Lock It For Love (LIFL) has become the signature and most successful project for Grandparents for Gun Safety, distributing thousands of free gun locks since its beginning in 2017 along with educational materials about safe firearms storage.

The need for gun locks is overwhelming to prevent injuries and deaths from accidental shootings and suicides when curious children or despondent teens gain access to unlocked, loaded firearms. Everytown for Gun Safety estimates 4.6 million American children live in homes with at least one loaded and unlocked gun. Safely storing firearms also limits access to older adults with dementia.

Modeled on the success of a program developed by St. Louis-based Women’s Voices Raised for Social Justice, LIFL has trained more than 80 volunteers who participate at social service agency events, area hospitals, community gatherings and suicide prevention programs throughout the Kansas City metro area. Volunteers offer free, high-quality gun locks plus information about safe gun storage to parents, grandparents and other adults responsible for children living or visiting in their homes.

GGS collaborates with more than a dozen police departments on both sides of the Missouri and Kansas state line. Our volunteers are often accompanied by a police officer who demonstrates how to use the lock correctly and answers questions about storing firearms safely. When the pandemic forced cancellation of many community events, LIFL continued its safety mission by retooling participation to primarily drive-through food distribution events.

Through LIFL, we strive to make a direct impact on preventing injuries and deaths from accidental shootings and suicides by limiting access to firearms. Join us if you’re interested in volunteering or helping finance the supply of $5 high-quality gun locks.

To learn how a gun lock works, watch this short video featuring Officer Rick Jones, a Community Interaction Officer with the Kansas City Missouri Police Department.