LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A child remains in the hospital after accidentally shooting themselves over the weekend. In response, local groups are giving gun owners free gun locks.
Sunday afternoon, a two-year-old child accidentally shot themselves in an apartment on Vaughn Mill Road. Louisville Metro Police officers said they don't know if anyone was home when the shooting happened.
"Things can happen in an instant, we need to realize that, that everything will change in a matter of seconds," Khalid Raheem, the grandmaster at Arabian Federation Martial Arts Academy, said. "We know right now, within our community, there's a large amount of firearms."
According to Norton Healthcare, two children visited the hospital with firearm-related injuries in 2020. Compared to last year, Norton Healthcare reported seeing 15 children with similar injuries in just two months--a 650% increase.
David Goad, CEO of Golem Security, said safe storage of firearms is crucial.
"I believe that if they're stored at home, they should be locked up and kept safe and rendered not usable," Goad said.
The Arabian Federation Martial Arts Academy, Golem Security and Louisville mayoral candidate Anthony Oxendine's campaign team teamed up on Wednesday to hand out free gun locks and plugs.
The safety methods are meant to go inside of the gun, blocking any chance of a magazine being loaded. Goad said once the locks are in place, they won't unlock without the key.
"We've got guns, let's secure them, we have babies, let's protect them," Raheem said. "We have family members, let's protect everybody."
He said if someone knows where a firearm is, they may go back to see it and "play with it, to show it off to somebody else." He added that locking firearms can truly save a life.
According to the groups, they have roughly 100 lock and 60 plugs available for the community. They are free of charge, to get one visit these locations:
- Arabian Knights Federation Martial Arts Academy - 1033 South 28th Street
- Golem Security Services - 931 Baxter Avenue
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