The Louisville Metro Police Department started handing out free gun locks on Monday as part of a partnership with Project ChildSafe.
“We will give them a free lock for their firearm, and additional information on how to store their firearm,” LMPD’s Fifth Division detective, Daniel English said.
Project ChildSafe is a national program providing LMPD with 200 gunlocks to hand out at no charge. A person can go to any division and ask for a gun safety kit, no questions asked.
“You don't have to sign anything, there's no information we need from them. We're just happy to hand this out and if it can keep a child safe then that's what we want to do,” Det. English explained.
Marcella Levy got hers Monday afternoon. She doesn’t own a gun but said some of her relatives do.
“It would just kill my soul if anything happened to them,” she explained.
With four grandchildren and a fifth on the way, Levy said she wants gun owners in her family to be extra careful.
“I don't know that I would survive the heartache of losing them that way,” Levy said.
The program launched less than a week after an accidental shooting in Shively where a 7-year-old girl was shot and sent to the hospital in critical condition.
Police said she and her 11-year-old brother were playing with a gun found in a secure box under the bed.
“Typically when a child is hurt by a firearm it's 100 percent preventable,” said Det. English.
He said the key to the locks should be hidden somewhere different. For more information, click here.
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