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September 18, 2015
NSSF Statement: Project ChildSafe DOJ-OJP Cooperative Agreement Grant
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting, and shooting sports industry, has been awarded a two-year $2.4 million competitive, cooperative agreement grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (DOJ-OJP).
Following announcement of the award, two gun-control groups voiced opposition to the Department of Justice’s decision to select NSSF and Project ChildSafe to receive the grant. It is unfortunate that these groups, which do not have comprehensive, practical firearms safety programs of their own, cannot find common ground to support the goals of this successful, long-standing safety initiative.
They also made false claims about the quality of the program’s cable-style gun locks. The gun locks included in the Project ChildSafe firearm safety kits exceed standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the California Department of Justice.
The new federal funding will allow Project ChildSafe to expand its firearm safety efforts, broaden community partnerships and focus on developing new safety communication tools and distribution strategies.
Since 1999, Project ChildSafe (formerly Project HomeSafe) has dedicated itself to reducing firearm accidents, thefts and misuse through the distribution of free firearm safety education kits that include a gun lock and a brochure that covers the safe and responsible storage of firearms.
With support from the firearms industry and past grants from DOJ-OJP, Project ChildSafe has distributed more than 37 million free firearm safety kits to gun owners in all 50 states and the five U.S. territories through partnerships with over 15,000 law enforcement agencies.
Through the efforts of true firearm safety programs such as Project ChildSafe, accidental firearm fatalities have dropped to their lowest levels since record-keeping began in 1903, including a 60 percent decrease in fatal firearm accidents among youth 14 and under in the last 10 years, and firearms are involved in fewer than 1 percent of all unintentional fatalities in the United States, according to the National Safety Council.
Over the next two years, NSSF and Project ChildSafe will work cooperatively with the DOJ and the Bureau of Justice Assistance on a comprehensive firearm safety education and gun lock program that will raise awareness of firearm safety and encourage secure storage of firearms when not in use.
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