‘Proactive’ group promotes responsible firearm handling

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By Harry Hitzeman

STAFF WRITER

A newly formed group aims to educate Naperville residents about firearm safety.

“We want to look at ourselves as a proactive as opposed to a reactive organization,” said Art Jablonski, interim president of the Naperville Citizens for Responsible Firearm Ownership.

Jablonski said the nonpartisan, nonprofit educational group still is organizing its ranks of more than 100 members and plans to meet with local community leaders within the next few weeks.

The group’s mission is the promotion and preservation of the city’s heritage of safe firearm ownership. Jablonski said one task will be educating residents about proper gun handling and storage.

“We are going to be looking at partnering with the city, Park District and Police Department to provide viable safety programs,” Jablonski said.

Nationally, accidental deaths from guns are down.

In 1998, 700 people died in their homes or on the premises as a result of an unintentional firearm injury, such as an accidental discharge while cleaning a gun, according to the National Safety Council. Eighty of those deaths were children age 14 and under, and 260 were between the ages of 15 and 24.

In 1997, nearly 800 people were killed in the same manner, the council said.

According to a 1998 survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, nearly one in four American households have handguns and about one in every 2.6 homes has some type of firearm in it.

Local authorities don’t have estimates on how many Naperville residents own guns.

In Illinois, residents are required to obtain a firearm owners Identification card to own a gun, but Naperville police Sgt. David Hoffman said police don’t have a master list of the FOID card owners in Naperville.

Jablonski said the NCRFO is not affiliated with the National Rifle Association, the Illinois State Rifle Association, or Naperville Sportsman’s Club.

The NCRFO’s mission of education has a narrower focus than the Naperville Sportsman’s Club, which advocates firearm safety and promotes recreational target shooting.

Jay Spitz, Sportsman’s Club president and NCRFO member, said he is not worried about an overlap between the two groups.

“I don’t think you can have enough organizations supporting responsible firearm ownership and usage,” Spitz said.

02/02/2000