SAN ANTONIO – June is National Gun Violence Awareness Month and the City of San Antonio in partnership with District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran and COPS Metro are giving away free gun safety boxes.
People can get the boxes from 9-11 a.m. on Saturday at Southside Lions Senior Center, 3303 Pecan Valley Drive.
In a news conference on Tuesday, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said the City secured $200,000 to purchase 4,000 gun safety lock boxes to be distributed in the community.
Viagran said it’s an effort to continue the conversation about gun education.
“This is just making sure that the guns that you have at home don’t end up in somebody else’s hands, that that shouldn’t have them, whether that’s the youth or whether that is, you know, somebody who breaks in and happens to find it and then it gets it’s out there on the streets,” she said.
The free boxes are basic and Viagran said there are others that are more high-tech and cost more, so those who can afford the better gun safe boxes should get them.
“Owning a gun and being a responsible gun owner means an investment,” she said.
The safe boxes given away by the city are meant for those who have guns and don’t want to get rid of them, but can’t afford to buy a box.
“It’s really for the people that didn’t do the buyback program and turn in their gun because they just thought, well, one day I might need it or I’m going to go to that shooting range once again. We’ll make sure it’s in that lockbox when you do,” Viagran said.
Viagran said people who have stickers on their vehicles or signs outside their homes that could advertise that they’re a gun owners should be sure to secure their weapons because those stickers and signs are basically advertising the availability of weapons.