July 15, 2019
Project ChildSafe Marks 20 Years as America’s Leading Firearms Safety Program
NEWTOWN, Conn. — The National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®) this year marks the 20th anniversary of its Project ChildSafe[1]® program, which has increased awareness of safe firearms handling and storage practices among millions of gun owners, helped reduce accidental firearms deaths to historic lows and become an indispensable firearms safety education resource for partners in every state and the U.S. territories.
“The No. 1 objective of Project ChildSafe has always been saving lives by urging gun owners to store their firearms responsibly when not in use, and giving them the tools to do it,” said NSSF CEO Steve Sanetti.
Those tools include educational materials and more than 38 million free gun locks that have been distributed by a network of thousands of partners from law enforcement, fish and wildlife agencies, conservation groups, firearms retailers, gun ranges, the faith community, tribal organizations, Boy Scouts of America chapters, 4-H and other groups nationwide.
Project ChildSafe has made a meaningful impact on safety nationwide. Annual reports from the National Safety Council show fatal firearms accidents are trending toward the lowest numbers since data collection began, and recent reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show fatal firearms accidents represent less than half of a percent of all accidental deaths in the U.S.
Further evidence of the program’s value can be measured in the ongoing demand for the gun locks, which currently outpaces supply by almost five to one. Equally compelling are the qualitative assessments from the National Safety Council, GAO and RAND:
- In a 2017 report[2], the GAO concluded
