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Knimrod
12-22-2005, 11:03 PM
Tragedy turns parents into gun safety advocates
By Stephanie Southworth
Saugus Advertiser
Thursday, December 22, 2005

When Ann Marie Crowell told her 12-year-old son Brian he could go over to a friend’s house on Christmas Eve 1997, it never crossed her mind to ask him if his friend’s mother owned a gun. Not a gun owner herself, Crowell didn’t think of guns. Why would she?

Eight years after Brian was accidentally shot by his friend while the 14-year-old was showing him a gun, Crowell encourages parents to participate in the ASK campaign - to ask before they send their children over to play if there is a gun in the home and how it is stored.

"Parents should make it a topic of conversation and bring it out into the open," Crowell said. "As a parent you do everything you can to protect your child. It shouldn’t be an embarrassing question to ask."

Crowell said if the question does embarrass someone, she asks them to do something for her.

"If it embarrasses you to ask the question - is there a gun in the house, how is it stored - then I ask you to close your eyes and imagine life without your child," Crowell said.

Brian didn’t touch the gun on that Christmas Eve and he wasn’t playing with it, Crowell said. It was about 3:45 p.m. and Brian’s sister had called over to his friend’s house to tell him it was time to come home, company was coming.

While he was on the phone with his sister, Brian’s friend took out the gun he found and wanted to show it to Brian. The friend tilted the gun to take out the bullets. But as he was taking the bullets out, the gun clicked three times and the one bullet left hit Brian in the neck.

"His last words were to his friend. He said, ’I can’t believe you shot me,’" Crowell said.

Brian then attempted to run out of the house, but only made it to the living room before he collapsed. Brian’s friend called 911 and a police officer went to the Crowell household to inform them of the accident.

However, Crowell and her husband were both at work. The police officer called her from her home and to told her there had been an accident, she should go straight to the hospital.

"At the hospital they told us Brian had been shot and that they were going to try and repair the damage. The bullet had entered his neck and gone down his chest," Crowell said.

A little while later, the doctor came out and told the Crowells there was no hope and they could sit with Brian until he died.

"Our life didn’t end that day...our new life began," Crowell said.

With a new life comes a new purpose - to help protect other children from being involved in similar "accidents," a word Crowell said she doesn’t particularly like.

"I hate that word, accident, because an accident is something that could have been avoided in this case," Crowell said.

Within six months of Brian’s death, Crowell said, she couldn’t let the issue, of having unsecured guns in the home, be. She wanted to do something, so she decided to speak out about the dangers.

"It’s therapy for me. I’m trying to prevent this from happening to someone else’s child," Crowell said.

Crowell said she will go anywhere and speak to anyone. She’ll do anything that will save a life. But she doesn’t have any intentions of getting too political.

"I just want to encourage people to be responsible gun owners and use the gun locks that are readily available. I chose not to own a gun. If someone else chooses to have a gun in their home, that’s their decision. I’m just asking them to secure it properly," Crowell said.

Turn in unwanted weapons - save a life

To help ensure that tragedies like Brian’s don’t happen again, Crowell and Saugus Detective George Naviskas promote the Saugus Guy Buy Back program every holiday season.

Having started the program about four or five years ago, Naviskas, the juvenile officer in Saugus, said he wanted to start the program because he thought it would do some good. The city of Boston already had a gun buy back program and Naviskas thought, why not Saugus.

After approaching then Police Chief Edward Felix, Naviskas applied for grant monies and opened the Brian Crowell Gun Buy Back program.

"When the town started the program in Brian’s name, it was another way to keep Brian’s memory alive," Crowell said.

Since it’s inception, the Saugus Police Department has taken 287 unwanted guns off the streets.

"It’s a good program," Naviskas said.

The Police Department offers $50 per gun turned into Naviskas, no questions asked. The maximum amount of guns that can be turned in by one person is three.

"It gives the people who turn in the guns extra Christmas money or money for their heating bills," Naviskas said.

He added people who call about the program are mostly elderly women whose husband have died and left unwanted guns in the house. With the women not wanting them but not sure how to dispose of them, the gun buy back program gives them a great option.

The program usually runs from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, but the department accepts unwanted guns all year long. They also take any unwanted weapon, such as knives and ammunition. At the end of the year the guns are taken to the State Police barracks in Sudbury and made into sewer covers.

Naviskas said it’s important that people who have guns in their homes, whether they’re unwanted or not, secure them properly because there are now liability issues that never existed before.

"If you have a firearm in your home that’s not properly secured and it’s stolen and used in a crime, you are held responsible," Naviskas said.

Crowell added that if these laws, which were enacted in 1998, had been in place when Brian was shot, his friend’s mother would have been held responsible.

"Brian’s death was a preventable tragedy," Crowell said.

Crowell is hoping the community will support her in her quest to ensure households with children in them are safe places for them to play.

"Kids can be curious and may find a loaded weapon. It’s normal for them to be curious. The biggest thing is to get the message out. Gun owners have to be responsible," Crowell said.

By securing your gun, Naviskas said, you could save someone else’s life. And to that end, Crowell is thankful the town has done so much to help protect people.

"I don’t ever want to see this program ever go away. There’s no reason that it should," Naviskas said. "Chief James MacKay has made this program a priority and is trying his best to keep it going."

Gun Buy-Back program

The Saugus Police Department is once again sponsoring the Brian Crowell Gun Buy-Back Program. Crowell was the victim of an accident involving a firearm. Over the past couple of years, the program has taken 287 unwanted firearms from Saugus homes. All parties turning in firearms will remain anonymous. A sum of $50 will be given with a maximum of three items per person. There are also still some free gun locks available at the department. For information or to call to make an appointment, contact Detective George Naviskas at 781-941-1190.


Proper way to store a fire arm


Put a lock on the weapon, either a trigger guard or a lock

Secure it in a safe or a vault

Keep the weapon unloaded


Link to story (http://www2.townonline.com/saugus/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=393789)

Fiddler
04-01-2006, 09:12 AM
MGO has a very good safe storage program, and the Kidsafe classes at M2A really teach the kids what to do if they get into that kind of situation. If anyone wants the training for a church group, youth group, scout troop, etc, to prevent this type of tragedy from happening, that's what the training is all about, and it's all free. We could also use more volunteers for both classes.