Chatham High Girl Scout Cooney to Present Her Gold Award Project on Safe Gun Storage: 'This isn't about politics'

“This isn’t about politics." Those words form the basis for Alessa Cooney’s Girl Scout Gold Award. A 17-year-old Chatham High senior, Cooney has spent much of her life concerned about the prevalence of gun violence in the US, especially among children.
“I’ve always been really worried about gun violence," Cooney said. "Growing up in the lockdown generation, hearing about events like Columbine, Parkland, and Uvalde, it’s terrifying. You feel like you’re heading into battle every time you go to school, because there have been so many kids that never made it home.”
For her Gold Award, Cooney wanted to step up and do something to work against the gun violence epidemic, without making it a political debate. She will be presenting her project on safely storing guns on Saturday, Oct. 12 at the Library of the Chathams at 3:15 p.m. in the Women's Club Room.
“Whatever side of the aisle you’re on, we all want our kids to feel safe," Cooney said. "We all have that common ground, but I think we tend to forget about it when everything in politics feels so black and white. I just want to get back to that shared idea and use it to make my community safer.”
Cooney has spent dozens of hours researching how to safely store guns in the home, compiling the information she discovered into a slideshow.
“Throughout my research, I discovered so many things that I hadn’t known anything about before," she said. "There are so many simple ways to keep yourself and your loved ones safe, and they don’t all hinge on staying away from guns. That’s the thing people really need to understand: you can protect yourself and your loved ones at the same time. I want to show people how to do that, without shaming them for their beliefs or their choices. Everyone deserves to feel safe. “I really hope that everyone who reads this can come to my presentation. Safe gun storage is such an important issue, one that affects everyone, firearm owner or not. And by sharing the information I’ve learned, I can help all these people feel a little bit safer.”

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