LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX NEWS) — The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department's 'Let's Lock It Lex' program is reminding the community that free gun locks and gun safety resources are available.
"As we know, we've experienced gun violence here recently and we want to make sure that we're doing all we can to educate and help families stay safe," Crystal Miller, LFCHD Commissioner of Health, said.
The 'Let's Lock It Lex' program grew out of the health department's Lex-CHIP meetings and launched in March.
"This initiative was grown out of our Lex-CHIP meetings...We pulled out an initiative of safe gun locks from those discussions started that back in March, and just really had a lot of uptake and interest from the community," Miller said.
Since launching, the program has reached a milestone of 1,000 gun locks distributed to the community.
"Research shows that 1 in 10 kids in the US live in a household that has a firearm that may not be properly secured…We're proud of the fact that people are interested and they want to do the right thing," Miller said.
Miller says the lock takes less than a minute to attach. About a dozen community partners are now handing out the locks for free. Due to the program's growth, the health department has ordered 3,000 more locks, paid for with public health tax dollars.
The locks are available with no personal information required.
"You can walk into the health department. They're sitting right on the shelf. There's no information taken. We want these in as many hands as possible," Miller said.
Free gun locks are available at the following locations across Lexington:
- Carolyn's Crown & Glory Hair Salon LLC
- Charles Young Center
- Community Action Council Food Pantry - Cambridge Drive
- Davis Park Workforce Center
- Exhilarating Inc.
- Final Cuts
- Passport by Molina Healthcare
- Share Center
- Suburban Pointe
- The Voyage Movement
- Urban Cutz
- Well Groomed Barbershop
