A panel of nationally known and local experts will participate in a forum on firearm safety, on Tuesday, October 14, at 7 p.m. at Millburn Middle School.
Gun safety and keeping the community safe from unsecured weapons will be the focus of the evening.
Millburn resident Peter Feinberg, who organized the event along with Debbie Taffet, Debbie Shedlin and Donna Dees, said that the meeting is nonpartisan and everyone is welcome.
“This all started before Newtown,” said Feinberg, who said he realized that a similar tragedy could happen in Millburn when he questioned the police chief and learned that applications for gun permits were on the rise locally.
“I have my own political views, but a political debate is a non-starter. It all can be prevented. It’s not about whether you should have a gun or not. It’s about securing that gun.”
Experts will discuss the proper way to store guns and ammunition in the home. A panel presentation will address the township’s procedures to handle gun threats in the schools, how to approach neighbors and children’s friends’ parents about guns in the home, and local resources available to dispose of guns or report potential problems.
The panel will include Robert V. Tessaro, the founder and president of Safe School Technologies and an expert on youth violence prevention. Tessaro is the former director of law enforcement relations of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Prior to that he was executive director of the NJ Association of School Resource Officers, where he worked to support the passage of New Jersey’s Safe School Resource Officer law. Tessaro also served on the attorney general’s Police Training Commission Curriculum Committee.
Also joining the panel are Bill Sherlach whose wife was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary where she worked as a guidance counselor, and Tom McDermott who was wounded in the Long Island Rail Road mass shooting in December 1993.
Mila Jasey (D) and John McKeon (D), state assembly representatives from New Jersey’s 27th Legislative District, also plan to attend the event. Assemblyman McKeon sponsored a bill that passed in September, creating a permanent series of gun buybacks in New Jersey.
Dr. James Crisfield, superintendent of schools in the Millburn school district, will address specific questions regarding safety procedures in the Millburn schools. Members of the Millburn High School Gun Violence Prevention club, founded this year by an MHS junior, will also be in attendance.
The Millburn Gun Safety Forum committee consists of Millburn Township residents and founders of the original Million Mom March.
Said Feinberg, who is funding the event, “I’m hoping for a lively and educational forum that will help our town prevent gun tragedies.”
Millburn Middle School is located at 25 Old Short Hills Rd., Millburn, NJ.
For further information and to RSVP, please contact: millburngunsafetyforum@gmail.com
