Justice Department and NOPD team up to promote safe gun storage
By LBJ,
23 days ago
NEW ORLEANS ( WGNO ) — The proliferation of guns in our community contributes to the significant gun violence but also access to guns by children, creating a host of problems.
“They equate a gun with a game. They have so much exposure to television associated with guns that for many of them they don’t level of lethality associated with guns and so we’re seeing an increase of kids taking those guns to school,” said New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick.
The access to guns has also resulted in a heartbreaking statistic of children being shot, accidentally and there’s the issue of gun thefts.
“A lot of firearms have been stolen, especially during the period of 2017-2020 over a million firearms were stolen nationwide. A third of the households of which these firearms were stolen from have children,” said Eastern District of Louisiana U.S. Attorney Duane Evans.
For all these reasons, Kirkpatrick and Evans have come together to promote safe firearm storage. It’s all apart of a national effort called “Safe Storage of Firearms Unload It, Unlock It, Store It,” pointing residents in the right direction.
“As far as a gun safe or a lock box or even a trigger lock for your particular firearm, you can get in touch with ATF and they can give you information on where to buy these accessories, “Evans.
The City of New Orleans has also conducted free trigger lock giveaways. In the end, the authorities are hoping to keep in the forefront.
“We know that most people are responsible in their gun ownership, but we just ask that they use common sense,” said Kirkpatrick.
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