassiter said. 

Lassiter said last year in this state almost 500 guns were brought onto school campuses and of those 500 guns, he says 80% of them came from the students' own homes.

“We are trying to speak with parents, because the children who are bringing firearms to schools get them from their own home,” Lassiter said.

Lassiter said in North Carolina about 42% of all households own a firearm, but 50% of them don’t lock up the firearms safely in the house — a stat he wants to change.

“This is a simple step you can do that’s gonna save the people you bought that gun to protect in the first place,” Lassiter said.

The DPS provides a free tutorial explaining different devices and ways to properly store guns.

Givens said watching it could save a life.

“Every single day I wake up I am concerned, not only for my safety, for my wife and my two children, and other family members and my friends,” he said.