Churches Plan to Pass Out Gun Locks to Parishioners

You’ve heard the phrase “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.” Now, in Glendora there’s a new gospel: Praise the Lord and pass the gun locks.

As the national debate rages over gun violence in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre, pastors at Glendora United Methodist Church and First Christian Church are dipping into congregational funds to hand out trigger locks to their 600 parishioners and others.

“We aren’t talking about registering guns. . . . We’re not dealing with the hot-button issues,” said the Rev. Douglas Hobson of United Methodist church. “If you’re going to keep a gun in your house, this is a way to keep it safe--cheaply.”

The churches are buying 200 trigger locks, which they will be giving away starting Monday to anyone in this conservative foothills community nearly 30 miles east of Los Angeles.

First Christian’s Rev. Karen Komsak Davis acknowledged that the campaign is not a cure-all for gun violence, but said if it “saves one life, it will be worth it.”

She also said the giveaway would remind people that they can take action on social ills without waiting for laws from Sacramento or Washington, where the House of Representatives recently voted to kill a measure that would require trigger locks on all new guns. The city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County already have laws requiring trigger locks on new guns sold within their borders.

“ ‘Let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with me’ is a popular hymn,” said Komsak Davis. “And we feel this is a way to let it begin with each of us.”

Recent tragedies have brought gun violence home to this otherwise folksy suburb of nearly 47,000 people. A few years ago, a teenager committed suicide using a handgun. And in 1994, the city lost its first police officer when he was shot to death during a supermarket robbery.

But it was the April shooting at the Littleton, Colo. high school--in which 15 people died--that prompted Komsak Davis to begin searching for ways to address gun violence. That is when she heard a radio report about the need for gun locks and decided to invest in the rubber-coated devices, which cost about $1.30 each and snap over the trigger guard.

Gun advocates say that they have no problem with the churches offering locks.

“Everyone has the right to choose to use a trigger lock. I just don’t want it mandatory,” said Joel Friedman of the National Rifle Assn.’s Foothills Council.

Friedman warned that gun locks may provide a false sense of security because they do not prohibit all trigger movement. “A trigger lock won’t prevent a loaded gun from firing,” he said, noting that most come with a disclaimer stating that the device should be used on an unloaded weapon.

Nonetheless, Glendora’s police chief praises the churches’ efforts.

“I think it’s a good idea. It’s something practical that helps people keep guns in their home safely,” said Glendora Police Chief Paul Butler.

The idea of passing out gun locks is rare but not new. An inner-city church in Phoenix did it three years ago and a handful of cities have followed suit. The Glendora pastors, however, say that they do not know of any other Los Angeles-area church that is currently giving out gun locks.

“I don’t plan to hand them out with the bread and wine,” said Komsak Davis, “but any other time they’ll be available at the church.”