GUILDERLAND — On May 24, the day that an 18-year-old in Uvalde, Texas gunned down 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School, the Guilderland School Board started its evening meeting with a moment of silence to honor and mourn the dead.

Later in the meeting, the preset agenda coincidentally called for a discussion of a resolution to inform parents about their legal obligation to securely store firearms.

The proposal had been brought to the school board on Feb. 15 by students in the March for Our Lives Club.

“Evidence strongly suggests that secure firearm storage is an essential component to keep schools and communities safe,” Conor Webb, a sophomore and president of the club that was formed last year, wrote to the school board this week.

Board President Seema Rivera read his message near the start of the May 24 meeting: “Communicating the responsibilities of parents in their role in securing firearms, as noted in the resolution, is a logical and common-sense approach to mitigate the risk of gun violence,” Webb wrote. “On behalf of students and teachers who work with March For Our Lives, we strongly encourage you to support this resolution in protecting our school and local community.” 

“We are scared,”  Webb had told the board on Feb. 1. “We are demanding more because we deserve more.”

Superintendent Marie Wiles told the board on May 24 that, after the students’ February proposal, she had met with the March for Our Lives Club, and then a subcommittee of the district’s safety committee was formed. That subcommittee came up with a resolution that was later considered by the full safety committee.

A draft was shared with the school board, which it plans to vote on at its next meeting, on June 14.

The draft says that an estimated 4.6 million American children live in households with at least one loaded, unlocked firearm and that, in incidents of gun violence on school grounds, 75 percent of active shooters are current students or recent graduates, and up to 80 percent of shooters under the age of 18 obtained their guns from their own home, a relative’s home, or friends.

Further, it says that the United States Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center recommends appropriate storage of weapons because many school attackers used firearms acquired from their homes. 

Finally, the draft addresses unintentional firearm injuries of children and teens, saying that secure firearm storage practices are associated with up to an 85-percent reduction in those risks.

The draft resolution says, “Keeping students, teachers, and staff safe from the threat of gun violence should be the responsibility of all adult stakeholders at each of our school sites in the Guilderland Central School District” and calls for the student handbook to include information about parents’ legal obligations regarding the secure storage of firearms.

It also says parents should be informed of this through annual registration materials and that the board and superintendent “will continue to work with local law-enforcement agencies, health agencies, and nonprofits to collaborate and increase efforts to inform district parents of their obligations regarding secure storage of firearms in their homes.”

Board member Rebecca Butterfield, a pediatrician, made a strong case in support of the resolution at the May 24 meeting.

“Firearms are now the leading cause of death in America,” she said. “They surpass motor-vehicle accidents. They surpass cancer. This is a major public health problem …

“America has successfully reduced the number of motor-vehicle deaths in the last 20 years because of public-health measures. One public-health measure is educational intervention out to the community.”

Butterfield said the proposal on secure storage of firearms is “very similar to that.”

She concluded, “It’s compatible with recommendations from professional organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics so I fully support it.”

Board member Blanca Gonzales-Parker said the safety committee had supported the resolution “with no ifs, ands, or buts.”

President Rivera said she, too, fully supported the resolution and thanked the students who brought it to the board in the first place.

“It’s unfortunate, ironic, and timely that it … was on the agenda today,” she said.