Ramsey County Reminds Residents To Properly Store Firearms
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- Ramsey County is encouraging gun owners to keep firearms locked up and away from children.
On Thursday afternoon, community leaders gathered at Rondo Community Outreach Library in St. Paul to talk about the importance of keeping guns in a secure place, especially now that school is letting out.
"This prevention issue is so important because I have seen too often, time and time again, and in our community, and across this nation, where we have situations in which young children get access to handguns and then tragedy strikes," Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said.
The county says that more than 242 kids under the age of 12 have been hurt or killed in accidental shootings across the country so far this year. The Pew Research Center says that roughly a third of people in the Midwest have both children and guns in their homes and nearly half of the people who own guns leave them loaded and unlocked.
The Ramsey County Sheriff says it's working with the community to make locks and safety information more easily available.
Several community distribution sites have been set up across Ramsey County, including at Public Health and St. Paul Recreation centers. The sites provide free cable gun locks to gun owners.
The county is also encouraging residents to review its gun safety outlines, which contains tips for safe gun storage and instructional videos on how to properly lock firearms.