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Los Angeles County offers free gun safety locks at libraries
LA County Jun 04, 2024
A cable-style gun safety lock. | Photo courtesy of kencfo618/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
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Free, gun safety locks are available with no questions asked to the public at Los Angeles County Libraries, the Department of Public Health announced Monday.
The health department’s Office of Violence Prevention and the LA County Library system are partnering to distribute 1,000 gun safety locks to the public at five libraries, officials said. A county library card is not required to receive a free lock to prevent children and unauthorized others from using firearms.
The locks and educational materials on safe storage help to prevent firearm injuries and deaths and also help deter the gun theft, officials said. In LA County a child is killed or injured by gun violence every 30 hours, and in 2022 more than 800 LA County residents died as a result of gun violence.
“The Office of Violence Prevention’s expansion of the gun lock distribution program to the five Tool Lending Libraries is welcome news because gun locks save lives, and gun violence is a distinct American crisis that puts the lives of tens of thousands of men, women, and children at risk every year,” LA County 1st District Supervisor Hilda L. Solis said in a statement. “About eight in 10 U.S. murders in 2021 involved a firearm, and more than half of all suicides in 2021 involved a gun. The gun lock distribution program is a critical, sensible, proven program that we know will help keep our communities and the people in them safer, and we need to keep expanding this life-saving program into as many communities as we can to help reduce this unacceptable cycle of violence and tragedy.”
The free gun locks and information on gun safety will be available at these LA County Tool Lending Libraries:
- Compton, 240 W. Compton Blvd.
- Lancaster, 601 W. Lancaster Blvd.
- Norwalk, 12350 Imperial Highway
- Rosemead, 8800 Valley Blvd.
- San Fernando, 217 N. Maclay Ave.
“Gun locks can save lives, especially in households with children,” 4th District Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement. “We are using every strategy we can to prevent gun violence including new policies to prevent guns from ending up in the wrong hands, gun buybacks across my district to get guns off the streets, and now expanding where residents can get free gun locks to take home.”
Barbara Ferrer, Public Health Department director, said in a statement, “The simple act of locking and safely storing firearms can prevent a tragedy that far too many families have experienced. Extending the program to provide free gun safety locks to the public in partnership with LA County libraries expands our efforts to keep families — and especially children — safe from gun violence.”
LA County Library Director Skye Patrick said in a statement, “Providing free gun safety locks at our libraries is an important step in ensuring the safety of our community. We are proud to partner with Public Health in this crucial initiative. Our libraries are more than just places for books, they are safe havens for learning and growth.”
On April 2, Public Health began distributing a 2024 total of 60,000 free gun safety locks to county residents. Initially the locks were available at six county health facilities and online at lockedandunloaded.org.
More information on the county’s gun safety locks and other library resources are at LACountyLibrary.org/gun-violence-awareness.
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