Hirschauer Promotes ASK Day, Highlights Importance of Safe Firearm Storage

WEST CHICAGO, Ill. – Recently championing a landmark safe storage bill out of the Illinois House and Senate chambers, state Rep. Maura Hirschauer, D-Batavia, is highlighting the importance of safe firearm storage by promoting ASK Day to normalize and spread awareness about asking about unlocked guns where children play.

“So many firearm-involved tragedies can be prevented by encouraging safe storage already widely used by responsible gun owners,” said Hirschauer. “ASK Day is a simple but impactful campaign that normalizes the conversation of whether guns are in someone’s home, and ensures that our little ones won’t have access to them. Asking about guns in the home and volunteering information about how your guns are stored helps create dialogues and trust to ensure that our kids are safe from unintentional shootings, and other incidents of firearm misuse.”

ASK Day is June 21st and encourages parents and guardians to ask about unlocked guns where their children play. Launched in 2000 at the Million Mom March, the ASK (Asking Saves Kids)
campaign has been a successful collaboration between Brady and the American Academy of Pediatrics to educate parents about the significant risks of children having access to guns in the
home.

ASK Day comes at the heels of a Hirschauer-led safe storage measure passed last month, expected to be signed by the governor later this year. Senate Bill 8, known as the Safe Gun Storage Act, enhances gun storage safety with the ultimate goal to prevent access to firearms by minors, at-risk individuals, and those prohibited from possessing them. The bill would require firearm owners to secure their weapons in a locked container, rendering them inaccessible and unusable to anyone except the owner or an authorized user.

“Almost five million kids nationwide live in a home with a loaded unlocked gun. ASK Day serves as a reminder that we can prevent tragedies simply by asking parents and caretakers ‘is there an unlocked gun where my child plays?’ This is a conversation that can save lives. And by normalizing this healthy communication between parents and kids around safe gun storage — everyone benefits,” said Hirschauer.