| PRESCOTT, Ariz. — NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, today joined with industry partner Gunsite Academy along with Sheriff David Rhodes of the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office and representatives of the Prescott Police Department, Prescott Valley P.D. and Chino Valley P.D. to bring NSSF’s Project ChildSafe® and its message of preventing unauthorized access to firearms to greater Prescott.
NSSF has provided thousands of firearm safety kits, each kit including a gun lock and safety brochure, to the community for distribution to gun owners and their families. The local partners will take advantage of the week-long Prescott Frontier Days/The World’s Oldest Rodeo to distribute Project ChildSafe cable gun locks and firearm safety literature.
At a press conference on the steps of the Yavapai County Courthouse, NSSF’s Bill Brassard, Senior Director of Communications, emphasized that “no one wants their firearm in the hands of an unsupervised child, a person with suicidal thoughts or a thief who might use the firearm to commit a crime.” He added, “Hiding a gun is not safe storage. Gun owners have many storage options to choose from to prevent unwanted access, including lock boxes, safes for homes and vehicles and digital devices. There’s a device to meet every gun owner’s storage needs.”
Brassard noted that NSSF’s Gun Storage Check WeekTM, a national awareness campaign that ran June 1-7 and will repeat September 1-7 during National Suicide Prevention Month, amplifies the Project ChildSafe’s message. Gun Storage Check Week reminds gun owners to check on their storage practices and do their part to help prevent accidents, suicides and thefts. “Make Sure It’s Secure®” is the campaign’s slogan.
Sheriff Rhodes thanked NSSF for providing the Project ChildSafe gun locks, which will be available at Yavapai County Sheriff’s main office and substations. He said, “The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office is a leader in firearms safety and continues working hard to keep our communities safe. While we firmly believe firearm ownership is the right of all Americans, we also believe with that right comes responsibility. The responsibility to keep your firearm safe and secure, preventing gun accidents, theft and misuse. YCSO is proud to partner with the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Project Childsafe program and Gunsite Academy to ensure all gun owners have the necessary safety and education materials to keep their homes safe and secure.”
Ken Campbell, CEO of Gunsite Academy, said, “Gunsite Academy has been at the forefront of firearm safety and training for almost 50 years. Our founder, the late Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper simplified and codified the safety rules into four simple and succinct parts. These rules are now universally copied and promoted. Gunsite is proud to partner with the Yavapaii County Sheriff’s Office and the National Shooting Sports Foundation to continue promoting gun safety and proper training.”
Brassard added that securely storing firearms plays an important role in preventing suicide. In Arizona and nationally, most firearm-related fatalities are suicide deaths. NSSF has responded to this by developing resources, in partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, to make gun owners and their families aware of the warning signs of suicide, how to reach out to someone who’s struggling and knowing about the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
“The decision to take one’s life is often impulsive, sometimes occurring in ten minutes or less,” said Brassard. “Preventing access to a firearm when someone is in crisis allows time for the acute period of risk to pass or for intervention to take place, and that can save lives.”
Project ChildSafe is marking its 25th year of promoting safe firearm handling and secure storage. The program began in 1999 in five pilot cities and grew to be embraced as a community firearm safety program throughout the country. Today, Project ChildSafe operates in all 50 states and the five U.S. territories, has worked with more than 15,000 law enforcement partners and distributed more than 41 million firearm safety kits that each include a cable gun lock. The program helps gun owners and their families determine which safety devices can best meet their secure storage needs by providing resources such as this safe storage options infographic and this video that provides tips to parents about having regular conversations with their children about gun safety.
According to National Safety Council data from 2022, preventable firearm injury related deaths have declined by 39.2 percent over the last 20 years, which coincides with Project ChildSafe’s efforts.
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About NSSF
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org. |
