Posted on 10/28/2003 5:53:39 PM PST by yonif
MADISON — If you own a gun and think hiding it away will keep the hands of a child off its trigger, think again.
“Don’t sell your kid short. They can find out where the gun is,” said Appleton Police Department spokesman John DeLong. “As a consequence, when they find a gun, you need to make it inoperable.”
Firearms safety proponents Monday launched a statewide effort to make it easier for gun owners to make their guns safer.
Statewide, 465,000 free trigger locks will be distributed this year, including thousands of locks in the Fox Valley. The locks are designed to prevent guns from being loaded and fired by a child.
Area law enforcement departments soon will receive thousands of the locks that they will make available free to gun owners. Some departments in northeastern Wisconsin will receive locks as soon as Wednesday.
They are being distributed through a program called Project ChildSafe, a project funded by the U.S. Department of Justice and managed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation that will distribute 27 million gun locks nationwide, in addition to promoting a message of gun safety.
“The goal of Project ChildSafe is to make homes safer,” Gov. Jim Doyle said Monday during a press conference.
DeLong said his department will distribute locks at future events that have not yet been scheduled.
Dane County Sheriff Gary Hamblin said that as a boy, he listened to adults who told him not to touch guns that were hidden away in the back of a closet. But that’s just what he did when the adults left the house.
Monday, Hamblin said gun owners shouldn’t take chances.
“Children are naturally inquisitive,” he said.
-archy-/-
Problem is, a lot of these gun lock giveaways are a surreptitious way to find out who has how many guns - in order to get one, you've got to give the police your name and address.
"So, Mr. Redneck, we'll just mark down here that you've got three guns in your house at 1234 Main St..."
I agree. Teach them proper firearms handling and safety, and personal responsibility. Then you don't need to worry about hiding places or locks.
The way the Left demonizes firearms, how do they think America managed not to kill itself off before they came along? Think about it: America not only survived, but grew and prospered for two centuries, not in spite of firearms, but with the daily handling and use of firearms. All without trigger locks, guns safes, or Sarah Brady and her ilk. And all without a single recorded incident of a child taking a gun to school and killing his classmates.
Oh yeah, I forgot: the Left doesn't think.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.