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SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (FOX 2) - Children are increasingly gaining access to unsecured guns at home – often leading to fatal consequences. As a result, police are reminding gun owners to invest in gunlocks. In June, a two-year-old Howell child accidentally shot himself with an unsecured gun; he was the son of a Dearborn police corporal. In August, a similar incident occurred involving an 8-year-old boy who gained access to an illegal, unsecured firearm. And just Thursday, another teenager accidentally shot himself in the face while at a family member's home in Canton, after discovering a gun. Gunlocks are available and...

We all want to do something, but more lives will be lost than saved if everyone locks up their guns.

Last year, right after a student fatally shot eight classmates and two teachers at Santa Fe High School, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick urged Texans to lock up their firearms. The killer had stolen his father’s guns. On the last night of the legislative session, the Republican-dominated state legislature approved a $1 million public safety campaign for gun storage. The Associated Press and other national media are playing this as a major test of NRA power in “gun loving Texas,” and they are waiting to see if Governor Greg Abbott will veto the spending. If the NRA can be defeated...

Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) said the development of smart guns should be part of the gun-control conversation, arguing that a gun owner should not be able to fire a gun without some sort of verification like a thumbprint that's needed to unlock a smartphone. Deutch also said that there are efforts underway to require gun manufacturers to incorporate smart technology in firearms but that the NRA is standing in the way. "Yes, there are absolutely efforts. The technology has advanced where we’ve seen this kind of technology using guns," Deutch said during a conference call briefing with the Jewish Democratic...

After Friday's attack at Santa Fe High School, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick forcefully told people of their “responsibility” to lock up their guns. We all want to do something, but everyone locking up their guns will cost more lives than it saves.

Two years ago I published an alert on my site regarding the inherent insecurity of gun trigger locks in the hope that manufacturers would remove them from the market or modify their design to make them more child-proof. Although some manufacturers now produce a more secure model to meet statutory requirements in California, even some of these can be easily compromised. Essentially nothing has changed: many manufacturers continue to sell products that are poorly designed, the consequences of which can be fatal -- literally. Even the cable locks that are provided under a US Justice Department grant to law enforcement...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to overturn a recently enacted law requiring safety trigger locks on all hand guns sold in the United States. The Republican-controlled House handed a victory to opponents of gun control by a vote of 230-191. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, a Colorado Republican, argued that the added cost of the trigger locks is passed on to gun owners and that they "do not stop accidental shootings." Last fall, President George W. Bush signed legislation giving gun makers broad protections from civil lawsuits, but that law contained the mandatory trigger lock provision....

An $80 million federal grant program to distribute gun locks free for the protection of children appears to have pivoted off course since they're being used by farmers to keep their gates locked. "If you look from the road at farmers' gates, you can see them," Bedford County Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Chris Brown said today when asked about comments from Wartrace Town Hall Wednesday. Wartrace Town Clerk Kim Curbow said Project ChildSafe's cable-style gun locks "look like a lock you would use on a bicycle." She and Wartrace Police Chief Ben Burris agreed the locks would also work as a...

Brazill's mother hands out gun locks Thursday, April 22, 2004 RIVIERA BEACH -- If the gun Nathaniel Brazill used to kill his seventh-grade teacher on the last day of school had been equipped with a safety lock, his mother, Polly Powell, might not be here knocking on doors and Brazill might not be in prison. Powell, of Lake Worth, walked the Stonybrook apartment complex at 1555 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Wednesday, passing out gun locks to whoever would accept them. A day earlier, Primrose Walker, the mother of David Walker, the 14-year-old who was shot and killed by a...

Gun safety is a hot issue affecting many families with children. To help set parents' minds at ease, the Shelbyville and Wartrace Police departments and Bedford County Sheriff's Office are giving away gun locks to local residents. "Project Child Safe" is a program developed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation that will distribute millions of firearms safety kits throughout the country over the next year. The program is funded by a U.S. Department of Justice grant, with additional funding provided by the firearms industry. Several thousand gun locks were donated to Bedford County and distributed among the three agencies and...

SMART GUNS/FOOLISH LEGISLATORS: FINDING THE RIGHT PUBLIC SAFETY LAWS, AND AVOIDING THE WRONG ONES Cynthia Leonardatos [FNa1] Paul H. Blackman [FNaa1] David B. Kopel [FNaaa1] 34 Conn. L. Rev. 157 Copyright © 2001 by Connecticut Law Review; Cynthia Leonardatos, Paul H. Blackman, David B. Kopel Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Child Proofing Guns: Locks and Gun Storage Requirements     A. Types of Locking and Storage Devices1. Trigger Locks2. Cable Locks3. Internally Installed Combination Locks4. Hammer Locking Devices5. Magazine Disconnects6. Gun Lock Boxes and Gun SafesB. Policy Issues1. Resistant to Small Children, But not "Childproof 2. Interference with Self-DefenseC....

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 108th Congress - 2nd Session as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate Vote Summary Question: On the Amendment (Boxer Amdt. No. 2620 As Amended ) Vote Number: 17 Vote Date: February 26, 2004, 11:03 AM Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Amendment Agreed to Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 2620 to S. 1805 (Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act ) Statement of Purpose: To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to require the provision of a child safety device in connection...

<p>Senator Barbara Boxer's amendment to the Gun Manufacturers Liability Bill (still pending) has passed.</p> <p>Her amendment mandates (according to what was stated during debate) that guns MUST, by force of Federal Law, be locked when stored in a home.</p> <p>If you don't properly lock your guns, you pay $2,500 fine and lose your right to own firearms.</p>

Bound to Misfire By John R. Lott, Jr. This week President Bush's program, Project Childsafe, begins distributing 20 million gun locks. Over 712,000 locks will be given out just in New York. It seems like such a reasonable program, who could oppose it? After all, if a gun lock can save a life, it seems a small cost. Unfortunately, despite the obvious feel-good appeal of these rules, gun locks and safe storage laws are more likely to cost lives than to save them. Many have seen the public service ads put out by the Clinton Justice Department showing the voices...

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...

<p>A bill banning the sale or free distribution of trigger locks not approved by the state Department of Justice was sent to Gov. Gray Davis Monday.</p> <p>The state Senate, voting 25-12, agreed to changes in the bill approved by the Assembly on Aug. 15. The bill, SB1670, declares that 94 brands of gun safety locks are approved for sale or giveaways in California.</p>

As part of a national program called Project HomeSafe, free gun locks were handed out Monday in Danbury. Lt. Gov. M. Jodi Rell, spoke briefly to local gun owners. DANBURY — As New Milford resident John Busch’s 18-month-old daughter starts to "get out and about,” he is starting to worry that she might discover the guns he and his wife own. So when he heard gun locks would be handed out for free on Monday, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pick up several. The gun locks were given out as part of a national program called Project HomeSafe,...