OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office is handing out free gun locks to residents less than a month after a toddler shot himself in the chest with an unsecured weapon.
The giveaway, held in the parking lot of the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, carries a straightforward message: safe storage saves lives.
Recommended Videos
Some gun owners did not hesitate to show up
“Kids around, family members. You know, it’s good to keep safety first,” Lucky Luciano said.
“I got two kids due in like two months, and I carry, so it will keep me safe. I know they’re safe. So, it’s just like a peace of mind,” Luciano said.
The event comes just weeks after a 3-and-a-half-year-old shot himself in the chest in Poinciana with a gun that was within reach, narrowly surviving his injuries.
“I’m telling, the grace of God saved his life because otherwise he’s not with us,” Osceola County Sheriff Christopher Blackmon said.
“That case is still pending. It’s under investigation, but we hope to wrap it up here in next couple of weeks. But that kind of spurred this as well, to make us want to get the message out to the community to try to save these kids from getting injured or killed.”
The Sheriff’s Office partnered with the Myron L. Rolle Foundation to distribute the locks — no questions asked. The initiative also highlights the real-world consequences doctors like Rolle see when children have access to unsecured weapons.
A pediatric neurosurgeon at Nemours Children’s Health, Rolle stressed the stakes.
“Safe storage and gun locks reduce mortality by 32%. A kid who can be three years old has enough strength in his fingers to pull a gun and discharge it. He can hurt himself or hurt someone else,” Rolle said.
For grandfather William Vega, getting a lock was a straightforward decision.
“The best way is have the safety because you don’t want nobody to grab the gun and start shooting the gun without knowing what they’re doing. So that’s why I came to pick it up,” Vega said.
The gun lock giveaway goes until 5 p.m. in the parking lot of the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office at 2601 E. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee.