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Chicago Cops Get Gun Locks
Superintendent Orders 13,500 for His Troops
June 28, 2000
By James Gordon Meek
CHICAGO (APBnews.com) -- Police Superintendent Terry Hillard believes officers should lead by example, especially when it comes to firearms safety.
That is why Hillard has ordered the department's 13,500 sworn officers to accept gun locks, which he hopes they will use to secure their service weapons at home, a spokesman said.
Officials cited the danger of children accessing firearms stored in homes, which often leads to accidental shootings and fatalities nationwide.
Spokesman Pat Camden said Chicago has not had a particular problem with accidental residential shootings, but "what the department is doing is asking its officers, when you're not working, secure your duty weapons, and we're encouraging them to secure their other weapons as well to prevent accidents."
The department spent about $60,000 for the Master-brand gun locks, he said.
Like old-style bike locks
Camden said some reports have mistakenly identified them as trigger locks, but they are actually steel cables with nylon coating. They cable can be strung though the magazine well or barrel of a semiautomatic handgun and up through the ejection port to block the slide from moving or the weapon from being loaded.
The cables, which resemble old-style bicycle locks, are secured using a small key lock.
Now retired from the force, Camden said that in 29 years as a Chicago policeman he never locked his service revolver up, but he highly recommends that today's officers make it a habit, especially if they have children.
"You can't be too careful when little ones are in the house, or even bigger ones, the teenagers," he said.
An inspirational plan
Camden said Hillard hopes the initiative will inspire the public to lock up their guns, too.
Handguns were outlawed in Chicago in 1992, but many Chicagoans own hunting rifles and shotguns, and those who owned handguns before the law took effect are grandfathered.
Chicago police officers are required to purchase their own service weapons. Most choose to buy .38-caliber or 9 mm semiautomatics with high-capacity magazines.
Fraternal Order of Police and National Rifle Association representatives said the organizations took no issue with the gun lock distribution plan.
James Gordon Meek is an APBnews.com editor (james.meek@apbnews.com).
©Copyright 2000 APB Online, Inc.
Chicago Cops Get Gun Locks
Superintendent Orders 13,500 for His Troops
June 28, 2000
By James Gordon Meek
CHICAGO (APBnews.com) -- Police Superintendent Terry Hillard believes officers should lead by example, especially when it comes to firearms safety.
That is why Hillard has ordered the department's 13,500 sworn officers to accept gun locks, which he hopes they will use to secure their service weapons at home, a spokesman said.
Officials cited the danger of children accessing firearms stored in homes, which often leads to accidental shootings and fatalities nationwide.
Spokesman Pat Camden said Chicago has not had a particular problem with accidental residential shootings, but "what the department is doing is asking its officers, when you're not working, secure your duty weapons, and we're encouraging them to secure their other weapons as well to prevent accidents."
The department spent about $60,000 for the Master-brand gun locks, he said.
Like old-style bike locks
Camden said some reports have mistakenly identified them as trigger locks, but they are actually steel cables with nylon coating. They cable can be strung though the magazine well or barrel of a semiautomatic handgun and up through the ejection port to block the slide from moving or the weapon from being loaded.
The cables, which resemble old-style bicycle locks, are secured using a small key lock.
Now retired from the force, Camden said that in 29 years as a Chicago policeman he never locked his service revolver up, but he highly recommends that today's officers make it a habit, especially if they have children.
"You can't be too careful when little ones are in the house, or even bigger ones, the teenagers," he said.
An inspirational plan
Camden said Hillard hopes the initiative will inspire the public to lock up their guns, too.
Handguns were outlawed in Chicago in 1992, but many Chicagoans own hunting rifles and shotguns, and those who owned handguns before the law took effect are grandfathered.
Chicago police officers are required to purchase their own service weapons. Most choose to buy .38-caliber or 9 mm semiautomatics with high-capacity magazines.
Fraternal Order of Police and National Rifle Association representatives said the organizations took no issue with the gun lock distribution plan.
James Gordon Meek is an APBnews.com editor (james.meek@apbnews.com).
©Copyright 2000 APB Online, Inc.
