Actions to Keep Our Communities Safe

Safe firearm storage can help prevent and minimize the risk of firearm-related deaths and injuries. Everyone, both firearm owners and non-owners, has a role to play in building awareness of safe, responsible firearm storage. Below are simple, highly effective practices that can help to reduce firearm-related incidents in our community and help protect our kids. In addition to these practices, it is important to also engage children and adolescents in conversations about the dangers associated with using firearms and what to do and not do in the event they access a firearm, to prevent fatal or non-fatal injuries.

• Safely Store Firearms

  Store firearms—always unloaded—in a tamper proof locked cabinet, box, safe, firearm vault, or storage case that children or unauthorized adults cannot access.

• Safely Store Ammunition

  Store ammunition in a separate, tamper-proof locked cabinet, safe, firearm vault, or storage case that children or unauthorized adults cannot access.

• Secure Firearms

  Use trigger locks or cable locks to prevent a firearm from firing. (More information can be found on the Safe Firearm Storage Fact Sheet, developed by the U.S. Department of Justice.)

  • Trigger locks use a mechanism that clamps down around the trigger or trigger housing to prevent it from being pressed (Note: trigger locks should not be installed on loaded firearms).
  • In a cable lock, a cable is threaded through the barrel or action of a firearm to prevent it from firing.