Johns Hopkins University just landed a $245,000 federal boost to ramp up a citywide safe-storage push in Baltimore, with its flagship hospital and children’s center set to hand out free gun locks. The idea is simple and blunt: pair those devices with counseling in clinics and at community events so fewer kids wind up finding loaded weapons at home.
What the Grant Pays For
The appropriation appears in congressional paperwork as the “JHU Safe Storage” project and was requested by Rep. Kweisi Mfume to back partnerships with the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the mayor’s violence-prevention office. According to Rep. Kweisi Mfume, the money will support patient screening and the distribution of secure-storage devices across Baltimore.
How Distribution Will Work
Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center plan to give out cable-style gun locks at clinical sites and at community-based events, while also walking families through basic safe-storage practices. As reported by WBAL NewsRadio, the university is pitching the project as a straightforward, evidence-informed way to save lives.
“What we’ve seen over and over again is that young people find weapons. And when they find them, they play with them,” U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume said, in comments reported by WBAL NewsRadio. Mfume framed the funding as a practical step meant to cut down on accidental shootings and keep guns from showing up in schools.
Recent Incident Spurred Urgency
Local officials are still rattled by a February incident in Anne Arundel County, when a 7-year-old brought a loaded gun to Freetown Elementary School and accidentally shot his own hand. Police later served a criminal summons on the mother’s boyfriend in that case. Coverage of the episode helped push Senate Bill 362, known as the Ny’Kala Strawder Act, which would add penalties of up to five years in prison for storing a loaded firearm where an unsupervised child can get to it, according to the bill’s page on the Maryland General Assembly.
Why Safe Storage Matters
Researchers say the strategy is not guesswork. A study from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and its Center for Gun Violence Solutions found that child-access-prevention laws that require secure storage are associated with reductions in youth firearm suicides and unintentional shooting deaths. Public-health experts at the center argue that giving out free locks and having clinicians talk directly with families is a relatively cheap, immediate way to lower the odds that a child will stumble onto a gun.
Where to Get a Lock
The Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement has been teaming up with hospital partners on gun-lock giveaway events and continues to post community distributions on its events page. In Anne Arundel County, officials have also made gun-safety locks available at library branches, reinforcing the idea that residents can pick them up both in medical settings and at neighborhood spots.
The $245,000 federal award is a modest but tightly focused investment, and supporters say widening access to basic secure-storage tools could be enough to prevent at least some accidental shootings and similar tragedies. Residents are being encouraged to keep an eye on local event calendars or contact their health care provider or neighborhood safety office for details on upcoming distribution events and how to get a free lock.
