Safer gun owners

When the issue of mandating trigger locks on guns came up in Congress last year, a certain national association concerned with rifles spent considerable effort informing anyone who would listen that use of the devices created a dangerous “illusion of safety” that is part of a “continuing attempt by the anti-gun groups to fool the American public … .”

Eighteen-hundred gun owners in Maine recently didn’t see it that way — at least in part.

Acadia Hospital’s second trigger-lock giveaway last week attracted gun owners from all over the state. The 1,800 is in addition to 1,300 people who asked for the locks last year. Apparently, they were less concerned with the politics of federal legislation and more interested in the safety that these $8 devices provide. So were supporters of the program, the Penobscot Sheriff’s Department, Maine State Police, Bangor Police Department and Van Raymond Outfitters in Brewer.

The simple act of a hospital providing a community service — in this case, Acadia saw the locks as a way to reduce suicide — underscores how common-sense answers can get lost in the heat of Washington. The enthusiastic response wasn’t a political statement. It was evidence that gun owners are concerned about keeping their weapons secure. Many of them probably could afford to buy the locks from a retailer, but Acadia made it easy to get one, and that made the program successful.

The low-key approach also says something about the difference between a voluntary act and a mandate. Letting people act responsibly is a lot more productive than ordering them to be, as the federal legislation tried to do. Even if some of the people who most need help in the safety department are the ones least likely to contact Acadia, plenty of safety-conscious gun owners could find the lock made the difference in preventing a child from thinking it might be fun to try dad’s gun or in giving a desperate teen-ager a means to take his life.

Washington eventually settled its trigger-lock debate by coming to an agreement with a half-dozen gun manufacturers, which said they would follow the lead of Sturm, Ruger & Co. and Smith & Wesson Corp., the world’s largest maker of handguns, to supply safety locks with handgun purchases. The agreement covered approximately 80 percent of the handguns sold in the United States.

Acadia’s program won’t reach quite that many people, but it is a positive event in America’s Great Gun Debate when gun owners can be offered a safety device without the usual vilification and a group can supply the device without being accused of having a hidden agenda.