Safety locks are inexpensive devices designed to secure a gun from unintended use. A 1991 General Accounting Office study found that one-third of the deaths resulting from accidental shootings could be prevented by a firearms safety device such as a trigger lock. The manufacturer of the handgun, Glock, donated 4,000 safety locks to the D.C. Police Department in response to the accident to prevent a similar occurrence from happening again. Learning how to use a locking device should just take a few minutes. Locking devices have the added benefit of potentially preventing a gun from being used against its owner.
American families have a responsibility to keep their handguns out of the hands of children.
A child safety lock on a handgun will help families to keep their kids from using the gun to hurt other kids or themselves. The project is modeled on the Boston Gun Project hailed by Boston authorities for reducing youth homicides to zero in Boston last year. Participating police departments are committing themselves to comprehensive tracing of recovered guns. In the past, police departments traced recovered guns to solve major guns crimes. To trace a crime gun, police departments submit the gun serial number and other data to ATF's National Tracing Center which can identify the first retail seller, purchaser and sometimes subsequent sales as well.