First Selectman Pat Llodra is standing with a growing number of community leaders and others imploring parents to include one significant question among the many that present when kids visit or stay over at friends homes. And she is hoping a major awareness campaign targeting Sunday, June 21 — the first day of Summer — hits home in Newtown.

“ASK” if there is an unlocked gun in the homes where their children play.

According to The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the American Academy of Pediatrics, one out of three homes with children across America has a gun, and nearly 1.7 million children live in a home with a loaded, unlocked gun.

As a result, every year thousands of children are killed and injured with those firearms. So the first selectman has issued a proclamation, designating Sunday, June 21 as ASK Day in Newtown. The ASK (Asking Saves Kids) Campaign promotes one simple idea: keeping kids safe.

The cause’s website, askingsaveskids.org, points out that parents ask all sorts of questions before their children visit other homes. They ask about pets in the house, discuss allergies and Internet access, and ask questions about supervision.

ASK encourages parents to add one more question to this conversation: “Is there an unlocked gun in your house?”

Mrs Llodra said Newtown’s proclamation was crafted and is presented in partnership with the Newtown Board of Education, and in collaboration with mayors and first selectmen of many other municipalities in Connecticut. 

“I am confident that we each, as caring and loving parents and grandparents, teachers and coaches, neighbors and friends, wish that every youngster have a safe and happy summer respite,” Mrs Llodra said in a message posted June 17 on the Town of Newtown website. “This small action on our part may help secure that promise of safety.”

The ASK Campaign website also has resources for parents, educators and communities to use to help promote their potentially life-saving mission on June 21, and year-round.