Process Evaluation of BJA's Firearm Lock Distribution and Safe Storage Program

The tasks of the FLD/SSP, which was funded by the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) in 2015, consisted of the distribution of firearm locks and safety materials, the development of public service announcements and other media promotion, the production of website materials, and the creation of partnerships. The FLD/SSP was implemented by the team of National Shooting Sports Foundation and APCO Worldwide (NSSF/APCO Worldwide). The NSSF titled this effort as Project ChildSafe (PCS) Communities. Participating program sites were Oklahoma City, Memphis, and Cleveland. Overall, the PCS communities project created city-specific firearm safety campaigns that reflected the voice and culture of each community. It involved people who would champion the campaign by incorporating the message into what they were already doing. Having existing national partnerships assisted the PCS Communities team achieve early traction in building local coalitions. These were leveraged to identify other relevant local partners. The PCS Communities team's experience in communicating to traditional gun owners supported the legitimacy of the message. Being flexible and open to learning from the community helped PCS Communities create an expansive and diverse group of stakeholders. This report details lessons learned, aspects of team-building, messaging, sustainability, and replicability. The methodology of the process evaluation included site visits, semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, and the analysis of administrative/programmatic data. 5 tables and 20 references