JACKOSONVILLE, Fla. — The City of Jacksonville and JSO are teaming up to help promote safe storage of firearms in an effort to reduce accidental shootings involving children and the number of stolen firearms and are giving away free gun locks as part of the effort.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
“Proper gun storage is fundamental to safe, responsible gun ownership,” said Mayor Deegan in a PSA released on social media this week.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
The mayor has joined forces with Sheriff TK Waters to promote safe storage of firearms.
It comes at a time when the city has seen four accidental shootings of children this year alone.
One of those left a six-year-old boy dead after he was accidentally shot in the head by his 9-year-old brother in August.
Sheriff Waters argues those tragedies are avoidable.
Read: US Marshals, FBI warn Floridians of scam demanding payment with bitcoin ATMs
“If you leave the room. If you leave a location where that gun is, then you should put it away. So that people can’t grab ahold of it that shouldn’t grab ahold of it. Because that’s when we see more of the accidents,” said Water.
Waters noted the joint effort also aims to reduce instances of stolen firearms.
1,346 were stolen in Duval this year, which is up nearly 45 percent compared to 2022.
“A gun stolen is always a crime gun. It’s always a crime gun because if you’re gonna steal the gun, you’re gonna steal the gun for the purposes of either selling it illegally or using it to do something else,” said Waters.
Ziadeh Farhat, owner of Green Acres Sporting Goods, told Action News Jax gun locks come free with all firearms purchases at his store.
Read: 3-year-old shot, killed on Southside marks 9th child death from local gun violence
He encourages his customers to make good use of them.
“And it is a law if you’ve got minors in the house to have your guns locked up,” said Farhat.
And for those who don’t already have a lock, JSO is giving away free gun locks at all six of its substations throughout the county.
“Simply utilize these. Put it on your handgun so that no one can take it from you and use it in places and times when they shouldn’t use it,” said Waters.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
JSO reports while more than 1,300 firearms have been stolen this year in the county, 787 have been recovered by law enforcement.
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
