There’s little argument about whether securing one’s firearms when not in use is a good thing. It’s actually the one thing the anti-gun side and the pro-gun side can agree on.

It’s almost everything after that which causes the discussion to go sideways.

Gun safes are good, after all, but some want to mandate them and we generally don’t. This side of things tends to favor encouraging their use rather than trying to force it.

But anything that helps put locks and safes in people’s homes is a good thing, something else there seems to be consensus on.

In San Antonio, they’re taking a step that should be universally applauded.

Shootings are now the leading cause of death among children and teens, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

That’s why Bexar County is trying to reduce these tragedies with a new program.

“This is not about taking away firearms or firearm rights,” said Monica Ramos, a spokesperson for the county. “This is strictly aimed at safety for adolescents and unintentional shootings.”

Ramos says there has been an uptick in accidental shootings involving children getting their hands on firearms, and it started during the pandemic.

With summer break underway, she says prevention is crucial.

“When kids are typically out of school, they are getting into mom and dads’ drawers, climbing up into closets,” said Ramos. “They may find a gun and start playing with it. They may think it’s kind of cool, and before you know it there’s a tragedy that occurs.”

I’m not sure why Ramos would think anyone would see this as being about taking away gun rights, but whatever.

The truth is that providing gun locks or gun safes is a win. Yes, these are portable gun safes, which aren’t as good as something big and heavy and difficult to steal, but the point of these is to keep them out of curious hands. Either version will work for that, and that will do a lot of good.

No one wants to see that tragedy play out. While educating your kids about guns is vital, you can’t guarantee that they won’t get curious anyway. After all, if they decide they like guns but they don’t get an opportunity to use or handle them, mistakes can be made.

Only these mistakes can be fatal.

You do what you can, but you should also hedge your bets with some kind of a gun safe.

What’s more, San Antonio is doing the right thing and I’d like to see more communities do this. Imagine if we saw these giveaways instead of buybacks that have been shown to accomplish nothing. How many lives might actually have been saved?

Guns save lives but gun safes can as well.

It’s a good thing we’re seeing here and I pray we start to see a whole lot more of these things happening all over the nation. Our children deserve it and since it’s voluntary, Ramos is right that it’s not an infringement on anyone’s rights.

It’s how things should be.