Wayne County Distributes Thousands of Gun Locks

More than 2,000 safety gun locks arrived at the Wayne County Sheriff's Department, giving cause for Sheriff Benny N. Napoleon and his underlings to ask, "How are we going to get rid of all these?"

Two months later, they're all gone due to a free giveaway program, and Napoleon is asking for more, with a special emphasis on young people.

"The near-weekly news reports we're seeing of children bringing guns to school is a wake-up call to secure these weapons any way we can," the sheriff said at a press conference.

A rallying point is the December death of 3-year-old Alexia Bostwick of Detroit. Investigators say the toddler apparently found a loaded and unlocked gun in her grandmother's bedroom drawer. She died of a 9 mm bullet wound to her chest.

Another reason for community response, Napoleon says, is a gun lock distribution partnership between the sheriff's department and metro Detroit churches and social agencies.

Napoleon reports that in Wayne County, 41,687 residents through January possessed concealed weapons permits. Authorities received 13,843 applications during 2009, up nearly 50 percent from the previous year.

The source of safety gun lock giveaways in Wayne County and nationwide is Project ChildSafe. Funding comes from the U.S. Department of Justice. Project ChildSafe is an expansion of Project HomeSafe, organized through the National Sports Shooting Foundation. Program officials say they have distributed 30 million safety kits nationwide during the past decade. The gun locks are similar in appearance to bicycle locks.

Some gun-rights activists are skeptical. On the Web site FireArmsTruth.com, managing editor John Kullman writes, "Home invasion is a well-established pastime in Detroit and the best way to defend yourself is with a loaded firearm ... The time it takes to open the trigger lock gives the home invader more opportunities to threaten your life."

Kullman adds, "Parents need to teach children at an early age about the dangers of firearms. When a child is young, like 3, he or she should be shown what a firearm can do. The loud noise and destruction of a target will cause them to cry and make them afraid of the firearm. As they get older, the child can be taught to respect firearms and learn to shoot themselves."

Napoleon and Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans, the former sheriff, counter that children sometimes "shoot themselves" - literally. They add that while the vast majority of shooting deaths are intentional, gun locks can prevent accidents involving children such as Alexia Bostwick.

Opponents of Kullman's view also have a voice. For example, the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor reports that more than 3,000 Americans aged 19 and younger are killed with a gun each year, and that 6 to 7 percent of the fatal gun discharges are accidental.

The American Journal of Epidemiology, published through the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, reports that gun ownership intended for personal protection actually increases the risk of personal harm by nearly a 100-percent factor.

Research shows that "regardless of storage practice, type of gun, or number of firearms in the home, having a gun in the home was associated with an increased risk of firearm homicide and firearm suicide in the home," the journal reports.

Sheriff's department spokeswoman Paula Bridges says she is unsure when more gun locks will arrive, because Project ChildSafe has become overwhelmed with requests. The number to call for information is 313-224-2233.

Sources:

http://www.projectchildsafe.org/
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/12/detroit_police_believe_3-year-.html
http://www.firearmstruth.com/2010/michigan%E2%80%99s-wayne-county-launches-gun-lock-drive
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2010/01/get_your_gun_locks_wayne_count.html
http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/guns.htm
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/160/10/929