CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Erlanger Health has now given away more than 4,000 free gun locks this year, roughly twice the target it set for 2026. Staff at Children’s Hospital at Erlanger in Chattanooga marked the milestone Friday, Oct. 30.
The hospital system had aimed to hand out 2,026 locks to match the year. Chattanooga Police Chief John Chambers joined hospital leaders and community partners at the celebration, held in the children’s hospital play area, and Erlanger gave him a ceremonial lock.
The program grew in March through a partnership with SaferTN. Every family that has a baby at Erlanger’s labor and delivery units at Baroness or East now leaves with a lock and safe storage information. Locks are also free for the asking in every Erlanger ER and birthing unit, from the children’s hospital to the Baroness, East, North, Sequatchie, Bledsoe and Western Carolina campuses.
The locks are steel cable devices that thread through a gun’s barrel so it cannot fire, closed with a keyed deadbolt. The children’s hospital began offering them in 2024.
Hospital officials point to firearm accidents as the top cause of death for U.S. children ages 1 to 17 and say nearly all of those deaths can be prevented. About 51 percent of Tennessee homes have a gun.
Dr. Dave Bhattacharya, who directs pediatric trauma at the children’s hospital, has said the conversation has shifted from whether a family owns a gun to how they store it. Staff reminded the public that the locks remain free for anyone who wants one.
Filed under: Chattanooga TN Health News
