IDPH celebrates giving away more than 100,000 gun locks

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — The Illinois Department of Public Health has announced it has reached a major milestone for a program designed to reduce gun deaths.

The “Together for a Safer Illinois” campaign, run by IDPH, Illinois State Police and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, have given out gun locks for no cost. Since launching in June, the program has given out 100,000 free locks for firearms at public events. The locks help gun owners secure their weapons and prevent children and people not trained to safely use firearms from access.

The locks can be installed on auto-loading pistols, revolvers, auto-loading and pump-action shotguns, bolt action rifles, modern sports rifles, and single action revolvers.

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IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said he’s excited the gun lock giveaway program is popular.

“Preventing gun violence and injury is a critical public health goal, and gun locks are an important tool to prevent accidental shootings, gun violence, and suicide. 100,000 distributed gun locks are only the start of this important initiative,” Vohra said in a news release. “As IDPH and our partners work together for a safer Illinois, we look forward to continuing our gun lock distribution at events across Illinois this spring and summer.”

Also included with the locks is information on the national 9-8-8 suicide and crisis lifeline.

The agency continues to plan on giving out gun locks at events across Illinois, including summer festivals, county fairs, back-to-school events, community outreach programs, health fairs, suicide prevention awareness events, National Night Out events, and the Illinois and DuQuoin State Fairs.

Health departments and community organizations can get gun locks to offer to their local communities on their Gun Lock Request Form and IDPH’s Gun Safety website.

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