Community activist turns attention to safety locks to promote responsible gun ownership

CHICAGO - A community activist and politician known for his anti-violence efforts is working to draw attention to a simple tool he said will help prevent senseless gun deaths and injuries.

Own a gun? "Lock it up," said Dolton Trustee Andrew Holmes.

"It’s pretty simple: Children are getting ahold of the guns and shooting themselves or turning it on their brothers and sisters accidentally," Holmes said Monday. "One way to prevent that is for people to keep the guns locked up."

To that end, Holmes said he wants to distribute thousands of free gun safety locks to the community.

Gun locks come in many forms. The locks Holmes is handing out function similar to a bike lock. They have a cable that is threaded into the muzzle, through the barrel and out the ejection port, rendering the gun inoperable. The cable is held in place by a lock.

Gun safety advocates promote such locks because they prevent children from being able to fire the weapon but also can be easily and quickly removed if necessary.

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Holmes said the use of locks and gun safes is essential for responsible gun ownership. As such, he said, stores selling guns should make more of an effort to provide safety products to their customers, as well.

"If you’re going to sell someone a gun, you should also provide a gun lock," he said. "Unfortunately, lots of shops don’t."

Last summer, Holmes said, he and others distributed 300 safety locks in Dolton after a toddler got a hold of a gun in the backseat of a car and accidentally shot and killed his mother when she returned from shopping in the south suburb. The boy’s father was later charged with a misdemeanor weapons offense.

On Sunday, a new billboard commissioned by Holmes went up at 95th Street and Oglesby Avenue to promote responsible gun ownership.

"Lock the guns down," it declared. "Save our children."

Holmes said he plans to put that message up on two or three more billboards.

Holmes said he has close to 1,000 locks to distribute and is looking to partner with local churches and Community Alternative Policing Strategy groups to get them into people’s homes. For the moment, he’s passing them out at special events, and by request.

Holmes said the locks were donated by multiple people, including 500 from Chicago Bears guard Michael Schofield.