From The Trussville Tribune staff reports
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office will be offering free cable gun locks to citizens on March 29 at any of the county pistol permit offices, including the substation in Center Point. This is part of what the sheriff’s office has dubbed “Operation Child Safe”.
Sheriff Mike Hale expressed his support for gun ownership.
“I believe that honest, law abiding citizens should be afforded the same opportunity to protect themselves and their families that I have been over my law enforcement career,” he said.
The sheriff’s office stated that locks will be an effective way to curb gun violence by accident or use by criminals. An incident in a nearby county was cited in which a 15-year old boy accidentally shot a 14-year old friend when he was showing him a gun that he found.
“Accidents involving children and unsecured firearms are a matter of grave concern,” the sheriff’s office stated. “In 2012 there were 600 unintentional firearm related deaths across the country. Many of these involved children who found an unsecured gun.”
Anyone who is interested in more information can visit projectchildsafe.org. Project Child Safe is a program about gun safety around children by the National Sports Shooting Foundation.
The sheriff’s office also cited a statistic by the FBI saying that a gun is stolen every two minutes, contributing to gun violence by criminals.
“These guns end up being used against innocent victims and law enforcement.”
Gun locks will be given out at the following pistol permit offices:
– Center Point Substation at 2651 Center Point Road in Center Point
– Sheriff’s Headquarters at 2200 Reverend Abraham Woods Jr. Blvd in Birmingham
– Bessemer Sheriff’s Office at 1826 Second Ave. N. in Bessemer
– Hoover Satellite Courthouse at 1901 Hoover Court in Hoover
– Gardendale Satellite Courthouse at 651 Main St. in Gardendale
