LANSING (WWJ) — The Michigan State Police and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services have announced that gun locks will now be available for free to the public at MDHHS county offices and many local health departments statewide.
This comes after Michigan's new secure storage law went into effect in February, requiring unattended firearms to be unloaded and locked with some sort of locking device or stored in a locked box if a minor could have access to it.
Under the new state law, if a gun is left unsecured, and a minor were to harm themselves or others, the owner of the gun can be charged with a felony, with the potential of 10-15 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
An official announcement about the program was made Friday at the MDHHS Greydale Office in Redford, with free cable locks made available during the event.
MSP Director Col. James Grady II talked about why compliance with the new law is so important.
"One child injury or death is too many; whether it's a two or three-year-old, or a 15 or 16-year-old," Grady told WWJ's Darrylin Horne. "Then you have some children, some young people that have, you know, mental illness or who might be autistic and things like that, so you want to make sure that you can properly store your weapon no matter what you do."
"And that goes for law enforcement officers, too, right?" he added. "It doesn't matter what you do, you need to properly store your weapon so that you can keep everybody safe."
Find the address for an MDHHS county office near you at this link.