East Windsor distributing free gun locks intended to prevent accidental shootings
EAST WINSOR » Longtime Democratic Mayor Janice Mironov wants to prevent accidental shootings from occurring in her township.
East Windsor beginning March 1 is sponsoring a month-long Gun Safety Program, where gun locks will be distributed to any East Windsor resident free of charge, Mironov announced Tuesday in a news release.
“This is a pro-active initiative,” Mironov said in a press statement, “geared to promote and provide improved gun safety. These locks if properly used by lawful gun owners can help prevent accidental deaths or injuries in the home, as well as deaths and injuries caused by the intentional misuse of guns.”
Beginning Friday, township residents may obtain free gun safety locks at the East Windsor Township Police and municipal court facility at 80 One Mile Road by contacting Detective Brian Gorski at (609) 448-5678, ext. 236. The effort will run from March 1 through March 31.
The free gun locks are made available to the township at no cost through the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Project ChildSafe program. The NSSF has distributed over 37 million free safety kits across the United States that include a firearm locking device, according to a September 2017 report issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
The GAO says it has reviewed multiple studies that found that “free lock distribution efforts influenced behavior to store firearms more safely, but these results were largely based on self-reports.”
“The use of gun locks is a no-brainer, which keeps guns out of the hands of children and helps prevent unnecessary tragedies,” Mironov said in her statement. “We hope that programs such as this will remind and educate lawful gun owners about their important responsibil- ity to handle firearms safely and to store them in a secure manner.”