In 2024, Ann Brown, former chair of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission under the Bill Clinton administration, donated $100,000 to Safe Kids Worldwide, a nonprofit organization focused on protecting children from preventable injuries. Now, Brown’s donation is being used to distribute over 36,000 gun locks across nine states and Washington, D.C. in an effort to combat unintentional shootings involving children.
On Wednesday, Brown joined Safe Kids Worldwide President Torine Creppy, former U.S. Congresswoman and gun violence advocate Gabby Giffords, and Leesa Ross — the founder of Lock Arms for Life, an educational initiative that promotes responsible gun ownership and safe storage — to discuss the gun lock initiative and how unsecured firearms can result in accidental shootings involving children.
During the roundtable discussion, Brown explained that the locks would be distributed to Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington, D.C. — specifically because these states have the highest rates of unintentional shootings involving children.
According to a 2023 study, Alabama had the seventh highest rate of unintentional shootings involving children between 2015 and 2021 with 9.4 incidents per year. Several unintentional shootings involving children have already occurred in the state this year — just last week, a 2-year-old died in Valley, Alabama in what investigators believe to be an accidental shooting with an unsecured firearm.
As of 2025, firearms remain the leading cause of death among Alabama children and teens. During Wednesday’s discussion, Brown noted that the same is true for the nation as a whole.
“In 2025 alone, children were involved in 411 unintentional shootings, the highest number on record. These incidents left 427 people injured or killed, often a sibling, or a parent, or the child themselves,” Brown stated. “Most of the victims were under 12 years [old], and this is part of a huge devastating trend in the U.S. Guns are now the leading cause of death for children — more than car crashes, more than cancer, more than any disease. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“Research shows that if less than 10 percent of U.S. households had [gun locks], we could save 50 children a year. If half of those households had these gun locks, we could save over 250 children annually,” Brown later added. “This month is gun Safety Awareness Month, and it’s an important time to have this conversation. It’s a chance to push past the noise and talk about solutions. One of those is safe storage: simple, effective, life saving.”
Lock Arms for Life Founder Leesa Ross, who lost her own son to an accidental shooting in 2009, spoke more about the importance of educating families about safe firearm storage.
“The truth is, when guns are locked, tragedies can be prevented, and that’s accidents, suicides, and thefts,” Ross said. “But there’s not enough education… around it right now. Many families don’t realize how quickly a child can access a firearm, or how a moment of crisis can turn deadly if the gun is left unsecured.”
“Safety is not a political issue, it’s a shared responsibility,” she added.
Safe Kids Worldwide President Torine Creppy echoed Brown and Ross, and specifically discussed how her organization’s initiative to distribute gun locks in states like Alabama will hopefully help to prevent future tragedies.
“This is not about the issue of gun control and gun violence, this is about responsible firearm ownership and best practices for keeping our children safe,” Creppy said. “We know that incidents and injuries from firearms can happen in a split-second and that firearms are the number one cause of death in children… But study after study shows that gun locks can prevent a child from accidentally discharging a weapon [and] that safely storing firearms is associated with decreasing firearm injuries.”
“Those gun locks were a critical piece in our efforts to prevent injuries and save lives by giving parents and caregivers the opportunity to safely secure their firearm within their home, and that’s why Safe Kids was committed to partnering with [Brown] and working with our network of coalitions to provide those gun locks free of charge to community members in nine states and the District of Columbia,” she added.
According to Safe Kids Worldwide, Alabama has received approximately 3000 gun locks from the organization. The locks are being distributed by the organization’s community outreach team through the USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital in Mobile and other patient care centers.
