WEEKLY UPDATE: 10/30/25
This Saturday, November 1, public health officials, healthcare providers, local law enforcement, gun violence prevention advocates, and community violence intervention groups will host the Newtown Action Alliance Foundation and Ethan Miller Song Foundation’s 5th Annual #KeepKidsSafe Connecticut Statewide Gun Buyback and Gun Safe Giveaway Day in 16 communities across the state. To raise awareness, the coalition of stakeholders held a press conference at the Capitol on Thursday, October 30, with Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz and Democratic U.S. Representative Jahana Hayes (CT-05).
The voluntary gun buyback and gun safe storage giveaway events are community safety initiatives intended to offer an opportunity for responsible gun owners to anonymously remove unwanted weapons safely from their homes and communities and elevate discussions around gun safety and safe firearm storage practices. At police departments across the state, gun owners may exchange an operable firearm for a gift card, while supplies last. A limited number of free pin code gun safes are also available for pistol permit holders.
During the first four annual events, more than 1,170 guns, including 23 assault weapons, were collected, and more than 820 gun safes and hundreds of gun safety educational materials were distributed.
Connecticut hospitals have been partners in hosting and supporting this annual event and other similar events, affirming their commitment to initiatives that promote injury prevention and reduce mortality risks through multi-sector partnerships, including with local police departments, community-based organizations, and state agencies.
Connecticut law requires that all firearms be safely stored. In 2023, Governor Ned Lamont signed Public Act (PA) 23-53, An Act Concerning Gun Violence, into law. One of the provisions of PA 23-53 extended the firearm safe storage law to all firearms people store or keep on their premises, rather than only under specified circumstances, and expanded the scope of the crime of negligently storing a firearm to apply when anyone, not just a minor, obtains an unlawfully stored firearm and injures or kills himself or herself or someone else.
The Campaign to Keep Kids Safe (CKKS) was established in 2019 by the Newtown Action Alliance Foundation and the Ethan Miller Song Foundation as an educational program for parents, educators, and healthcare professionals to reduce unintentional shootings among children and childhood gun suicides and homicides in America; provide gun safes to gun owners; and promote community gun buyback opportunities.
In addition to community-based organizations and police departments, this year’s event is supported by Connecticut Children’s; Hartford HealthCare; Nuvance Health, part of Northwell Health; Stamford Health; Trinity Health Of New England; and Yale New Haven Health.
Click here to download and share event posters.
