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Linda Cavazos knows how it feels to lose a loved one to gun violence. So beginning in January, she pushed to get the Clark County school district, whose board she chairs, to include a notice in the packet of materials each parent receives during registration about how to safely store firearms.

That notice鈥攁 simple reminder of Nevada鈥檚 law, a rundown of statistics on child gun injuries, and a link that directs them to information about gun-storage options鈥攚as ultimately approved this past June and now reaches the families of the district鈥檚 more than 300,000 students.

It鈥檚 one part of the district鈥檚 strategy to respond to increased incidences of firearms on campuses, concerns about lack of adult supervision during the pandemic, and some tragic incidents involving children younger than 14鈥攁nd, Cavazos says, a way of honoring her brother, who killed himself.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a safety measure, and if it saves even one child鈥檚 life, it鈥檚 completely worth it,鈥� said Cavazos, who is a family therapist in her day job. 鈥淭he grief and the regret and the ripple effect that goes on for the rest of [a parent鈥檚] life; this is not something that ever, ever goes away.鈥�

Now, other school districts are following suit, in response both to grassroots organizing and to a recent spate of violence in schools.

On Dec. 6, the Atlanta district committing it to work with health agencies and nonprofits on safe gun storage. The resolution explicitly referenced the school shooting in Oxford, Mich., last week that ended in the deaths of four students.

鈥淪ince we can鈥檛 change [gun laws] at the local level, the best thing we can do is encourage people to store their guns safely " said Jason Esteves, the district鈥檚 school board chairman, who shepherded the vote this week. 鈥淚f school districts and cities and counties did their part across the country, then we鈥檇 be able to fill in the gap where the state or the federal government has failed.鈥�

And as schools review the complex web of factors that can prevent fatal violence like the shooting in Michigan, such notices may be among the simplest and most immediate steps they can take.

Here鈥檚 what district leaders should know about safe gun storage鈥攁nd what they should expect if they take up the issue on their own.

What to know about safe storage laws

Around 30 states and the District of Columbia have statutes that, collectively, are known as child-access-prevention laws. The details of these laws vary significantly, but their basic thrust is to prevent minors from being able to access loaded firearms.

It鈥檚 an approach that makes sense in the context of what鈥檚 known about school shooters. In a 2019 analysis, the U.S. Secret Service found that firearms by current and former students over a decadelong period. And in a 2021 report, the agency found in that nearly two-thirds of would-be student perpetrators had access to firearms鈥攂y far the most common weapon used.

Researchers also estimate that safely store all their guns, generally defined as storing them locked, unloaded, and separately from ammunition, and that live in households where loaded guns are not kept under lock and key.

The strictest CAP laws, as those in California and Massachusetts, make individuals civilly or criminally liable for negligently storing firearms under circumstances in which minors could gain access to them. Less strict ones, like Georgia鈥檚 and Mississippi鈥檚, have a lower standard, making adults liable only if they intentionally or 鈥渞ecklessly鈥� permit a minor to have access to guns.

The laws don鈥檛 reference school officials鈥� responsibilities or liability. But as advocates point out, safe-storage requirements tend to lie buried in state code and out of the public鈥檚 eye. School districts鈥攁long with community organizations and social-service providers鈥攃an play a key role in getting the word out.

That鈥檚 where the notifications come in.

The Los Angeles district, in 2019, adopted a policy and return it annually. Clark County includes its document in a packet with other notifications about allergies and vaccination records, all of which have a single required signature at the end.

Some districts鈥� notifications carry an important symbolic force: The Houston district鈥檚 is . (Houston is one of a handful of districts that has its own police force rather than an arrangement with municipal law enforcement.)

Michigan is among the states that does not currently have CAP laws on the books. A package of bills introduced this legislative session hasn鈥檛 advanced yet and its co-sponsor, Democrat Sen. Rosemary Bayer, said during a recent press conference that she had not yet secured a promise to hold hearings on them.

But the general subtext of parental responsibility is nevertheless at the forefront of the debate in Michigan. The father of the student charged in the Oxford shooting purchased the semiautomatic pistol purportedly used in the attack just three days earlier. And Karen McDonald, the Oakland County, Mich., prosecutor, has 鈥攁 rare move and, potentially, a difficult charge to prove.

Taking the focus off politics

The gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit, counts about 40 districts that now issue such notifications. Many are in California, home to some of the nation鈥檚 strictest laws about safe firearm storage, but others are in states with more permissive rules, among them Arizona and Vermont.

Among the challenges for school leaders: the fear of coming off as 鈥減olitical.鈥� It鈥檚 a reasonable concern, with districts landing in hot water for making statements about policing, abortion, and other hot-button topics considered outside their purview by some critics.

But a conversation about safe gun handling and storage doesn鈥檛 have to be intrinsically focused on gun control or Second Amendment rights, advocates say. It can simply focus on safety.

Clark County鈥檚 first attempt at a policy failed by one vote, in part over political concerns and a sense that the district was taking a nanny-state role. But that lessened as the district reframed its efforts around public safety鈥攊ncluding by getting educators, some of whom were themselves gun owners, on board.

鈥淪ome of the response [from parents] initially was: 鈥楾his is part of parenting; we should be doing that,鈥� not the school board, Cavazos recalled. 鈥淥r, 鈥楾his is the first step to wanting to know how many guns we have in our house.鈥� We had to work hard, and I would say the biggest factor in the success of the measure the second time was that the community really invested in our efforts.鈥�

In Atlanta, Esteves says his response to cries of playing politics will also emphasize the district鈥檚 role in safety.

鈥淲e know that what happens outside the classroom impacts students as much as what happens inside the classroom, and if our students are not in safe environments, it makes it hard to educate them,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd it impacts student achievement, which makes it my responsibility to do something to address it.鈥�

Can a piece of paper really prevent gun violence?

Studying gun violence poses some big challenges for researchers. There is no national gun registry, which means studies have had to rely on things like surveys and estimates based on imperfect proxies for gun ownership.

Still, some research links CAP laws and

School district notices haven鈥檛 been studied yet, but, their proponents argue, the point isn鈥檛 to solve the issue of gun access by minors outright but rather a necessary first step to ensure that parents and the public hear the message consistently.

鈥淚 try to speak to folks and say, 鈥楻emember when we first started out with seat belt laws and [Mothers Against Drunk Driving]?鈥� When we first began any of these safety laws designed to protect people鈥檚 health and lives, it wasn鈥檛 a one and done,鈥� Cavazos said. 鈥淚t was a process.鈥�

And perhaps the most compelling reason to try it is that it鈥檚 a low-lift strategy for districts, most of which are also engaging in the longer-term work of reviewing their lockdown protocols, weighing the complicated research about school resource officers, and mulling over whether their threat-assessment plans are up to snuff.

Some school safety experts say that a preventative approach is worth trying because legislative responses to school shootings focused on gun control so frequently fall short.

鈥淵ou usually hear calls for background checks following these shootings despite the fact that the teen accessed firearms kept in the home by a parent or other family member,鈥� said Daniel Webster, a professor of public health at Johns Hopkins University and the director of its 鈥淭hese shootings are preventable if parents simply locked up their guns.

鈥淲ith the increased frequency of school shootings and the huge costs associated with efforts to keep schools safe from such shootings, it is only logical that schools do everything they can to encourage parents who own guns to keep them locked up.鈥�

It鈥檚 trickier鈥攂ut not impossible鈥攆or districts in states without safe-storage laws

Despite its deep-blue reputation as a liberal paradise, Vermont has a robust hunting culture. Like Michigan, the state does not have a CAP law on the books.

That didn鈥檛 stop Maddie Ahmadi, a junior in the state鈥檚 Essex Wexford district, from pushing leaders to send out guidance on safe storage. She鈥檇 begun a chapter of Students Demand Action, a youth gun-violence group linked to Everytown, in her school in 2019. The group has since successfully urged the superintendent to send out safe gun-storage letters.

The activism has spread: The school board of a neighboring district, Champlain Valley, a safe-storage letter after student pressure.

For all that Vermonters support the right to own guns, Ahmadi said that many have been open-minded about safe storage.

鈥淲hen individuals are given facts and information about why secure storage works and how it is preventing these tragedies, they begin to understand this is a safety issue. I鈥檓 not telling anyone to stop hunting and I鈥檓 not telling anyone to give away their gun; I鈥檓 telling them to securely store them so we can prevent tragedies like what happened in Oxford,鈥� she said.

And though school board members might take some heat for approving the notices, Ahmadi said, there鈥檚 a good reason for staying the course.

鈥淗onestly, the pushback is just so much less than what a community goes through when a school shooting happens,鈥� she said.