Take A Small Step Toward Safety
For one week beginning on Saturday, October 17, Baldwinsville Public Library will participate in The Great Give Back, a statewide public library initiative that encourages New Yorkers to come together through meaningful acts of service. This year, the library is taking a different approach to giving back: helping community members make their homes safer by offering free firearm cable locks.
The locks are being provided through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as part of its efforts to promote safe firearm storage and suicide prevention. The VA encourages Veterans, their families, and firearm owners to use secure storage to create time and distance between a person experiencing a crisis and immediate access to a firearm.
For The Great Give Back on October 17, Baldwinsville Public Library is taking a different approach to community service by promoting firearm safety and suicide prevention. Through a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs initiative facilitated by OCPL, the library will distribute free firearm cable locks to community members starting Oct. 17 through Oct. 23. We hope to encourage firearm owners to consider secure storage as one simple way to create time and distance during a crisis, particularly for vulnerable individuals and Veterans. This effort reflects the spirit of The Great Give Back: making one small change that can help our neighbors.
The Great Give Back traditionally brings libraries and their communities together through activities such as food and clothing drives, volunteer projects, and donations to local organizations. The statewide initiative’s mission is to provide library patrons with opportunities to participate in meaningful, service-oriented experiences. For Baldwinsville Public Library, giving back this year means asking the community to consider one small change that could make a difference in a vulnerable moment.
Firearm owners are encouraged to consider using a gun lock or another secure-storage option when their firearm is not in use. The library will distribute the free cable locks from October 17 through October 23 to community members ages 18 and older who would like one. The locks are intended as one accessible option for increasing firearm safety; gun owners may also choose other secure-storage solutions that work for their household.