Foundations team up for firearm safety, will give away gun locks

Kansas City, Mo. — The National Shooting Sports Foundation and Progressive Agriculture Foundation are working together to provide more gun locks to parents in rural America. Through the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Project ChildSafe, local Progressive Agriculture Safety Day coordinators and sheriffs will give gun locks to Safety Day participants.

Progressive Agriculture Safety Days are a perfect place to explain why it’s important that firearms be safely handled and securely stored.

“Securely storing firearms when not in use is the No. 1 way to prevent accidents, misuse and theft,” says Bill Brassard, director of Project ChildSafe. “Our campaign reminder is Own it? Respect it. Secure it.”

As a firearm owner, it’s your responsibility to ensure that guns in your home are always stored where they are inaccessible to children or other unauthorized persons. Hiding a gun in a closet, drawer or similar location is not safe storage.

Safe storage is employing precautions and multiple safeguards that provide an additional barrier against unauthorized use. Nearly all firearm accidents in the home can be prevented simply by making sure that guns are kept unloaded and locked up when not in use, with ammunition secured in a separate location.

To find out if there is a Progressive Agriculture Safety Day near you, go to www.progressiveag.org. Parents interested in having their child participate should contact the local Safety Day coordinator. If your child is unable to attend a Progressive Agriculture Safety Day, ask your local sheriff’s department if they can obtain a gun lock for you through Project ChildSafe.

For 10 years the National Shooting Sports Foundation has supported the Progressive Agriculture Safety Day program, working together to help keep kids safe around firearms.