Mary Reed quickly pushed her daughter against a wall and stood in front of her as a shield when she saw a gunman at an event hosted by Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at a Safeway supermarket near Tucson in 2011.
February 01, 2025
Gun owner safety advocates say laws and storytelling could help save lives
Reed said the mass shooter tried to shoot her daughter, but Reed’s body blocked the shots. She helped to save her daughter that day, but six other people died, and 13 others were injured, including Giffords.
Reed told her story at “Responsible Gun Ownership: A Roundtable on Safe Storage” on Jan. 31 at the American Bar Association Midyear Meeting in Phoenix. She joined other gun owners who want safe storage laws, which research shows can help reduce the risk of unintentional shootings among children and suicide.
Panelists agreed that responsible gun owners can make communities safer if firearms are stored unloaded and locked, with ammunition kept in a separate place to prevent access by children and other people who are at risk of harming themselves or others.
“I own guns, still,” Reed said. “I’m not afraid of guns, but I’m afraid of toddlers being armed.”
Reed said making sure that a deadly weapon is secure should be a fiduciary required component to gun ownership.
Efforts to address gun owners are taking place around the country, with at least 26 states and several cities enacting gun storage laws. These laws hold gun owners accountable when children can acquire or access an unsecured gun.
Panelists said the rhetoric of disarming “good people” pushes back on gun violence prevention efforts and does not abate the need for safety gun measures.
Shani Henry, a regional organizer with Giffords Gun Owners for Safety/Safer communities in Montana, said she grew up around guns and her family has a hunting tradition. However, she said she’s just as passionate about the responsibility that comes with owning a gun.
Henry is looking to change the narrative around gun ownership and advocates for helping people understand the importance of safely storing guns. “A gun owner's voice resonates. We have the opportunity and responsibility to support legislators who will make change happen — reasonable, sensible change happen.”
Henry said that 3 out of 5 gun deaths in Montana are suicide related. Partnering with veterans’ groups, state and county suicide prevention coordinators and nonprofit groups has helped to further the message of gun violence prevention, Henry added.
She said gun owners can stand up for the Second Amendment and still advocate for legislative changes that “could make a real difference.”
Brian Zuckerberg, director of social media for Arizonans for Gun Safety, agreed that it is important for gun owners to share their stories to help people embrace responsible gun ownership. Zuckerberg said he was about 4 years old when he climbed onto the refrigerator trying to reach a cookie jar and discovered a wicker basket that held what he thought was a black, heavy squirt gun he’d never seen before. He got it down and pointed it at his babysitter. “Thank God it was unloaded because if it wasn’t, my life would have changed and so would a lot of other peoples’,” Zuckerberg said.
Panelists agreed that more public awareness is needed to convey the message of the critical need to store guns securely.
Some ways to help get the message out:
- Don’t be afraid to call out inappropriate talk about gun safety.
- Talk to audiences that don’t agree with you.
- Partner with organizations that could provide gun locks.
- Give the gift of safe storage, a gun safe.
“We have to start listening to one another,” Zuckerberg said. “We have to prioritize people over metal.”
Panel moderator Angela Adkins Downes, immediate past chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Gun Violence and a professor of law and assistant director of Experiential Education at the University of North Texas Dallas College of Law, said lawyers could use their skills to look at the issue of gun safety from various perspectives, including gun violence and domestic violence issues. She said they should use stories like the ones shared in the program to help amplify the issue.
Margaret ‘Peggy’ Finerty, a partner at the law firm of Getnick Law and the chair of the Standing Committee’s policy subcommittee, discussed the policy landscape around safe storage and how different jurisdictions have addressed the problem legislatively.
The ABA has a longstanding policy promoting gun violence prevention strategies that support the Second Amendment. The policy, adopted in February 2020, urges the federal government to enact rules and regulations defining the standards for safe storage, requiring firearm owners meet those standards, and educating firearm owners on safe storage. This policy is grounded in efforts to prevent unauthorized users, including children, from accessing firearms and to prevent accidental injury or suicide.
“Responsible Gun Ownership: A Roundtable on Safe Storage” was sponsored by the Standing Committee on Gun Violence.