S.A.F.E. SUMMER CHAMPION: SHOOT SMART
NSSF’s Project ChildSafe Names Cassie Shockey and Jared Sloane of Shoot Smart
“S.A.F.E. Summer Local Champions” in Firearm Safety
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has recognized the Shoot Smart team, Cassie Shockey and Jared Sloane as “Local Champions” for efforts to promote community firearm safety. The recognition comes as NSSF launches its fourth annual Project ChildSafe S.A.F.E. Summer campaign to emphasize the importance of responsible firearm storage – particularly while children are home from school and more likely to be unattended.
Shoot Smart, with locations in Grand Prairie and Fort Worth, was selected for increasing firearm safety awareness and preventing accidents within the community through multiple campaigns, including law enforcement partnerships, public educational presentations, and implementation of the local “Own it. Protect it. Secure it.” pledge which gained hundreds of supporters.
“If we can keep just one kid from accidently accessing and discharging a firearm, we’ve succeeded. There are too many accounts of kids getting hurt or killed because they found a gun and played with it,” says Sloane. “We cannot teach or train the curiosity out of children (nor should we), so we have to take other measures to raise gun safety awareness and to make sure guns are locked and safe when not in use.”
S.A.F.E. Summer is an extension of NSSF’s Project ChildSafe campaign. Consistent with Project ChildSafe’s overarching message of “Own It? Respect It. Secure It,” the S.A.F.E. Summer effort is a reminder that proper firearm storage is the #1 way to help prevent firearm accidents, theft and misuse.
S.A.F.E. serves as an acronym for Store your firearms responsibly when not in use; Always practice firearm safety; Focus on your responsibilities as a firearm owner; and Education is key to preventing accidents. The effort is focused on providing resources to help gun owners take actions and share information that will help keep their families and communities safer.
“The Project ChildSafe program was created as a tool to help provide firearm safety to the community and those the industry serves,” says Shockey. “It is our job to take the ball and run with it.”
“We’re very grateful for the work of organizations like Shoot Smart,” said NSSF President and CEO Steve Sanetti. “They are great examples of how the firearms-owning community is committed to safety and personal responsibility, and their work is instrumental in helping reduce firearm accidents.”
NSSF launched Project ChildSafe in 1999 (prior to 2003 the program was called Project HomeSafe) as a nationwide initiative to promote firearms responsibility and provide safety education to all gun owners. While children are a focus, Project ChildSafe is intended to help young people and adults practice greater firearm safety as well. Through partnerships with more than 15,000 law enforcement agencies, the program has provided more than 37 million free firearm safety kits –which include a free gun lock– to gun owners in all 50 states and the five U.S. territories. That’s in addition to the more than 70 million free locking devices manufacturers have included with new firearms sold since 1998 and continue to do today.