Project ChildSafe brings free gun locks to Baton Rouge

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - There’s a new program in the capital city which organizers hope will help keep families safer.

City leaders joined Mayor Sharon Weston Broome and authorities from the Baton Rouge Police Department in support of Project ChildSafe, an initiative created by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). A spokesman for the organization says the project provides resources and education to gun owners and youth exposed to firearms.

“We believe it is the gun owner’s responsibility to make sure they secure their firearms so that a child or someone at risk does not get hurt,” said Bill Brassard, Director of Communications for NSSF. Part of the initiative is providing free gun locks to anyone who wants one.

Levar Robinson, director for Fathers on a Mission, partnered with law enforcement and Mayor Broome’s office to help get the locks into the community.

“In the city of Baton Rouge, we have occurrences of where kids pick up guns that are sitting around or go into a closet, under a bed and pick up a gun, and they accidentally shoot themselves or someone else,” said Robinson.

The Baton Rouge Police Department is providing the free locks at all five of their precincts. Locks are also available at both the Martin Luther King Center and Charles R. Kelly Community Centers.

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