Bucks County Sheriff Danny Ceisler takes gun control seriously.
In honor of National Gun Violence Awareness Month, Ceisler spoke about firearm safety to Bucks County Commissioners at a regular board meeting Wednesday. During his presentation, Ceisler broke down firearm safety into three categories: Storage, proper usage and licensing.
When it comes to storage, Ceisler recommends all firearms be locked and stored separately from the ammunition. He also recommends obtaining the “free-of-charge” gun locks that the Bucks County Sheriff’s office provides upon request. If you have children at home, keeping your guns properly stored prevents them from gaining access to the weapon and accidentally harming themselves or others.
“As someone who knows many people who have been unintentionally hurt by firearms, nobody ever thinks they are going to be the one that has the accident,” said Ceisler. “Really, it’s complacency that leads to people having accidents.”
The four golden rules of using a firearm, according to Ceisler, include treating every gun like it is loaded, never pointing your gun at something you don’t want to shoot, always keeping your finger off the trigger and always knowing your target.
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If you want to conceal carry in the state of Pennsylvania you must license your gun, which you can obtain at the Bucks County Sheriff’s Office. Failure to carry without the proper licensing can result in up to five years in prison.
Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia also took this time to advocate suicide prevention.
“This week within a 24-hour period, we have had three people take their lives with a gun in Bucks County,” said Marseglia. “We have around 82 people a year commit suicide in Bucks County and the majority are done with firearms.”
Cards were available at the exit after the meeting that included the suicide crisis hotline and Bucks County suicide statistics.
