Leesa Ross's Blog

I wrote this as an Op-Ed for the Austin American Statesman, even making a few follow up calls to an editor. I checked the paper today and couldn’t find the article. So, not wanting to waste the opportunity to talk about an important safety event, here’s the article.

Around the country this month, dozens of groups are making Nov. 18 a special day for safety. National Injury Prevention Day is shining a green light to draw attention to the crisis of injuries of kids 18 and younger. These are actual lights in some places, like Houston’s city hall, lit green for the day. There are also proclamations, the promises governments make to draw attention to people who help in our lives.

More than 10 years ago, a tragedy in my life unfolded that has led to Lock Arms for Life. We advocate for safe gun storage, sparked by the death of my son when a handgun went off and killed him. It was a totally preventable accident, the kind of event that safety awareness could stop.

Lock Arms for Life isn’t the only organization in Austin dedicated to safety. Dell Children’s Medical Center is also participating in National Injury Prevention Day. The awareness day is also a priority for Texas Gun Sense, a non-profit dedicated to commonsense evidence-based policies to reduce injuries and deaths.

I know first-hand what it’s like to lose a child to a gun owner’s negligence. The pain is indescribable. What hurts more is knowing how preventable my college son’s death was. Safe storage could have saved his life. My family owns guns, and that gun owner never wanted to cause harm to my son.

More than 1.5 million guns have been sold in Texas this year. The pandemic has helped create new gun owners who don’t have the safety education they need to own firearms. National Injury Prevention Day helps everyone focus on the many things that injure children. The most lethal injuries are from firearms. Almost 600 children have been injured or killed this year by guns.

Hospitals and fire departments, police organizations and universities, cities, and business groups — they’re all supporting this injury prevention awareness event. A single day won’t change much by itself. The awareness we can all spread, though, can have a lasting effect on the safety of our children and our communities.

I don’t think gun locks and masks are the same things, but I understand why people are thinking of them that way. Many of my gun safety advocate friends were shocked when I admitted I didn’t support face masks. And several of them replied with, “It’s like a lock on a gun.”

 But is it really?

 I can argue that face masks are not worn properly, not washed regularly and we might later learn are infested with unhealthy bacteria’s. A gun owner can argue that a gun lock keeps them from easy access of the gun in case of an intruder. The difference is I don’t shame them into compliance. I give alternative solutions.

 My mask disgust came from my mom and the work she’s done as an herbalist. She’s worked in the natural health care industry for over 40 years. I recall throughout my life her rage at the pharmaceutical company and the battles her industry has had to fight. Mom’s remedies for most things has and always will be derived from natural ingredients. Doctor visits are a last resort in my family.

 The mask mob will argue then that the face mask is there to protect others. Gun locks protect others too but instead of mandating a one size fits all I advocate that best practices should fit your home. There are different types of gun safes and gun safety devices to choose from, including gun locks, trigger locks and lockboxes.

 We have other options for protection against the virus too. A face mask may make you feel safe but it might not be the solution for everyone’s home. Self-defense is protection too. There are many ways of protecting and they are right. There are many things that can protect from gun tragedies and you don’t have to do all of them.

 People who now fearful and seeking more control are buying up guns faster than I can type these words. My worry is they will forget about that gun, once the panic has passed. And it will be just sitting there in their home — or car, god forbid. That gun might be a little like a virus, just waiting to infect someone with tragedy.

Or something like that. It’s all so new, this panic. The gun safes are not new, and they are proven to be effective at protecting us. Even if you lock a gun, bad things will still happen. Just like when we wear masks, people have still caught the virus. Fewer of them, though, whether we’re talking about guns or viruses.

Nothing is 100 percent foolproof.

Or maybe this isn’t true. I’d like to hear what you think about safety in our society. If we wear masks and distance, does that mean we should distance ourselves from unsafe gun habits? Let me know in your comments, or up on my Facebook page.

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

 

 

 

Last weekend my mother-in-law came for a visit. She’s in her eighties and lives in Tyler, Texas. Genie doesn’t like to drive alone anymore so she brought her friend Regina with her. She also gets nervous about driving through Austin, so Randy and I met them at a coffee shop in Round Rock. The plan was to have her follow us into town.

They were sitting at a table inside drinking a cup of ice tea when we arrived. We shared our usual hugs and chit-chat. I noticed as we talked that Genie had glee in her eyes. She told me she had brought something for me that she thought I would really like. She does that — always bringing things for me — cutting boards, outside decor and calendars.

“I’ll give it to you when we get to your house,” she said.

Genie is a short woman. She needs a stepping stool to get into the bed of our guest bedroom. When we arrive at the house, Randy helps her open the hatch to her Jeep. She says, “wait, wait,” as he goes to pull out a bag. She and Regina have big smiles on their faces. She then starts to tell me a story about stopping at a gun range outside of Tyler in the small town of Willpoint. The range was located down a old dirt road and she was worried they had wrong address, but Regina reassured her it was correct. Regina had been there a few times with her boyfriend.

When they finally found the range they walked inside. Genie asked for the manager. She said a guy in his late 30’s introduced himself and asked how he could help her. She handed him one of my Lock Arms for Life stickers and explained the work I do.

Then she asked if he had any gun locks he’d be willing to give her. “Gun locks!” he said.

He yelled at the girl behind the counter to go get the locks that they had stored in the back. The woman returned with a box filled with locks. Of course, Genie couldn’t carry that box to the car, so the manager did it for her. He told her to come back anytime. He added that he was happy to help and wanted to know if it was okay to keep my sticker.

Let me say this is not the first time my mother-in-law has gone out to find me some gun locks to distribute for Lock Arms. Another gun dealer in Tyler gave her 10 when she stopped in his shop.

Below is the picture I took of her and Regina and that box of gun locks. Genie had counted them. Wiley’s gun shop had given her 150 gun locks.

[image error]My mother-in-law Genie and her friend Regina delivering gun locks

This 80-year-old woman is working to help save lives and make guns safer. She could go to gun stores in Texas and get locks for us to distribute through Lock Arms for Life. It’s been hard to get those locks in my hometown of Austin. You wouldn’t guess that an elderly woman and her friends, moving through small towns, could be so successful. I think it means that gun safety is important to everyone — and you can find others to help in unexpected places.

I’ve met several milestones in the recent months with Lock Arms for Life. I’ve incorporated, filed for nonprofit status, and registered my trademark. I also approved a new site plan for my website. Those are just the internal things, though.

Lock Arms has been hard at work in other ways too. We’re all in our home offices keeping up with media trends, shifting strategies when needed, and finding new ways of reaching our target audience — gun owners. We’ve had 50 placards installed on Austin city busses.

Then, we finally got the partnership with Austin police department. Whoo-hoo — and they gave us 50 gun locks!

Then, came another big accomplishment. I opened the door with United Way. They are an organization with a lot of influence, so getting their approval was a pretty big hurdle to cross. I’d been trying for months to include them in our work.

With that hurdle crossed, they finally agreed to include Lock Arms in their parent and caregiver safety app, Bright by Text. For all you moms and caregivers out there, you might want to check it out. The app is free and sends out tips, resources and information about safety things like bicycle helmets, drowning prevention, car seats, as well as fun activities. Up to now gun safety was never in the messaging. But Lock Arms changed all that!

I learned about their need and jumped into action creating three stay-at-home safety tips. I had help from a retired Texas Senator, too. Here’s a sample text tip:

“Homes are filled with bored and restless children out of school. Tragedies happen, even in homes with responsible parents. Lock Arms for Life suggests a simple gun lock to prevent tragedy.”

 Spanish version: “Las casas están llenas de niños aburridos y desesperados sin ir a la escuela. Tragedias suceden, hasta en las casas de padres responsables. Lock Arms for Life sugiere un simple candado de armas para prevenir tragedias.”

Bright by Text ended that message with an offer of a free gun lock to anyone in need. All anyone needed to do was contact me through my website.

Low and behold, a few days after the first message went out I received an email. This sweet mom of 14-month-old son asked for a “free gun safety lock.” She also shared with me that she had read my “about” section on my website. “Your story really touched me,” she wrote. “I lost my father to a gun accident when I was seven years old. I respect the right to own a gun, but accidents happen and gun safety and storage should definitely be a top priority.”

I was so thrilled I almost wet myself. I wish I had a snapshot of the text. But I didn’t. I sent that mom her gun lock, plus a t-shirt and some literature. I placed it in large manila envelope, wore my mask, and took it to my local post office. Lock Arms paid for the postage and hopefully saved a life.

The new world we live in is so different. We are all having to find new ways to reach our audiences. My mom taught me there are always new lessons to be learned. The one I’ve learned through my tragedy, and I’m teaching to others is, “The world needs gun locks more than ever.”

I hope you are well, and that you will reach out with any questions or needs you may have about safety and guns. We all matter, so let’s Lock Arms for Life together.

A few weeks ago I was interviewed for an article in the Reform Austin News. This is a tough time we live in and staying safe seems to be the trending message. While we practice safety for a pandemic we must not forget about other safety habits. Gun tragedies happen when there is a lack of responsibility. My loss of Jon was a hard lesson to learn. Gun sales have increased now, during the crisis. There are a lot of new gun owners who need to know about safety.

Thank you Isobella Harkrider for your article reminding us to stay safe! Here’s her article.

Five Hurt in Fort Worth Park Shooting

BY ISOBELLA HARKRIDER – MAY 11, 2020

Five people were injured in a shooting at a Fort Worth park where about 600 people had gathered Sunday evening.

Why so many people were gathering during the pandemic is unknown. The police received a dispatch at 6:59 p.m. to Village Creek Park, according to Fort Worth 

Police spokesperson Buddy Calzada.

At the time, someone reported hearing fireworks. Later, witnesses said that after the fireworks, there were thirty rounds of gunfire, Calzada said.

Five victims were found in the area. Two were in critical condition Monday, and all were at local hospitals. 

Large gatherings are currently prohibited in Texas by an order from Gov. Greg Abbott.

“We have been stating that everyone follow the rules, but ultimately people have a choice, and that was the choice they made tonight,” Calzada said.

State and federal authorities are investigating the shooting. No arrests have been made. 

Two witnesses said the party appeared to be made up of high school age people and mentioned playing with water guns, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Calzada is asking for the public to share any information they have with the Fort Worth Police Department.

Gun safety is always a serious matter, as RA News reported this past winter. And now many people are staying home with their children.

“Homes are filled with bored and restless children out of school. Tragedies happen, even in homes with responsible parents. Lock Arms for Life suggests a simple gun lock to prevent tragedy,” said Leesa Ross, who lost her college-aged son tragically to a handgun accident.

 “I lost my college-age son to a gun tragedy. Without a doubt, his death could have been prevented had there been a gun lock on the firearm. Something as simple as a cable gun lock would have saved his life,” she wrote in an email Monday.

Ross is a board member of Texas Gun Sense, an apolitical organization devoted to gun safety for Texans of all ages. 

“Keep your firearms locked, unloaded and separate from ammo,” Ross wrote. “With kids at home, there’s a greater risk of unsafe access to your firearm.”

I’ve learned that launching a book in the middle of a pandemic isn’t going to be easy. My publishing team is working from home with no access to the things on their office computers. Amazon has put book orders on the back-burner, marketing budgets have shrunk, and forget about doing an in-person book tours.

While these things are happening to book sales, the gun industry is having a record boom. Gun sales are at an all-time high. There’s going to be a lot more new guns out there than new books.

Sadly, that means a lot more unsecured guns we all need to worry about. Children’s’ hospitals are already seeing an increase in injury. In an April blog posted by the Texas Injury Prevention Leadership Collaborative they said, “gun-related injuries have skyrocketed.”

Honestly, my message in my book couldn’t be more timely. When Texas Tech University Press (TTU Press) released their Spring/Summer catalog, I was featured in a two-page layout. I decided to copy and paste it below.

I said in the book, “I respect everybody’s right to own a gun in America. I’m a member of the NRA. I don’t understand why our schools and our churches and our communities don’t require us to teach and learn gun safety. It’s as if handguns are being sold everywhere without safeties. There’s nothing that can be built into a gun to make it safer. There’s only us.” 

Here’s more from the book description in the catalog.

Charting a mother’s journey from grief to gun safety advocacy 

Leesa Ross did not expect to write a book. Neither did she expect the tragedy that her family endured, a horrific and sudden death that led her to write At Close Range. Her debut memoir is the story of what happened after her son Jon died in a freak gun accident at a party. Ross unsparingly shares the complexities of grief as it ripples through the generations of her family, then chronicles how the loss of Jon has sparked a new life for her as a prominent advocate for gun safety. 

Before the accident, Ross never had a motivation to consider the role that guns played in her life. Now, she revisits ways in which guns became a part of everyday life for her three sons and their friends. Gun culture is strong in Texas and North Carolina, places where Ross raised her sons. The privileged circles where the Ross family lives were friendly to guns, but this kind of tragedy was not supposed to happen in a world protected by a comfort- able bubble. Ross’s attitude towards guns is thorny. She has collectors and hunters in her family. To balance her advocacy, she joined both Moms Demand Action and the NRA. 

Through At Close Range, the national conversation about gun control plays out in one family’s catalyzing moment and its aftermath. However, At Close Range ultimately shows one mother’s effort to create meaning from tragedy and find a universally reasonable position and focal point: gun safety and responsible ownership. 

The unthinkable tragedy that changed Leesa Ross’s life upended her priorities and pulled her into the conversation about guns in America. At Close Range spotlights a gun accident of a kind that Ross knows gun owners can do more to prevent. 

The gun conversation is pretty polarized. What do you think gets lost in all the noise? Is there anything about guns you think we can all agree about? 

Training, awareness, and education can save more lives than 

also educate lawmakers about gun safety and encourage state-level participation in and funding for gun safety programs. 

You write about the need for parents to have a follow-up to “the talk” with their kids—one about guns instead of sex. Why is a conversation about guns just as important? What age should this start? What needs to be said? 

Like drunk driving, or unsupervised swimming 
pool use, my message of using commonsense habits
for ownership, as well as protection from unauthorized firearm use, is at the heart of the talk with kids about gun safe gun control. We can agree on safety as essential. 

Many more people die from accidents than from mass shootings. The attention goes to the tragic and widespread attacks. Suicides account for many more gun deaths. Eighty-eight people a day die from gun suicides. Veteran deaths account for 21 of those. 

Lock Arms for Life stresses that this talk can’t start too early — but it must continue into teenaged and young adult years. We recognize that adolescent thinking and behaviors continue into a person’s mid-20s. That age is one where gun ownership is legal, so more gun accidents can occur and can be prevented. 

Some owners talk about storage, but they can bring this talk into a larger community. They are the authorities on responsible use. What needs to be said are the rules of Get ACTIVE. 

We want to meet gun owners where they already are: respecting Second Amendment rights and acknowledging that ownership is less likely to change among current owners. The ownership might be a family tradition, 

All gun violence is tragic, but 
a gun tragedy is often not violent. 
Attacks and assaults are a different
event than accidental deaths and suicides. The effort to control gun ownership is a difficult one. An effort to make guns safer, and their owners more responsible and accountable, will deliver benefits with far less opposition. Both may be required, but safety is the lower-hanging fruit in a complex orchard. Owners can be the greatest force for good, and for love, in a world now at closer range to guns than ever. Which makes it a different situation from reducing deaths from drunk driving or smoking deaths. 

What do you hope people take away from At Close Range?


Owning a gun is more than a right. It’s a responsibility that demands safety awareness. It’s an awareness about love and safety. You can always give one, but never be completely certain about the other. 

I want the book to influence everyday firearm storage norms. By showing the advocacy through the story of a family, we want to influence families to adopt safer ownership and practices. I want readers to see that even a tragic death from a gun accident can propel positive advocacy — and that taking action is the best way to make a preventable death count for something that can save the lives of others. 

I hope that firearm storage talks will become normal among families and friends and owners of guns. The lessons about responsible ownership should be taught in schools, in churches, and at dinner tables. I hope that accountability about ownership will be as essential as ammunition for a weapon. Guns protect lives, and so does gun safety. Owning a handgun for protection means that guns are more likely to be stored loaded, so safer practices are crucial to unintended use and accidental deaths. 

We can leave a legacy to our younger generations with safety practices that are directly wired into gun ownership. We can also prevent suicides by securing guns, so that our efforts contribute to better mental health. 

Over the long holiday weekend I attended two events. First, on Saturday I was at the Women’s MarchATX2020 on the Capitol grounds talking to crowds about gun safety.

Then, that following Monday you could find me at the Martin Luther King Celebration chatting up those folks, eating some good fried chicken and handing out a few gun locks to owners who needed to lock up their guns. Donations during the day are going to pay for more locks to save more lives. Jon would have been surprised.

[image error]We were all ready for the big day at the Women’s march. We collected our first $75 dollars of the year for gun locks.

[image error]Interview of the day for area TV. Can you guess what I was talking about?

[image error]Kids are so creative when it comes to sharing my message.

[image error]Everyone shared in the fun of keeping Texans safe. Wearing those shirts with pride.

[image error]Free t-shirts and a good cause were a hit with these ladies.

[image error]I wrapped up the afternoon with a coming together of the minds between me and Austin City Council member Alison Alter. We both want APD to do better distributing gun locks.

Taxpayer-funded gun locks are free to Texans — unless they have the wrong ‘political agenda’

San Antonio Express-News

By Allie Morris

AUSTIN — Eight years after her son died from an accidental shooting in 2009, Leesa Ross began preaching safe firearm storage at schools around Austin and giving out as many gun locks as she could.

So when Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced a $1 million grant to flood the state with 625,000 free gun locks after a slew of mass shootings, Ross went to her local police station last year to ask for 100 of them.
They said no.

Behind the scenes, the firearms trade association overseeing the grant advised the Austin Police Department not to give Ross the locks because of her association with a group that advocates gun control, according to emails obtained by Hearst Newspapers.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the group that Abbott’s office contracted to distribute the locks, voiced concerns that such association could risk alienating gun owners.
“While I respect her clear commitment to firearms safety,” a consultant for the National Shooting Sports Foundation told an APD officer last September, “her alignment with (NSSF) Project ChildSafe and our locks could cause controversy given her political agenda and alienate gun owners and those with whom we have the most capacity to effect change.”

The exchange reveals how even the most benign gun safety measure — giving out free gun locks to prevent accidental shootings — can get caught in the political crosshairs. And it raises questions about how taxpayer funded services can be steered toward some, but not others, based on their political views.

“Everybody should be able to get these gun locks,” said Ross, who is a board member of Texas Gun Sense and affiliated with Everytown for Gun Safety’s survivor network. Ross said she is also a member of the National Rifle Association. “It’s about saving lives. That is the goal.”

Abbott picked the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents firearms manufacturers and has lobbied against gun restrictions, to distribute the cable gun locks free to the public through its long-running Project ChildSafe program. The cables are threaded through a gun’s chamber to prevent it from firing.

A letter obtained by Hearst Newspapers shows NSSF asks its law enforcement partners not to give the gun locks to members of Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action, two national groups that advocate stricter firearm laws.

“Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action and other groups are funded by individuals who support and advocate for firearms public policy legislation and regulations at both the state and federal levels,” said the letter from September 2019 that was sent to the Austin Police Department. “We have found that their safety events often include calls for political advocacy for gun control.”

Abbott awarded the grant after the shooting at Santa Fe High School in 2018 that officials said was carried out by a teenager using his father’s guns. Last summer, Texas led the nation in the number of unintentional shootings by children, with a majority of them reported in the Houston area, according to a report released in July 2019 by Everytown for Gun Safety.
Abbott’s office did not respond to questions about the memo or whether he agreed with how the NSSF is distributing the cable locks.

NSSF stands by the letter that “requests its law enforcement partners not share Project ChildSafe gun locks with unauthorized groups,” spokesman Bill Brassard said in an email. The “request” is sent to all law enforcement agencies that receive gun locks and safety brochures to hand out to the public, he said.

A Moms Demand Action spokeswoman said everyone should be working together to promote secure gun storage to prevent suicides, school shootings and unintentional shootings by children.

“As a survivor of gun suicide and someone who learned how to shoot a rifle before I learned long division, it’s absurd that anyone would want fewer gun locks in the hands of gun owners,” said Taylor Maxwell, director of communications for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “This is beyond politics — it’s about keeping our kids and families safe.”

Making gun locks accessible is one step state Republican leaders have taken after a series of mass shootings in Santa Fe, Sutherland Springs, El Paso and Midland-Odessa have rocked Texas over the past few years.

Legislators have been reluctant to impose any restrictions on gun ownership and this year passed a new law affirming the right of Texans to carry concealed firearms in schools and places of worship. They also, however, offered up $1 million for a campaign to promote safe gun storage the Texas Department of Public Safety is expected to launch later this year.

The free gun lock program is an initiative launched by Abbott. The $1 million grant is expected to fund roughly 625,000 gun locks and safety brochures, Brassard has said. At least 29 law enforcement agencies have already requested the kits from NSSF to distribute the locks in their cities. It remains to be seen how many will follow the NSSF guidance on how to distribute the gun locks.

The Houston Police Department has received 400 locks from NSSF, but spokesman Kese Smith said he doesn’t know of any restrictions on their distribution. The department has set its own policy to hand out one lock per family, Smith said.

Bexar County recently launched its own effort to make 17,000 gun locks free and available to the public, an effort funded by local government. Danna Halff, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action in San Antonio, said the group has always worked well with local law enforcement agencies.

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“I can’t speak for the whole state, but in Bexar County we are working with our law enforcement and very closely with our sheriff’s office and the county,” Halff said.

NSSF has said the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office requested some of the locks from it, but the office hadn’t received any as of December, spokesman Johnny Garcia told the Express-News then.

The Austin Police Department, meanwhile, has yet to fulfill Ross’s request for 100 gun locks to give away at safety seminars she runs for high school and college students through her organization, Lock Arms for Life, she said. Internal APD emails show a senior police officer sent Ross’ email requesting the locks, which included information about her various titles and affiliations, to an NSSF consultant who then advised against the partnership.

“I don’t think she understands it’s not our policy, but NSSF policy on who we distribute the gun locks to,” an APD community engagement coordinator wrote in an email to others within the department about Ross’ request.

The Austin Police Department has not yet responded to questions about the emails or the number of gun locks they have distributed to date. Anyone doing the work to pass out gun locks in the community should be assisted, Ross said.

“It is our governor giving them money, they cannot dictate the policy to the gun locks,” she said. “Where is this coming from?”
amorris@express-news.net

Last time out, I leaned that Austin police are permitting a shooting sports foundation to control the distribution of gun locks. The National Shooting Sports Foundation is in charge, according to APD policy.

But the governor has said all Texas citizens can get gun locks.

My latest investigation confirms the police department is not doing its job to protect us by making locks available. I’d had no luck as with a request through my Lock Arms for Life organization. I thought I’d try to get locks as an individual. My goal was to get 10.

Before I went waltzing down to the police station, I thought I’d cover all my bases by sending an email to a staffer at the governor’s office. “Hoping you can help me. I know the governor said we could get lots of gun locks. I‘m trying to get some and wondering how that works? Is there a state program, or some help for police departments?” Maybe he could provide answers that I could in turn tell the police department.

After a week I hadn’t yet received a reply. The governor’s office must have bigger things to worry about besides gun safety, right? I know they’re working hard on keeping the homeless off the streets.

I did what any good detective does — gather information through investigation. I had a meeting downtown with a veterans organization at City Hall. Afterwards, I went to the main police station. At the corner of 8th and I35, I walked into the building and approached the glass window. The woman on the other side was an alumni volunteer—one of the ladies from my citizen academy class.  I recognized her from the polo shirt I saw during the class. It felt like I had a connection, someone on the inside to help.

The police were so helpful during those weeks, so I was sure she could assist me with the locks. I told her I needed gun locks for 10 firearms, then smiled and didn’t say anything else. She asked if I was an officer. When I replied no, she left her chair and whispered to a uniformed officer behind her. He approach the window.

“You want gun locks?”

“Yes. I have 10 guns I need to secure.”

“One gun lock per person.”

This doesn’t sound anything like the governor’s promise. I let out a heavy sigh and then shake my head. I want to scream at him, “What the hell is wrong with you people?” I want to shove that Missouri police department’s press release in their faces, the one which said people could take as many locks as you need. In Missouri, you don’t even need to be a local resident. Guns are just as popular there as in Texas. I want to shout, “Don’t you care how important it is that I store my 10 guns safely?”

I realize arguing is not worth the breath. So I took the one gun lock, after I wait while he tries to find the box where the locks are hidden. I walked away with my veins pulsing. I pull out my cell phone and Google the APD website. Yes, it said gun locks are available. “FREE gun locks to Austin residents for the safety of you and your family.” The website even listed the locations where the locks can be picked up.

Nowhere on that site does it say anything about outside organizations being denied access to locks, or any mention of “one lock per person.” Definitely not what I heard from Governor Abbott.

The police were being careful, though. Before I left, the officer asked me my name. It felt like they were developing like a “no gun lock list,” like a terrorist watch list.

Determined to find out how fully the ridiculous policy was being carried out, I went to a substation on Springdale Road, only a nine-minute drive away. Inside I was met by a woman who seemed warm and friendly. But the minute I asked for 10 gun locks, I noticed her attitude changed. She eyed me more closely, enough that I felt like a criminal. I might have been the first person to ask for locks that day, or that week. It’s only gun locks, not guns. It’s hard to see how a lock could be unsafe.

At Springdale I got two gun locks. “Really? That’s all you can give me?”

I asked what I’m supposed to do with my other eight guns. She shrugged and says, “I can only give you two.”

I noticed that locating these free gun locks seems to be a problem at both offices. She disappeared down a hallway, and after a 10-minute wait she returned without locks. She then shuffled through boxes under a counter near the front desk. When she announced she’s found them, she handed them to me and asked my name. I should have said Anne Oakley, but answered with, “Leesa.”

Inside my car and I took the picture below. I wanted a reminder of the generosity of Austin Police Department. They are the people who wear a badges that say to serve and protect. After two Austin stops, I felt less protected than when I began. My other seven guns were still unsecured. I have enough money to purchase more locks, but what about the people who don’t?

[image error]

My son died. I know a gun lock might have saved his life. I’ve given out more than 400 gun locks to parents and young adults in past two years as part of my educational work in schools. Austin police should have a no-questions-asked policy. Providing locks for organizations that care about helping Texans secure their guns should be a safety mission, especially for a police department.

In a state where children and young adults are dying from firearm incidents, they are getting access to guns that should be secured. Gun locks help reduce the risk of tragedies. Our police should have a process to help us as much as the governor says they will. Maybe that veterans organization can help in a way that our police in Texas cannot.

The police officer didn’t have much time for her call to me, even though she was the one who called. That’s how calls can go when they prevent things from happening. She was standing in the way of safety, though, letting Austin police policy prevent guns from being secured.

Gun safety is my life’s mission since I lost Jon, but I’d better explain.

I educate young adults about gun safety. Part of my lesson includes making free gun locks available after my talks. But I’ve been spinning my wheels trying to get the Austin Police Department to give me gun locks. Other cities do it, even cities in states like Missouri. Just read the release below from the Raytown, Missouri Police Department. It was posted immediately after the death of a toddler. “In the spirit of helping people secure their guns,” it begins, “and possibly preventing another tragedy”

Anyone may have a gun lock. They do NOT have to be a Raytown resident.There is no charge for the locks.They may have as many locks as needed to secure their firearms.There is no identification required, with no questions asked.Police personnel will not retain any information on who receives a gun lock.

My mission is that if a person owns a gun, they secure it. Responsible ownership. The graphics are powerful. It’s important to note that the Missouri police are working with Project ChildSafe. We’ll get to that in a minute.

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Sounds like the kind of life saving message all police departments should embrace, right? The Austin Police Department’s policy is not as good as little Raytown’s. Austin’s department is letting an outside group control requests for locks.

I started my crusade for gun locks back in February when I met with the newly appointed Assistant Police Chief at Kirby Lane Cafe. It was one of reasons why I arranged the meeting. I wanted to introduce myself, introduce Lock Arms for Life, and ask, “Can you give me gun locks for my events?”

The chief was confident he could. But when I followed up with email I received a voice message from a different officer who said, “unfortunately we cannot provide the locks to you.”

It seems the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s ChildSafe program sent a letter in 2017, saying “gun locks should not be given to outside groups, and if the department receives any call from those groups, they should be directed to NSSF.” The locks are sent to police departments from the NSSF, which wants to control who can get them.

Hmm. That letter was dated before the mass shootings in Santa Fe, El Paso, and Odessa, and before the Texas governor’s promise to include funding for 100,000 guns locks free of charge to Texans who want them.

I’m a Texan who wants them. I never thought it would be this difficult to get those gun locks from a major city’s police department, one whose goal is public safety. Over course of several months, I fired off more emails to the chief hoping he would either change the rule or get me the locks he’d promised.

Instead I got repeat versions of that phone call from that officer. In one email, the officer who sent it attached a more recent letter from the NSSF. I’ll summarize. “No gun locks to outside organizations—conflict of interest —confusion about political agenda and messaging.”

Really? Anyone who hands out gun locks has one message in mind—I want to save a life. The shooting sports group believes that some people who need gun locks also have an mission to control guns. The NSSF solution is to control the requests for the locks. They must be judging how much gun control the outside groups are supporting.

If it sounds political, it seems that way to me, too. Using gun control as a means to keep gun locks out of the hands of gun owners is dangerous at best.

Disheartened, I placed a post on the Survivor Network at Everytown for Gun Safety. I want to know if other states are facing the same issue with their police departments. I got reply from a survivor in North Carolina.  “We just contact the Sheriff’s office or the Police Department and ask who to contact. The number we get varies; we just take whatever is offered to us.”

After reading that it seems to me there is no consistency within police agencies. Locking guns seems to be at a department’s discretion—some care about that letter from the NSSF, while others care more about public safety.

Adding to my frustration, I recently did a tabling event and the organization next to me me had gun locks from ChildSafe project. I realized they were most likely provided by the Austin-area suburban police.

You can probably guess what I did after learning that —yes, I fired off an email to the chief. And like in the past, APD had someone call me. Only this time I could tell she didn’t really want to talk to me. It was not a conversation of pleasantries, helpfulness, or respectful discussion, not even after explaining my tragedy and mission to not let what happened to me happen to anyone else.

In a way, that officer reminded me of the visit I had with the Sheriff in North Carolina after Jon’s death. That woman in that detective’s chair wasn’t looking to help— she just thought she was doing her job.

The latest Austin call did not go well. I heard a repeat of the NSSF policy. She explained they give gun locks to anyone who needs one. I asked, “what if I need 25. I have friends who own 25 guns.”

“Me too,” she said. But then she was unsure I could have that many locks. It sounded like I’d be getting only one lock from the police. I hung up mad as a hornet. I can’t believe APD, the place where I took a citizens police academy course, is holding a NSSF letter so sacred. What are they so afraid of? It is just a request from the shooting organization—there’s nothing mandatory in the letter, and no one at the NSSF has threatened to cut off the supply of gun locks if departments don’t abide. For proof of that, just look to Raytown.

Just like all of our hopes about being safer from guns, I was hoping for a different outcome. I wanted that officer to understand and make a decision about what’s right. Saving lives is more important than a message on a piece of a shooting foundation’s letterhead. She could have easily said, “We appreciate you efforts, and please go to one of substations and get as many locks as you might need. I can’t promise a large quantity, but you’re welcome to take 20 or 25.”

I’m an NRA member who works for safer ownership. I am so disappointed in our police department. The people in charge need to change this policy to keep us all safer from irresponsible gun owners. We save lives when we care more about public safety than what a shooting organization says they need to do.