Trigger Locks for Handguns

“Hype Over Trigger Locks Provokes Fear of Firearm Accidents” (Feb. 16) was misleading and possibly even dangerous. Although it is true that older, traditional trigger locks are not supposed to be put on loaded guns--and it says so right on the package--there are now locks on the market that can be used safely with loaded weapons. For older locks, law-enforcement authorities agree that guns should always be stored locked, unloaded and separate from the ammunition.

You also stated that some people who have trigger locks do not use them. That may be true, but it is not an argument against requiring that they be sold with a handgun. Just as cars are required to be equipped with seat belts, in the hope that their availability will increase their use, so should guns routinely be sold with safety locks.

Perhaps most significantly, you gave the impression that trigger locks have been hyped as the solution to the problem. What “hype”? When I wrote my child safety-lock legislation last year, I said that I did not know how many children would be saved with safety locks. Maybe only a few dozen, I said. Requiring that a safety lock be sold with every handgun is not and was never intended to be the complete answer to the problem. Such a law is intended to make it easier for parents to keep loaded weapons out of the hands of children--and to make it less likely that a child will die from an accidental shooting.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER

D-California