October 1, 2001

On September 13th, Mayor Paul Schell launched the latest of his gun safety initiatives with the announcement of the distribution of 5,760 free gun locks to Seattle residents. Mayor Schell noted that a 1998 state study determined that 43,000 households in Seattle have guns in their homes, and 5,900 children live in homes reporting the presence of unlocked firearms. The Mayor strongly believes that if city residents have firearms in their homes they should be safely stored to prevent gun accidents and violent acts.

The free gun locks were purchased with $50,000 of city funds. They are being distributed at various city department's neighborhood locations including police and fire stations and parks facilities. Instructions for installing the locks are provided in 13 different languages. Recognizing the lack of manufacturing standards for gun safety devices and the recent problems with recalls, as part of its program design, the city sent over half a dozen different gun locking devices to the Washington State Crime Lab for quality assurance testing The city's selection of a MasterLock cable-styled gun lock was based upon results of this testing.

In his ongoing campaign to stress firearms safety, last year Mayor Schell launched another gun safety initiative by providing funding to assist a gunlock box campaign sponsored by Seattle's trauma center hospital. The new gun locks are a companion program.

Mayor Schell indicated that when these 5,760 gun locks are distributed the city will explore private funding to support continuation and expansion of this program. The goal is to safely secure all firearms stored in Seattle residences and reduce firearms injuries and deaths.