Community Partnership of the Ozarks Bolsters Community Firearm Safety with Free Home Safety Kits and Instructional Videos
In Southwest Missouri, Community Partnership of the Ozarks (CPO) has developed an innovative resource to reduce access to firearms and other lethal means - free home safety kits. These kits include firearm lock boxes, cable locks, safe medication disposal bags, and educational materials on suicide and substance use prevention. By providing these resources, CPO not only helps households securely store dangerous items but also raises awareness about mental health and suicide prevention.
To receive a kit, community members simply need to fill out a Google Form with their email and answers to a few basic questions. Collecting recipients' contact information allows CPO to continuously improve their efforts by sending regular surveys to gather feedback, which has proven invaluable. For instance, CPO discovered that many community members were unsure of how to properly use the firearm storage methods, such as cable locks, provided in the kits.
Becoming aware of this knowledge gap, CPO developed a suite of instructional videos that demonstrate how to use various storage methods and locks with different types of firearms, including handguns, shotguns, and rifles. These videos are available at https://cpozarks.org/programs/mental-health/firearm-suicide-prevention and are a great resource for anyone seeking to learn more about safe storage practices.
