Law enforcement agencies across the Washington area will hand out hundreds of thousands of free gun locks to registered weapons owners during the next several weeks through a federally subsidized safety program.
Project ChildSafe, a program funded through a $50 million Department of Justice grant, aims to distribute 20 million cable-style locks to licensed gun owners nationwide, including 232,700 in Virginia, 223,300 in Maryland and 9,500 in the District.
Program organizers gave the locks to all Maryland law enforcement agencies last month and said they will hand them out in Virginia later this month.
“I think anything that aids us in preventing the possible harm of our children is a good thing,” said Cpl. Diane Richardson, spokeswoman for the Prince George’s County Police Department.
“We’ve had tragic incidents happen once a year or so. I think we accepted these locks with that in mind.”
But some police departments are opting out of the program due to legal-liability concerns, while still other law enforcement agencies have not decided whether to distribute the locks since two Maryland law enforcement agencies turned down the donations, citing liability concerns.
Lori O’Connell, spokeswoman for the project, said the Baltimore County Sheriff’s Office and the Howard County Police Department declined to distribute the locks last month.
“A handful of people have brought up the issue of liability,” Miss O’Connell said. “But that issue falls in the hands of the manufacturer if anything happens, and these devices have gone through every type of safety test there is.”
Still, some officials said the don’t feel comfortable with the arrangement. “Unless we can be 100 percent sure of the effectiveness of any product then we simply can’t distribute it,” said Sherry Llewellyn, spokeswoman for the Howard County Police Department.
Montgomery County Police Department officials aren’t sure whether they will distribute the devices, spokeswoman Lucille Baur said.
“We have received 6,800 gun locks at this point, but we’re not going to distribute any of them until we feel comfortable with it,” Miss Baur said. “We want to make sure we know exactly what we’re doing.”
Metropolitan Police Department officials began distributing the gun locks earlier this week. The District generally bans owning handguns, but tens of thousands of residents own firearms through various exemptions.
D.C. police will distribute locks to licensed gun owners at the department’s firearms registration room at 300 Indiana Ave. NW.
Department spokesman Kevin Morison said police officials decided liability concerns were limited.
“The liability concerns didn’t seem all that great, especially when weighed against the safety of these devices,” Mr. Morison said.
The distribution is being administered by the Connecticut-based National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade group.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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