The Kane County Health Department Offers Free Gun Locks to Gun Owners, Retailers
Kane County Health Department 9/18/2023 5:00AM
The Kane County Health Department (KCHD) is offering free gun locks to all households who have firearms and gun retailers to promote safe firearm storage, prevent unintentional injury and reduce suicide risk.
Once secured, the locks block trigger access to prevent anyone who doesn’t have the key from operating the weapon. These universal locks include installation instructions for autoloading pistols, revolvers, autoloading and pump-action shotguns, bolt action rifles, modern sport rifles, and single-action revolvers.
“We are making gun locks readily available to help prevent tragedies like accidental shootings, gun violence, gun thefts, and suicide,” said Michael Isaacson, KCHD Executive Director. “Having an unsecured gun increases the chances of tragedy.”
Gun owners can pick up the gun locks from the reception area of the Kane County Health Department at 1240 N. Highland Avenue, Aurora during the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. The Health Department will not request any information from anyone picking up gun locks.
Gun retailers may also obtain gun locks to make available at no charge to customers purchasing firearms, and can request them from Kaitlin Soriano, Violence Prevention Coordinator at the Kane County Health Department at sorianokaitlin@kanecountyil.gov.
“We want to provide Kane County gun retailers the opportunity to help their customers store their guns safely,” said Soriano.
Between 2018 and 2022, there were 141 gunshot wound deaths in Kane County. Of those, 81 were suicides. Additionally, there were 410 gunshot wound injuries seen at Kane County Emergency Departments in the same timeframe.
According to A Year in Review: 2020 Gun Deaths in the U.S. from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, firearm injury was the leading cause of death among children, teens, and young adults under age 25. In addition, every 2.5 days a child or teen was killed by an unintentional gun injury.
The gun locks are offered through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for distribution through the Illinois Department of Public Health.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org. For more information about the KCHD Violence Prevention Program, visit: https://kanehealth.com/Pages/Violence-Prevention.aspx
