SHARON, PA. To promote safety, county distributes gun locks

The cable locks fit through gun chambers, barrels or magazines.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
SHARON, Pa. -- To promote safe gun storage and to prevent tragic firearms accidents, 12 Mercer County police agencies are distributing more than 10,000 free cable-style gun locks to county residents.
"If you have children in your house and you have a weapon, they're going to find it. If they find it, they're going to play with it," warned Edward Stanton, Hermitage police chief.
The key-operated locks, which disable most handguns, rifles and shotguns, fit through either the barrels, chambers or magazines of the guns. They are designed to discourage unauthorized access to firearms, especially by young children.
"Once it's locked up, you'd have to take the lock off to be able to load the firearm," said Officer William H. Gregg, crime prevention officer with the Sharon Police Department.
The locks, which can be applied or removed in a few seconds, are being given away "free of charge, no questions asked," he added.
Distribution program
At a Monday news conference, local police officials announced the gun-lock distribution program, which is sponsored by Project ChildSafe, the national firearms safety education program developed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The distribution, which will be occurring nationally over the next year, is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice and the firearms industry.
Issuance of the gun locks began Monday and will continue from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every business day at the Grove City, Hempfield, Hermitage, Mercer, Sandy Lake, Sharpsville, South Pymatuning, Stoneboro and Greenville-West Salem police stations and at the Mercer County Sheriff's Department.
In Sharon, they'll be given away from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 6 and 13 in city council chambers and from 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays beginning Dec. 16 at the police department. The distribution schedule for the Southwest Mercer County Regional Police Department will be announced at a later date. Each gun-lock kit comes with gun-safety education literature. Distribution will continue while supplies last, with a limit of two locks per person. One size fits .22-caliber guns, and another fits larger caliber firearms.
In the year 2000, firearms were the second most common cause of death from injury, killing more than 28,000 Americans, Gregg said.
Stanton estimated that accidental gun discharges with injury occur about once or twice a year in his jurisdiction.