Taking action against gun violence: Mary Bridge Children’s social worker organizes award-winning event series

Lindsay Finney, LICSW, a clinical social worker at MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s, remembers coming to work the day after the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, feeling equal parts grief and outrage.

“Nineteen children and two teachers went to school and never came home,” Finney says. “While the shooting didn’t happen in my community, I was struggling with the notion that I should just carry on with my day.”

Finney, who is the manager of the Mary Bridge Children’s Child Abuse Intervention Department (CAID) as well as the Children’s Advocacy Center of Pierce County, gathered her colleagues to take a moment to acknowledge what happened in Uvalde and how they felt about it. That conversation bloomed into another about what they would do if such a mass casualty event were to happen in the Tacoma community, given they work at the region’s pediatric trauma center.

Those discussions helped inspire Finney to take action. She partnered with local law enforcement to organize a firearm giveback event, efforts that earned her a 2023 MultiCare CEO & President’s Award. This annual award series honors excellence and achievement at MultiCare.

The devastating impact of gun violence

Firearm-related violence surged during the pandemic, and according to a New York Times analysis, the rate of fatal shootings per 100,000 residents still remains far above pre-pandemic levels in many parts of the country.

One of the groups hit hardest by this surge in violence is young people. Firearm-related deaths among U.S. children increased 50 percent between 2019 and 2021, according to the Pew Research Center.

Throughout the roles she’s held in her career, Finney has become all too familiar with the devastating impact of gun violence on children, families and communities.

While employed as a social worker in the pediatric intensive care unit at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, one of the first patients she ever worked with was a 13-year-old with a serious gunshot wound who died as a result of their injury.

Now as manager of CAID and the Children’s Advocacy Center of Pierce County, Finney leads a team that works in partnership with government agencies and organizations to prevent, investigate and prosecute child abuse while supporting the well-being of children and families.

“As part of that work, we sometimes interview children who have witnessed their parents being shot,” Finney says. “Even if a child isn’t the one who is directly injured or killed by gun violence, it still turns their lives upside down. My work has really opened my eyes to the magnitude of this problem and that these deaths are preventable.”

“What I realized is just how much our community cares about child safety and well-being. And how powerful it is when we all come together in service of that goal.”

Getting unwanted firearms off the streets

In 2022, following the tragedy in Uvalde and after learning that firearm-related injuries had become the number-one cause of death for youth 1 to 19 years of age, Finney knew she had to take action to support the safety of children in her community.

“When I started asking about doing a gun giveback event, I wasn’t sure if it would be approved,” Finney says. “But every level of leadership at Mary Bridge and MultiCare said yes and supported this work.”

So, what does it take to organize a gun giveback event?

For starters, a year of planning. Finney first secured a partnership with the Tacoma Police Department and then started cold-calling other police departments around the country that had successfully held gun giveback events before.

“I finally got a call back from a lieutenant in Sacramento who talked me and my partners in the Tacoma Police Department through logistics and how to safely host the event,” Finney says.

She also rallied support from the community. Cheney Stadium offered space to hold the gun giveback event at no charge and played promotional videos — one of which featured Tony Escobar, MD, medical director of surgery and trauma at Mary Bridge Children’s — advertising the event at Tacoma Rainiers games.

On Sunday, April 30, 2023, all of Finney’s efforts came to fruition with the help of volunteers from the Tacoma Police Department, Mary Bridge Children’s and the community.

More than 120 unwanted firearms were surrendered at the drive-through event in exchange for gas or grocery gift cards. The Tacoma Police Department then destroyed these firearms.

The gun giveback team also handed out 50 lockboxes, provided by the Mary Bridge Children’s Center for Childhood Safety, so families could safely store unsecured firearms in their homes.

Following the success of the first firearm giveback event, another was held in October 2023. To honor Finney’s hard work and contributions to the community, Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards bestowed Finney with the Compassionate Tacoma Recognition Award in May 2023.

“What I realized is just how much our community cares about child safety and well-being,” Finney says. “And how powerful it is when we all come together in service of that goal.”

What you can do to prevent firearm-related injuries

You don’t have to organize and host a gun giveback event to help prevent gun violence and firearm-related injuries. Here are some steps you can take to support the safety of your family and community.

Make sure your firearms are secured

Firearms are present in more than 40 percent of homes with children, yet only about one in three of those households store firearms unloaded and locked, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics.

The risk of firearm injury, both accidental and intentional, is lower in homes when guns are stored safely, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Learn tips and explore options for safe firearm storage.

Have conversations about gun safety

Whether you own firearms or not, it’s important to have developmentally appropriate, ongoing conversations with your children about gun safety. Do they know what to do if they find a gun in someone else’s home? Do they know the difference between how firearms are portrayed in video games and movies versus real life?

And — while it may feel awkward at first — it’s just as important to talk to the parents of your child’s friends about the presence of guns in their home and how they are secured.

“You never know what your child is going to be exposed to in someone else’s home,” Finney says. “It’s really important for parents and caregivers to normalize conversations about gun safety.”