LETTERS Industry's role in gun safety

In Pennsylvania, Project ChildSafe has been endorsed by Gov. Rendell, and Lt. Gov. Knoll has spearheaded the lock distribution efforts statewide. Pennsylvania has already received more than 1 million locks to date and will receive another 600,000 this summer when Project ChildSafe returns to the state. In neighboring New Jersey, we will have distributed 335,000 by the end of the summer.

There are also a host of programs designed to teach children who want to learn how to shoot to do so safely and with proper instruction. Each year NSSF provides tens of thousands of youngsters with patches they earned at camp to commemorate completion of a target-shooting contest in support of the Junior USA Shooting Team, associated with the selection of our nation's shooting sports competitors in the Olympics.

Our efforts, along with those of countless firearms instructors and safety volunteers combined with the media's emphasis on the need for safety have resulted in a steady decline in the number of firearm accidents, especially those involving children.

In a recent 10-year period, there was a decline of 43 percent in the number of unintentional firearm fatalities.

Doug Painter, President

National Shooting Sports

Foundation, Newtown, Conn.