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NC SAFE campaign seeks $2.26 million recurring to expand gun-lock distribution and outreach
Summary
Jared Pone of the Division of Juvenile Justice described NC SAFE's safe-storage campaign, said the initiative has distributed gun locks statewide and partners with the National Guard, and requested $2,260,000 in recurring state funding after years of grant-based support.
Jared Pone, legislative and external affairs manager for the Division of Juvenile Justice, presented NC SAFE, the state-run firearm-safe-storage campaign that the division launched in 2023. Pone described NC SAFE as a public-education effort focused on safe farm storage and household safe practices that provides free gun locks, vaults and outreach materials via partners in all 100 counties.
Pone said NC SAFE has distributed more than 150,000 gun locks through events, partnerships with JCPC programs and public outreach and has supplied more than 13,000 locks to the North Carolina National Guard for returning citizen-soldiers and their families. He described campaign materials (bilingual instructions with QR codes, parent-conversation flyers, short videos) and an RTI International evaluation that, Pone said, showed positive shifts in perceptions about safe storage and an increase in self-reported safe-storage practices.
Pone presented several statistics and geographic patterns from NC SAFE's data products, including a heat map of juvenile firearm-complaint rates that highlighted northeastern counties (for example, Northampton, Halifax, Gates) and a figure he identified as 10,876 firearms stolen in the 2019'024 period (as stated in the presentation). He said survey results indicate roughly 42% of North Carolina adults report a firearm in or around the home, and that many of those report unsecured or loaded storage.
On funding, Pone said the legislature mandated NC SAFE but did not appropriate funds for the campaign. He said the campaign has been sustained on grants and partner contributions but cannot scale without state support. When a board member asked whether the recurring ask was $2,260,000, Pone confirmed that is the amount NC SAFE is requesting for recurring operations and said current program operations are supported by small staffing and grants.
Pone asked board members to advocate for funding and to share ideas for outreach partners; he provided the campaign website (www.ncsafe.org) and invited follow-up contact.
