July 30, 2018
For More Information, Contact
- Northern Region Public Information Officer Lorrie Andrew-Spear – 703-530-2627
Owners Encouraged to “Lock Guns 4 Loved Ones”
(Warrenton, Va.)— Since 2007, gun-related fatalities have remained one of the top three methods of unnatural death in Virginia. In the Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District’s recently completed Community Health Assessment, residents identified preventing gun violence as a community concern.
Safe firearm storage is one way to help prevent unintentional injury and reduce suicide risk by preventing access to weapons in the home. From 2011-2015, more than 60 percent of the suicides in the Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District were committed by firearms. Those suicides account for more than 80 percent of the firearm deaths in the district during that period.
The American Academy of Pediatrics supports trigger locks as a best practice and says that safe storage and preventing access to guns may reduce injury by as much as 70%. The health district is offering universal trigger locks to all households who have firearms. Once secured, these locks block trigger access to prevent anyone who doesn’t know the combination from operating the weapon. The locks are designed to work on rifles, handguns and shotguns.
The locks are available in the health district’s clinics and offices (see locations below) from 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. They are free of charge; no questions asked. In addition, the health district is working with community partners, such as pediatricians, to distribute trigger locks.
| Culpeper County
640 Laurel Street Culpeper, VA 22701-3993 540-829-7350
Fauquier County 330 Hospital Drive Warrenton, VA 20186 540-347-6400
Fauquier Environmental Health 98 Alexandria Pike Suite 42 Warrenton, VA 20186 540-347-6363
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Madison County
410 North Main Street Madison, VA 22727 540-948-5481
Orange County 450 N. Madison Rd. Orange, VA 22960 540-672-1291
Orange County Environmental Health 128 W. Main Street, Suite A Orange, VA 22960 (Orange Co. offices – Grymes Building) 540-672-0223 |
Rappahannock County
491A Main Street Washington, VA 22747 540-675-3516
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For more information about the Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District, visit www.vdh.virginia.gov/Rappahannock-Rapidan/.