Michigan’s Wayne County Launches Gun Lock Drive

Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon has joined forces with area religious leaders to begin distributing gun locks at churches and social agencies. The goal is to reduce accidental shooting, especially of young children who play with loaded firearms. The story, written by The Detroit Free Press, points out the tragedy of a three year old dying after getting hold of her grandmother’s handgun, but doesn’t mention why grandmother felt she needed a handgun in the home to begin with.

The city of Detroit resides in Wayne County. For decades, perhaps longer, Detroit has been one of the most crime plagued cities in the country. Home invasion is a well established pastime in Detroit and the best way to defend yourself is with a loaded firearm. Putting a trigger lock on your weapon makes having a weapon to defend the homestead useless. The time it takes to open the trigger lock gives the home invader more opportunities to threaten your life.

The story quotes a well intentioned pastor: “Safety is first and foremost especially in the home,” the Rev. Dr. Alvin Jackson of Wings of Love Missionary Baptist Church — one of the participating churches — said in a statement. “If we would make parents aware it is your responsibility to make sure your weapon is safe, it would offset fatalities. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

The problem is, trigger locks are not the best way to make the home safe and a curious child can find a way to open a lock. Parents need to teach children at an early age about the dangers of firearms. When a child is young, like three, he or she should be shown what a firearm can do. The loud noise and destruction of a target will cause them to cry and make them afraid of the firearm. As they get older the child can be taught to respect firearms and learn to shoot themselves.

The Free Press article is a classic, “What about the children” argument but misses the mark. Why should the children have to grow up in a crime ridden county? If the Sheriff is to live up to the last name of Napoleon perhaps he can join forces with the local churches to prevent crime so people will feel safe in their homes and on their streets.