Credit where it is due...

[sarisataka]

A gun control organization is finally doing something that can help reduce accidental deaths.

http://besmartforkids.org/ - has a quiz that, if you sign up to support them, they will donate a gun lock to be distributed at a future safety event. At this time their total is at 15,958. Other resources are available on the site.

Now one could be cynical about it since you have to sign up as a supporter for them to donate a lock. (Project ChildSafe http://www.projectchildsafe.org/ developed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®) has distriubted 36 million locks and accepts donations without you having to sign up as a supporter.)
But it is at least a first step by a "gun safety" organization that can have a direct safety effect.

The other resources should likely be take with a grain of salt. The quiz has a question about kids in homes with unsecured firearms. It clearly gives the answer as 1.7 million, per Everytown data. Yet the notanaccident page claims the number is over 2 million.

[oneshooter]

1. They want you on the mailing list.

I would give odds that nary a lock is procured or given out.

[sarisataka]

2. Not to question

Everytown's integrity, but I checked three times tonight and have seen three different totals of locks-in order: 15,958; 15,128; 15,928.

Somehow the total goes down as well as up

[sarisataka]

11. Two years have gone by

and thus far your prediction holds...

[Eleanors38]

3. I always support attempts at safe gun storage at home...

and it should be recognized that the NSSF has been at this for some 20 years.

[sarisataka]

4. I've been following

the besmartforkids.org to see if it might actually be a legitimate campaign; not simply a membership drive.

The "TOTAL GUN LOCKS" highlighted on the page- presumably people who have taken the quiz has varied. The total has been;
16190, 15988, 13900, 15871, 15128, 14945, 13898, 14913, 16110 and the latest 15898.

It appears the "TOTAL GUN LOCKS" counter is simply a random number generator: 15,000 +/- 1,500. Since there are no instructions on how/where to obtain a lock outside of an unnamed "local gun safety awareness event" I can only conclude this is another crude marketing ploy. Strange since Ms. Watts is an accomplished career as a communications executive.

If anyone is interested in getting a free gun lock, no strings attached, this site will guide you to a local source. http://www.projectchildsafe.org/safety/find-a-safety-kit

[sarisataka]

5. Update

one month short of the one year anniversary besmartforkids claims to have acquired in excess of 25,000 locks; though as noted above the number still changes randomly.

Unfortunately there is no evidence, such as an announcement of a give-away event or photos of the locks being distributed (or even of a sample lock), that a single lock has been purchased. Perhaps Everytown for Gun Safety is waiting for the one year anniversary.


By comparison, Project Childsafe, developed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, gave away more than 300,000 safety kits in 2015.

[AtheistCrusader]

7. I opened one of those cable locks with two small rocks, by banging them together over the cable

because I forgot the damn key at home when I went to the gravel pit.

Yeah it's better than nothing, but it's just a gesture to use that kind. The trigger lock type is actually more secure.

[Straw Man]

8. Secure?

Yeah it's better than nothing, but it's just a gesture to use that kind. The trigger lock type is actually more secure.

Respectfully disagree. There are good cable locks and there are crappy ones. I would suggest that you had one of the latter.

On the other hand, I've seen trigger locks that could be popped apart with a large screwdriver. I've seen guns that, because of the shape of their trigger guards, could be fired with a trigger lock in place. I've seen people try to secure a lever action rifle with a trigger lock. It doesn't work.

It's all relative.

[AtheistCrusader]

9. Fair enough. No one lock is perfect for all guns.

[sarisataka]

10. Better than nothing

is better.

Yes, cable locks can be defeated but probably not bu most children. Also the advantage is to use a cable lock, the gun must be unloaded; a trigger lock may be used on a loaded gun. (You should NEVER use a trigger lock on a loaded firearm. It is DANGEROUS to do so.)

Still, gun "safety" groups, like Everytown for Gun Safety, cannot do even that much. They can come up with a spiffy video, using a celeb that many people will recognize. They can create a quiz about gun safety (Which ironically has one question about safe gun handling) They can include a random number generator about how many locks they have purchased.

What they can't do is go out and buy a couple of cheap locks and have a photo op of handing them out to maintain the fiction that they actually are about gun safety.

[ileus]

6. we used to have some anti that argued against Safes and locks.

Was it that odd little fellow something xxxxxxunited...


I remember someone posted about locks and safes and he/she whined about how easy it was to pick the locks. I guess he/she just left their firearms unsecured.