Free Locks Offered To Gun Owners

With gun ownership soaring since the terrorist events of September 11, the Rowland administration has launched “Project HomeSafe,” a firearms safety education program developed by a Newtown organization, in an effort to distribute 50,000 free gunlocks in Connecticut.

During a press conference recently at Rocky Ridge Park in Hartford, Lt Gov M. Jodi Rell urged state residents to visit the touring Project HomeSafe van to pick up the free gun safety kits. The van will make 28 stops in 18 municipalities across Connecticut over the next four weeks. It will be in Newtown on Friday, July 12, from 10 am to 1 pm outside the police department at 3 Main Street.

 “All of us have seen and read about many heartbreaking stories involving children finding unlocked, loaded guns in their homes and unwittingly using them as toys,” Lt Gov Rell said. “An unlocked gun is an invitation to tragedy.”

Newtown residents who are unable to get the gun safety kits on Friday will be able to obtain them from the police department afterwards, according to Project HomeSafe representative Laurie Lindenbaum.

Project HomeSafe was developed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), headquartered in Newtown on Mile Hill Road, and is funded with a $4.9 million grant from the US Department of Justice. The program, which plans to distribute three million firearm safety kits nationally through 2002, has been endorsed by the National Conference of Lieutenant Governors (NCLG) and is widely supported by law enforcement.

Mrs Rell noted that applications for gun permits in Connecticut have increased 457 percent since the events of last September 11. The state police received 500 new gun permit applications a month and 2,700 gun permit renewals each month.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation is a nonprofit communications and marketing organization. Its 2,100 members include gun manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers of shooting sports equipment, related associations and publishing organizations, as well as individuals.

In 1999, Newtown police distributed free gunlocks as part of the Project HomeSafe program. The nationwide program was suspended briefly in 2000, after distributing 400,000 gunlocks through more than 600 law enforcement agencies, when those gunlocks were found to have a design flaw that allowed them to be opened without using a key if they were struck just the right way with just the right amount of force. The lock supplier has since redesigned the locks, and the new versions were tested and approved by the Consumer Products Safety Commission. Most of the original locks were replaced.

Over the next month the Project HomeSafe 15-foot mobile classroom truck will travel through Connecticut, making stops in Danbury, Waterbury, Torrington, Norwalk, Bridgeport, Fairfield, East Haven, New Britain, Hartford, New Haven, Stamford, Meriden, New London, Middletown, Bristol, Manchester, Norwich, and Windham.

Newtown resident Bill Brassard is the managing director of safety programs for the NSSF.

In March, Douglas Painter assumed the presidency of NSSF. Mr Painter, who previously served as executive director, succeeded longtime NSSF President and CEO Bob Delfay, who announced his retirement last November. Mr Painter also assumed overall management responsibility of the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAAMI) and the Hunting and Shooting Sports Heritage Foundation (HSSHF).