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The letter about First Presbyterian Church raising awareness of gun safety refers readers to besmartforkids.org. That program is a program of the Bloomberg initiative “Everytown for Gun Safety.” As such, it inadvertently overlooks many valuable resources.
I have been an accredited firearms instructor for many years and wish to point out that what the letter does not indicate is that in Kansas (among other states), most county sheriff departments cooperate with Project Childsafe in providing upon request free gun safety locks that come with instructions for effective use — see for example KCKPD.
Project Childsafe was developed in 1999 by the National Shooting Sports Foundation specifically to address these issues and provide free locks.
So, going to projectchildsafe.org/get-a-safety-kit/ and entering locality info returns the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office as a local partner. Anyone who would like a gun lock from DGSO can call 785-841-0007, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said.
The locks, as shown below, are useful to secure handguns and rifles/shotguns.
The NSSF cable locks, which are made with a good, stout stainless cable, are of the laminated type made by Master (though the NSSF ones are not branded and I don’t know the maker).
If unavailable in your area, a simple good quality padlock can secure a firearm as well as the NSSF cable locks.
For example, semiautomatic handguns can be secured using a long shanked bicycle lock as illustrated here.
With the slide locked back and the magazine removed from the firearm, one leg of the bicycle lock is inserted through the magazine well, the other leg external to it, and the tumbler holder (key or combination) is applied. This both prevents inserting a magazine and closing the slide. Thus, the pistol is immobilized.
A typical “double-action” swing-out cylinder type revolver is similarly immobilized with a simple, high quality padlock around the “top-strap” of the frame, as shown. Since the cylinder cannot be closed with the lock in place, the firearm is reasonably secured.
The NSSF cable locks would be used exactly the same way as the padlocks shown. Rifles or shotguns that use removable magazines would be secured the same way.
Rifles or shotguns that do not have removable magazines can be secured in various other ways that manufacturers go over in product user manuals. Oftentimes, a simple good quality padlock secured through the trigger guard behind the trigger prevents firing the gun.
As always, a device is not the sole effective means of securing a gun, vehicle, or anything else from children, and so parents who own firearms MUST be certain to speak about these things with children.
NSSF has an extensive list of free safety resources at projectchildsafe.org/educational-materials.
— George Pisani (he/him), Lawrence
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