News

back arrow iconBack to News

July 10, 2019

NPR Story Misses the Point


By Joe Bartozzi, NSSF President

NPR’s recent story The Catch with Free Gun Cable Locks unfortunately missed the point about the National Shooting Sports Foundation®’s (NSSF®) Project ChildSafe® and the gun locks it provides to firearms owners all over the country. Here’s what all gun owners and parents should know:

  • Making free gun locks available is working. In a 2017 report, a U.S. Government Accountability Office report concluded that providing free locking devices positively influenced behavior to store firearms more safely. In the 20 years since Project ChildSafe began, NSSF and firearms manufacturers have given away nearly 100 million free gun locks. It’s no coincidence that in that same time, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Safety Council also show the number of fatal firearms accidents in the U.S. has reached historic lows. Today, they represent less than one-half of one percent of all accidental deaths nationwide.
  • All secure storage can help prevent suicide attempts. Suicide prevention experts recognize that securing firearms, by any means, can help provide the vital pause that makes the difference between someone deciding to take their life and acting on it. That pause can save a life. That’s why NSSF is a partner with both the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Veterans Administration to elevate suicide prevention efforts across the country. NSSF supports AFSP’s Project 2025, an initiative to reduce the annual suicide rate in the United States by 20 percent by the year 2025.
  • NSSF’s Project ChildSafe gun locks meet the ASTM and California Department of Justice standards for cable gun locks. After distributing more than 38 million of these gun locks free of charge to communities nationwide for two decades, NSSF has never received a single report of any injury resulting from a Project ChildSafe lock being defeated.
  • The intended use for Project ChildSafe’s locks is to be a deterrent for children. These locks provide an effective barrier against young children accessing a firearm in the home. They are not intended to withstand forced entry by an individual determined to defeat the lock by using tools or other aggressive means. As a safety precaution, these locks are far superior to no security device and provide an extra measure of safety when used in conjunction with a lock box, gun safe or other secure storage device. NSSF has developed a Safe Storage Options Infographic to help gun owners decide the best storage method for their lifestyle and as their needs change.

NSSF is committed to preventing firearms accidents and misuse to save lives and make our homes and communities safer — something Project ChildSafe’s thousands of program partners have recognized and supported for two decades.

We urge all gun owners to store their firearms responsibly, and we encourage all parents — whether they own guns or not — to talk with their children about gun safety.

You may also be interested in:

https://www.nssf.org/the-success-of-safe-storage-programs-by-the-numbers/

Safety

Share This Article

Tags: AFSP gun locks NPR Project ChildSafe safe storage Suicide Prevention

Categories: BP Item, Featured, Safety, Top Stories