all right good morning um I'm pen County Sheriff Bob gualter and we're here today uh with project child safe and project child safe is a nonprofit organization that's a part of the National Shooting Sports foundation and it's an organization that provides free gun safety locks uh and advocates for overall for gun safety I'm with us here this morning and I want to just introduce some of the people who are here you'll hear from some of them we have Congressman David Jolly who's here with us this morning um lgo police chief Jeff unstead Clearwater Police Chief Dan Slaughter um Chief Mike Hayworth from the penel Park Police Department representatives from the Indian Shores Police Department Belair Police Department um and other agencies um as we look at this issue of of gun safety it is so vitally important that people keep these guns secured and safe um we are seeing a real problem here in pelis County as we have Across the Nation and keeping these guns uh secured and safe is important to the kids is important to the community and important that they don't fall into the wrong hands and the wrong way and result in crime can tell you that over the last two years here in the vehicle burglaries at the penel county County Sheriff's office has investigated so remember that there's 24 cities in pelis County we are primarily responsible for policing in 13 of the 24 cities and in the unincorporated area and so on top of what we have and top of our statistics there's still uh 10 police departments out there that are facing the same challenges so in the last two years uh we have investigated over 150 burglaries of guns from Cars so in those cases over those 150 every single one of those cars have been unlocked and in every single one of those cars there is no gun lock there's nothing to keep the gun safe and in the majority of those cases the people don't even know the serial number and we had one um two nights ago uh that the guy parked his car in the driveway about 3 weeks ago and left his car unlocked and somebody stole his wallet other personal belongings guess what he didn't learn his lesson two nights ago they came back and he had his 380 semi-automatic handgun in the car the car was unlocked and they stole his handgun he didn't even know the serial number so when some law enforcement officer comes across that gun somewhere and I can even know whether it was stolen and hopefully God forbid it doesn't uh fall into the hands of somebody who's involved in criminal activity and so just our numbers alone show that from all the guns that are stolen from Cars over 70% are from unlocked cars this is a crime that can be prevented this is these are tragedies that can be prevented by locking your car doors and using gun safety locks remember officer Charlie KC from the Tarpon Springs Police Department who was killed here in pelis county in December uh of this past year the gun that was used to kill officer cond was stolen from an unlocked car burglary that potentially could have been avoided if people would lock their cars and use gun safety locks and practice responsible gun ownership there's no question and no doubt that it is a absolute right and I am and I believe we all are very strong supporters of the Second Amendment it's an absolute right uh to gun ownership but there is no right to irresponsible gun ownership we had a another tragic situation this past December here in pelis County where there was a small child up in East Lake Area uh his parents were moving and his dad had a gun in the car and uh as they were rounded the kids after packing the boxes all day long the toddler was standing on the seat of the car playing with steal wheel steering wheel like toddlers do the toddler was able to get into the glove box pick up that gun turn the gun around and with his thumbs pulled the trigger shot himself in the chest and he died because the gun wasn't secured so guns need to be secured uh there's tragedies that happen when they don't and we see it right here in our own backyards so projectss like this are very important and um this is something we're very proud to partner uh with project child safe on um as you'll hear more about the organization and from others um they'll be available here in pelis County free of charge uh distributed by local law enforcement agencies will have them here at the Sheriff's Office other agencies will have them available and we really encourage people to take advantage of this and make sure that they keep their guns secure they keep them safe that they use their guns that they have them they want them for protection they're lawfully allowed to have them and they should be but remember is that while it's an absolute right an absolute right that we will staunchly defend to own guns is there's no right to do it negligently or to expose others to harm or danger and this is what we're trying to prevent with this so um with that um I'll turn it over to representative Jolie and then you'll hear from uh others that are here this morning Congress hey thank you sheriff and to the Chiefs that are here chief chief chief chief uh thank you for being here as the the sheriff articulated look this is this is an important day an important event here in pelis county and it's an important way to talk about firearm ownership uh we are a nation that protects the right of the individual to legally and responsibly own and operate a firearm uh but as a nation and as a community we we have a moral obligation to ensure that lawful legal responsible firearm owners uh are doing the right things to secure their firearms uh to protect their firearms to ensure that the Firearms do not end up in the hands of those who might use them responsibly or irresponsibly and importantly uh don't land up don't end up in the hands of children where we see some of the most tragic accidents and we see the new stories across the country uh so I'm proud today to partner with an organization like the National Shooting Sports Foundation uh their project Child Safe this is about ensuring that responsible lawful firearm owners are equipped with the tools necessary to protect those firearms from falling into the hands of somebody who might use them irresponsibly particularly a child who might not understand the safe operation of a firearm uh the program does provide free trigger locks uh free firearm locks and as the sheriff said I would encourage anybody in penis County who has an interest to contact their local law enforcement agency to contact the Sheriff's Office to learn about how they might receive one of these free firearm locks for use in their own home uh but also to bring attention to the fact that there is a program that has been funded by the federal government that provides for this type of safety equipment for our local communities historically it has been very robustly funded in recent years uh it's received no funding so as of last year the Appropriations Committee tried to jump start funding in response to request and and interest by local law enforcement agencies across the country to restart the program to provide the simple safety mechanisms to people throughout the country so last year $3 million was provided for a competitive grant program for agencies across the country uh to to request free trigger locks free firearm uh safety protective devices this is an issue that as a community as a country I think we can all rally around the notion that lawful legal responsible fire firearm owners are equipped with the tools necessary to keep them out of the hands of children and those who might use them irresponsibly it's a pleasure for me to be here today again I would encourage anybody who has interest to contact their local law enforcement agency to request one of these firearm locks with that I'm happy to introduce Steve from the National Shooting Sports Foundation to talk more about both the history and the future of project childood thank you Congressman Chief and thank all of you for coming today this is a very important topic firearm safety um it's an honor to be here to discuss this topic and uh it it's very gratifying to see the interest that law enforcement has uh evidenced by being here today and by willing to cooperate with the National Shooting Sports Foundation which is the trade Association for the Firearms industry in getting firearm safety locks out to people in a genuine hope to help prevent tragic accidents with Firearms uh for those unfamiliar with project child safe it's a national program to promote genuine firearm safety with a focus on storing Firearms responsibly when they're not being used it's a 15-year-old program uh the centerpiece of this program are the free firearm safety kits that we've distributed in cooperation with law enforcement they include safety information and a cable style gun lock the gun locks meet the standards set by the states of California and Massachusetts for a child protection device uh we provide these to law enforcement agencies to distribute to their communities and so far project Child Safe has distributed over 37 million of these locks and kits in partnership with over 15,000 law enforcement agencies throughout the 50 states and the US territories we've been doing this since 1998 and that's in addition to the 70 million free gun locks that the manufacturers have provided and continue to provide with all new Firearms so there is a massive number of ways out there right now where people can lock up their firearms securely we're all here today with that very simple and very direct message if you own a firearm you have to respect it and you have to secure it when it's not in use and project child saafe provides the resources and information to help Firearms owners do exactly that we want people to know that these resources are are available right in their communities so responsible gun owners can take action right now to keep their firearms out of the wrong hands we don't have to wait for the development of of any sort of uh new technology to do this all guns can be properly secured today with a variety of firearm safety products and you'll see on this chart gun storage for your lifestyle whether it's a free cable lock or a gun case or a lockbox or an electronic lock boox or a full-size gun safe depending on someone's budget needs the number of firearms they have and their individual circumstances personal responsibility is the key we do know that locking up Firearms security when they're not in use can help prevent accidents suicides unauthorized access to Firearms by Disturbed individuals and thefts which as you've heard is the number one way that criminals obtain Firearms by providing these resources we want to empower the local firearms owning community to itself become a powerful voice in sharing these safety messages with their family members and throughout their community in that Spirit we've encouraged local firearms owners to have a safe summer this year to be sure to secure their firearms were not in use and that message is especially important right now as kids are home from school during their summer break we also hope that local firearms owners take advantage of our several educational resources that go along and augment project child safe online including including how to talk to your kids about firearm safety video it's the first of its kind resarch we've helped to help parents open a door for a meaningful conversation with firearms and with their kids of all ages be sure to go online and check it out it's free it's easily downloadable at www.pro childsafe in this regard so I can sum up much of our firearm safety information with this to prevent unauthorized access to Firearms we recommend storing guns unloaded and placing them in locked storage when they're not in use and storing ammunition separately in a secure location now certainly we recognize that everyone's circumstances differ and there are many ways to responsibly store Firearms but we need to emphasize one thing simply hiding a gun and thinking children can't find it is not safe and secure storage they will find it we know how curious kids are so whatever means you choose to have and gun stores by the way under federal law need to provide firearm safety locks for sale at the point of sale every single gun store in this country that sells Firearms has to also have safety locks for sale as well as the free ones we provide um please utilize those devices we know that proper firearm storage works it's the number one way to help prevent Firearms access acents in the home despite what you may think despite what you may have heard we've actually seen an epidemic of gun safety in this country there has been over a 20% reduction in fatal Firearms accidents in the home over the last 10 years and that's a trend that we all want to see continue in the right direction Firearms accidents at their lowest number since 1903 despite the tremendous growth in the number of the Firearms owners firearms in circulation and the general population less than 1% of all fatal accidents involve Firearms okay I just want to get that straight not to minimize the problem but to understand that the vast majority of firearms owners meet their responsibility to own use and store their firearms safely and responsibly that's the best news of all so with that being said I want to wish you all a safe summer and thank you again for taking the lead on firearm safety here in pelis county and now with that uh I would like to introduce Largo Police Chief Jeffrey unad thank you thank you Chief good morning uh Largo Police Department is honored and we appreciate the opportunity to be uh participants in this endeavor we too know uh how important this is and uh to get the information out in these likes locks into the community we've been working with child safe for many years and uh the partnership has been uh very well received received and we've been handing out uh gun locks and educational information in the community U as of late we too unfortunately had an incident back in 2003 where we had two young boys get a hold of an unsecured firearm and one was fatally shot um I believe this endeavor this effort will truly help save and prevent those type of incidents from happening ever again so had that lock been on that weapon I'm sure those two boys would have been alive today so thank you and with that I uh introduce chief stand Slaughter it's such a simple message so I'm not sure how different we can keep crafting the same message but I think we all are very supportive of our constitutional rights but we understand that with every right we're given by our constitution comes great responsibility and that responsibility extends itself uh so appropriately to the right to bear Firearms um our agency like the other ones have described have had just horrific tragic accidents that we could uh go over but I think um I think this meeting today is about progress in the right direction and while that 22% number is a very proud number and I love that number I don't see any reason why that number is not 100% these kind of accidents are 100% preventable 100% preventable there is no excuse for having an unsecured firearm come into the hands of a child it's that simple and we're we're doing everything we can to provide the resources necessary for a person to take those proper security measures free gun locks are available at Clearwater Police Department they have and will continue to be additionally Clearwater Police Department is going to develop a what we call a rack card that will take some of the principles that are shared on the project child safe website and we'll put those right in the hands of the uh people that sell firearms within the city of clear water so that we can have one other method of Outreach and we're going to continue to find more methods of Outreach until that number's 100% I think the advice to go to the project child safe website is great advice they have very three good tenants of Safe Handling safe storage and then finding a safety kit they have great videos they have great resources that any gun owner can utilize and review and develop some type of safety plan for God's sake talk to your children too and our law enforcement profession I've always encourag my members and my officers to talk to their family members because they're obviously going to have firearms in the residence and there's no no reason that a a private owner should not do the same thing I always tell my child it's been ingrained in her memory that there is no such thing as an unloaded weapon and for that reason they all need to be handled as such um but I thank you for the opportunity to be here today and I appreciate the the resources that you provided us to help make this better thank you okay now U we're going to have uh Corporal sea papis come up and demonstrate for you um with each of these weapons they're different types one's a revolver one's a rifle one's a semi-automatic handgun uh how the how these locks work so Sean if you want to demonstrate just a simple matter of making sure that they're safe and empty for this one we'll use the uh the barrel to make it inoperable put it back in the lock and the key won't come out until it's lock uh it's very adaptable for this one for a rifle do the same thing we make sure it's empty lock the bolt to the rear probably for the most common one make sure it's [Music] empty the cable through it's that simple just a few seconds