COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Columbus City Councilman Mitchell Brown is behind a gun lock giveaway—a program to make the weapons more secure and ultimately decrease gun violence.
Nationwide Children’s hospital released a study showing that one in three families with children have at least one gun in the house, and nearly 1,300 American children younger than 18 die from shootings every year.
That statistic is behind a new safety program called “Love our children. Lock your guns” led by Brown.
“My heart is broken when we see children being shot unnecessarily,” Brown said. “There’s no reason for gun violence, and this is the best way to try to deal with it. I can’t get rid of the guns. Let’s lock them up.”
Brown is the former public safety director for Columbus, but back in the 1960s he was a Pittsburgh pioneer as a member of the Freedom House ambulance service in the city’s hill district that was the first emergency medical service staffed by paramedics with medical training beyond basic first aid. Members of the all-Black ambulance EMS were America’s first ‘first responders,’ and Brown will never forget his first call to a child shooting victim.
“It was a 12-year-old child who was shot,” he said. “I responded to the call as a paramedic, took care that child [and] the individual survived. But I never forgot the shooting. He got shot in the chest and we were able to survive and take care of him. And it’s indelible . . . . Once you see a child shot, it stays with you forever.”
The Nationwide Children’s Hospital study shows parents who believe hiding guns will prevent accidents are wrong.
- 75% of children who live in homes with guns know where they are stored
- 40% of unintentional shooting deaths among children 11-14 occur in the home of a friend
“It is a simple thing. Just put a gun lock on to help secure it,” Brown said. “It is one of the best ways to minimize gun violence.”
Part of Brown’s initiative is giving away free gun locks. You can pick one up at any Columbus fire station no questions asked. Nearly 50 years after saving a child shooting victim for the first time, Brown hopes to stop the bullets before they are fired.
“My legacy is that I hope someone does not get shot because a gun was secured,” Brown said.
There are 5,000 gun lock free for the taking at Columbus fire stations.