NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — In light of recent events involving gun misuse in the city and surrounding areas, the Newport News Police Department has started an initiative that hopes to reduce gun-related tragedies.
From now through June 1, you can go to the NNPD Headquarters, located at 9710 Jefferson Ave., between 9 a.m. and noon on weekdays to receive a free gun lock.
Earlier this month, Newport News police said a child in their city died from a gunshot wound due to an accessible gun in a household.
At the beginning of this year, detectives say a 6-year-old student was able to access his mother's gun and shoot his teacher at Richneck Elementary School on January 6.
"NNPD knows that gun violence affects everyone, and proper firearm safety and storage is paramount," the department wrote in a press release about the giveaway.
"Any big thing, any little thing...anything that we can do to address this crisis is absolutely a good thing," Darla Timberlake said, the Clinical Director with Newport News Children & Family Services.
Timberlake's organization is one of a number of recipients for a grant through the city of Newport News to aid in gun violence prevention. She called this new initiative by NNPD a step in the right direction.
"I know there are a lot of children out there, and we work with them as well, that have a lot of trauma and chaos at home," Timberlake said.
"So, any little thing that is a stop gap from them and firing a gun, I think is a good idea."
However, it's a different story for Chanda Coston, who lost her brother after he was shot and killed in Newport News in October 2018.
She and her mother, Mary Jackson, the nonprofit's president, are replacing violence with progress in Newport News with their nonprofit HEB Foundation.
Healing, evolving, and building are the three missions that make up the name of the foundation, which services, supports, and educates communities in Newport News that have been affected by gun violence.
"If someone takes the gun lock, is someone going to go home and make sure they use them correctly? Is someone going home and making sure they're using them?"
Coston questioned what else the community should be doing in addition to handing out free gun locks. She said this effort is a small piece of the puzzle.
"Passing out gun locks, putting metal detectors in schools, clear book bags...is not alone going to prevent gun violence," Coston said.
"There has to be an education piece that's also added to that around gun safety, gun control, the importance of that at home."
Newport News isn't alone. A spokeswoman with Portsmouth Police says the department's programs also offer free gun locks, along with gun education and safety training.
PPD's spokeswoman sent this statement to 13News Now:
"We do distribute gun locks through the Project Child Safe program. The instructions on how to use the lock are provided and if asked we do explain to citizens how to use these locks.
We provide gun safety training to children through the Eddie the Eagle Gunsafe® Program, where children from kindergarten through 3rd Grade are taught to “Stop. Don’t Touch. Run Away. Get a Grown-Up.” This program provides free safety activity books and gives us an opportunity to teach this very important topic to children.
We generally teach this through Safety Town but we can also provide this training to day cares, church youth groups, etc. The goal of this training is to reduce and attempt to eliminate accidental incidents involving children and firearms left unsecured."
The Newport News Police Department said there currently is a limit of one lock per person.