More than a thousand children's deaths from shootings in the U.S. could have been prevented at the cost of about $10. A local sports store and the Police Department are working to reduce that cost to nothing.

Accidental shootings happen a lot more often than Sgt. Jason Lewis of the Lubbock Police Department thinks they should.

However, a majority of the shootings in Lubbock he can recount involve adults displaying irresponsible behavior,

"It doesn't seem like that's very common, but it happens. And a lot of time, I think, more often than not it's adults here that actually shoot themselves unintentionally whether they're intoxicated or they're just kind of a little bit irresponsible. That seems to be more common," he said.

That doesn't mean it doesn't happen to children. According to the Children's Defense Fund, a nonprofit child advocacy group, guns are the second-leading cause of death among children in the country.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports about 2,600 children from infants to 19 died from shootings in 2010, which is the latest year available. About 130 of those deaths were classified as unintentional.

Gun lock giveaway

That's among the reasons the Lubbock Police Department and Gander Mountain are ramping up separate efforts to educate adults and children about gun safety, which includes giving away gun locks.

In the last six months, the LPD gave away about 1,000 gun locks, Lewis said.

Police give away cable locks intended to prevent the firearm's action from closing.

Most gun manufacturers sell their product with locks, Lewis said. But firearms that are handed down or bought secondhand don't usually come with locks. Providing locks for people in these situations helps prevent tragedies, he said.

The information and locks the department gives away are provided by Project ChildSafe, the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the National Rifle Association.

The department hands out the information at schools, Scout meetings and public events such as the March 23 Lubbock Preparedness Fair, where the 300 locks the department brought were snatched up before the fair was over.

The response from the community is encouraging, Lewis said. And the information the organizations provide makes a good impression among the target audience.

He said educating the public about gun safety and providing the hardware to disable guns helps the department get ahead of potential tragedies.

High-profile mass shootings in recent years such as the ones that happened in Aurora, Colo., and Newton, Conn., made guns a hot topic nationwide, including accidental shootings, said Steve Uline, Gander Mountain's vice president for marketing.

"When you start reading about them and you see that so many of them involve someone just leaving the firearm out and the wrong person gets it in their hand and it usually involves a child," he said. "And if it was just either locked up in a safe or it was in a biometric safe in the case of a handgun or a trigger lock these accidents are all preventable."

Parents also are unaware their children can discover where a gun is hidden in the house, Uline said.

"Kids are so inquisitive they have a way of finding them," he said.

So last year, the company launched a campaign promoting gun safety with radio commercial spots, social media and even on a NASCAR stock car. This year they are adding hardware to the cause.

Gander Mountain, which has 133 locations in 25 states, is giving away 50,000 gun locks until Sunday, April 6. The gun locks the company is giving away bar access to the gun's trigger.

Uline said the cost of gun locks, which start at $10, isn't prohibitive considering most gun owners spend thousands on their guns. But gun owners fall into the mentality that accidents or tragedies won't happen to them.

"We felt that we were in a position to raise awareness to cut down on these accidents," Uline said.

The Lubbock store has 500 locks to give away, said store Manager J.D. Schultz.

He said gun owners who would like a gun lock must fill out a gun responsibility pledge at gandermountain.com before they receive one.

"Basically, it's just saying that you promise to take care of your firearms, keep them secure and keep them out of the hands of the underaged, untrained, and unauthorized," Schultz said.

Statistics on accidental shootings in Lubbock are difficult to collect because of the reporting process officers use since there typically aren't any charges filed, Lewis said.

However, when the shootings involve children, parents may face criminal charges.

"There's obviously going to be some level of responsibility that will fall on that parent," he said. "It could be anything from manslaughter to aggravated assault to child endangerment. It could cover a lot of different things."

Parents sometimes take for granted their child's maturity when it comes to firearms, Lewis said.

"Hunting is big in West Texas, obviously," he said. "If you take your kid hunting, they're familiar with guns, they're aware of the fact they're not supposed to be messing around with it. Except when they have friends over."

gabriel.monte@lubbockonline.com

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Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention