For veteran gun owners and others, a service to keep firearms safe

Hey, I'm Matt Wettenkamp here at MCON 2025 Range Day, and I'm here representing Paws to Protect

Paws to Protect is a program funded by the Department of Defense Suicide Prevention Office

and we work with firearm businesses around military installations around the country

We provide them with funding and logistical support so they can provide secure out-of-home

storage options for active-duty military and their families in the area. They can use it for kind of whatever works for their business and their community

Anything from using the funding to install locker systems within their facility

so people can come in and bring their firearms in and store them in the lockers there

Some places will use it to buy lock boxes and safes in bulk and hand those out for free to anybody who needs them

They can use it to cover their costs, to provide free gunsmithing services with a 30-day hold

to cover their costs for taking the firearms onto their books and storing them with their inventory

So kind of whatever works for the different businesses will support them with whatever they want to do

So having access to the most lethal means in that moment of crisis has a lot to do with what we see with the suicide numbers

So typically what we see with suicide, it's a very impulsive act. It's an impulsive act in a moment of crisis, the worst day of someone's life

And having access to that tool that is lethal 90 plus percent of the time rather than anything else has a lot to do with those suicide numbers

So in that moment of crisis if you have a place that you can take your gun to get it out of the home temporarily and it could be for any reason Obviously it funded by the Suicide Prevention Office so suicide prevention is our focus but it could be for anything

It could be someone's going on deployment, they're moving, they've got contractors and construction going on at their home

So if anybody ever needs to get guns out of the house temporarily for any reason, they can take them to one of these businesses and store their guns there

So what we're doing today, we've got a stop box mounted to the table out there

and we're timing folks. and we'll see them how long it takes them to get the box open, get the magazine inserted, and get rounds on target

So two rounds on two separate targets, so a total of four rounds. How long does it take you to get the box open, magazine inserted, and four rounds on target

And the fastest time today is going to win a free gun. The most common points of pushback that I will get when talking about why you should keep your guns locked up and secured at all times

is if it's locked up in a safe or in a lockbox

then I don't have immediate access to it in an emergency. There's a home break-in, I need access to that gun

and I want access to it immediately. And so what we're trying to demonstrate here today is that you can access it quickly

There's a lot of great options out there on the market, from biometric stuff to something like we're using today

a stop box that uses no electronics whatsoever. You can still access it extremely quickly

Some of the times we're seeing today, under five seconds to open the box

magazine inserted, and get four rounds downrange. If you have any questions about Paws to Protect or what we're doing, go to our website

pawsetoprotect.org, O-R-G, contact info there, resources, whatever you need