For a third year, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg will be joined by other law enforcement leaders, a pediatrician and researcher, and partner Clear Channel Outdoor on Friday to kick off a billboard campaign promoting the safe storage of firearms.

Ogg and representatives of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office; Houston Police Department; firearms safety and injury-prevention expert and pediatrician Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria; Marentha Sargent, who lost her teenage daughter in an accidental shooting; and Clear Channel Outdoor’s Lee Vela will speak at a news conference at 10 a.m. on the importance of gun owners properly securing firearms in their homes and vehicles. The event kicks off National Gun Violence Awareness Week and Wear Orange Weekend.

“Firearm safety is the responsibility of every gun owner, especially when that gun owner is also a parent. When we fail to properly lock up our guns, tragedy can result, as we’ve seen over and over,” Ogg said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, guns are now the leading cause of death in children under the age of 18 in this country. With school out for the summer and routines changed, children will now be picked up by relatives or friends and will have more playdates at other people’s homes. A gun-storage safety plan helps to ensure children are safe.

In addition to child safety, properly securing guns in vehicles can keep them from being stolen and ending up in the hands of criminals on the street, Ogg said, noting the District Attorney’s Office prosecutes many such cases.

The billboard campaign brings awareness that when children visit someone’s home, ride in their car or are in another’s responsibility in any way, guns must be safely locked away. It will target not only freeway messaging on traditional and digital billboards, but on targeted billboards near neighborhoods. The message will be displayed in English and Spanish on 25 billboards throughout the month.

What: Safe Storage billboard initiative

Who: Harris County DA Kim Ogg, partner agencies, pediatrician/firearm-safety researcher and parent of gun-violence victim

When: 10 a.m. Friday, June 3

Where: 19333 U.S. 59, just south of FM 1960 on the west side of the freeway in Humble