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March 8, 2023

Bloomberg-Backed Gun Control Swipes Project ChildSafe Kits to Pass Off as Their Own

By Matt Manda

Billionaire and failed presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg should be able to pony up the money for his own gun control agenda, but one of his initiatives was caught red-handed trying to pass off the firearm industry’s Project ChildSafe® safety kits as their own.

John Richardson, a blogger and podcaster who writes about firearms, tweeted a photo taken at a gun show in Asheville, N.C., of the Bloomberg-backed group Be Smart stapling their own cards to what are clearly Project ChildSafe-branded locks. Those locks are paid for by the firearm industry and distributed free to communities through partnerships with over 15,000 law enforcement agencies in all 50 states and five U.S. territories. Over 40 million of these free kits with firearm locking devices have been distributed in the past two decades.

It’s more than ironic that a billionaire’s gun control group swiped the firearm industry’s locks so it appears that it is “doing something.” It is downright disingenuous.

Not Smart at All

Be Smart is an offshoot of Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action. It bills itself as promoting “responsible gun ownership.” Except that’s not what Everytown or Moms Demand Action is about. Both groups consistently demand gun bans.

Bloomberg has pushed to restrict gun rights for law-abiding Americans to protect themselves at every opportunity while he himself pays for private security. The gun control groups he bankrolls, Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action, regurgitate lies and falsehoods about the firearm industry’s efforts to reduce criminal gun crimes and unintentional firearm injuries.

Shannon Watts, Founder of Moms Demand, has even smeared the firearm industry as “extremists” who are only “focused on profitability” over everything, “including the safety of the American public.”

40 Million and Counting

Project ChildSafe is part of NSSF’s industry-led Real Solutions. Safer Communities.® effort to reduce accidental and unintentional firearm injuries in the home. The 40 million locking devices Project ChildSafe has distributed are above and beyond the locks that are included with every firearm sold at retail. Totaled, that number tops 100 million. These collective efforts have led to the lowest numbers of unintended firearm injuries and deaths since data was first recorded in 1903.

Just since January 2022, Project ChildSafe gun locks have been distributed in hundreds of communities across the country, including Las Vegas, Detroit, St. Louis, New Orleans and Albuquerque. In Columbia, S.C., Mayor Daniel Rickenmann expressed his gratitude to NSSF for bringing Project ChildSafe to his city.

“We want to provide members of the Columbia community with the resources and tools to take the right steps in properly securing firearms,” Mayor Daniel Rickenmann recently said. “These steps are essential in preventing tragedies, and we’re grateful for NSSF’s partnership and other local leaders for their efforts to make our community safer.”

If Everytown believes Project ChildSafe is a cynical distraction and not a worthwhile effort, they should speak to President Joe Biden. In 2013, then-Vice President Joe Biden held a White House meeting in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook tragedy. He spoke to then-NSSF CEO Steve Sanetti and referring to NSSF, said, “You guys are doing a lot of good things, including the gunlock thing. And this isn’t Joe Biden just blowing smoke. I mean it.”

Multipronged Effort

NSSF President Joe Bartozzi spoke at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last year about the importance of secure firearm storage in the home. His message was simple – the messenger matters. “What we’re talking about here, from NSSF’s perspective, is a proactive approach to educating people. Many of these proposed laws would only come into effect after a tragedy has occurred.” Bartozzi continued. “It is more important to prevent a tragedy than to deal with the pieces afterwards.”

Project ChildSafe is about preventing tragedies, but it is just one of several industry-led initiatives under the Real Solutions. Safer Communities. umbrella to reduce criminal misuse of firearms and firearm accidents.

Reducing accidental firearm tragedies is a goal that everyone can agree on. The firearm industry does this while also ensuring the Constitutional rights of all law-abiding Americans to protect themselves are safeguarded. The industry’s efforts in this regard, including by handing out Project ChildSafe gun safety kits, have shown unquestionable success. That effort continues.

There’s a word for stealing free gun safety locks and handing them out as your own. It’s a lot worse than “cynical.”

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Categories: Featured, Government Relations, Media, Safety, Top Stories