Sheriff's Department giving away gun locks

Wednesday, February 4, 2004
Sheriff Bill Ferrell secures a semi-automatic pistol with a cable-style gun lock.

BENTON - The Scott County Sheriff's Department received over a thousand cable-style gunlocks Tuesday for free distribution in the county as part of the nation's largest firearm safety program.

"They dropped off 1,200 to us," said Sheriff Bill Ferrell. "One thousand for semi-automatics and 200 for revolvers."

This is the first time the Scott County Sheriff's Department has received free gunlocks for distribution, Ferrell said.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation partnered with law enforcement agencies around the state to distribute more than 508,000 free gun locks as part of the national Project ChildSafe initiative. PCS is designed to help make homes with firearms safer by raising awareness about responsible firearm ownership and storage.

Ferrell said he plans to have his department issue the gunlocks to county residents who apply for gun permits and may also go back and contact recent applicants for the locks.

"This is a good deal," said Ferrell. "I had a friend who had a tragedy in his family." Ferrell said a gunlock like these being distributed probably could have averted that particular firearm-related tragedy. "It kind of strikes home when you know somebody that had a tragedy with one," he said.

An expansion of NSSF's Project HomeSafe, Project ChildSafe is funded by a $50 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice and will provide nearly 20 million free gunlocks and firearm safety educational materials to families in all 50 states, the five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.

In 2002, Project HomeSafe distributed 2.4 million safety kits to 44 states with the goal of raising awareness of firearms safety and responsibility.

"We are proud to say that, since its grassroots beginning in 1999, Project HomeSafe became the largest, most comprehensive firearms safety education program in the nation thanks to the enthusiastic support from high-ranking government officials and law enforcement departments and communities across America," said Doug Painter, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Gunlocks and educational materials were also dropped off at the Chaffee, Oran and Scott City police departments.


On the Net: http://www.projectchildsafe.org

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