Gun safety program reaches Minot area | News, Sports, Jobs

Submitted photo Jacqueline Clark of Pause To Protect, a new program aimed at preventing firearm-related injuries and deaths, speaks to members of the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce’s EDC Military Affairs Committee during from his meeting at Minot Air Force Base.

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE – Jacqueline Clark delivered the message to Minot Air Force Base about Pause To Protect, a new gun safety program for gun owners and businesses.

“What is Pause to Protect?” This is a way for gun companies to support the community. This allows them to offer different solutions to prevent injuries, suicides and other gun-related violence,” Clark told members of the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce’s EDC Military Affairs Committee during its September meeting at Minot AFB.

She said they can receive financial assistance to provide different types of solutions, including on-site secure lockers, distribution of locking devices for free or at a discount and educational materials.

Clark is a senior research services professional and firearms industry partnership coordinator with the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado.

Supporters and allies of the program include members of the firearms industry, civilian shooting ranges and firearms retailers, firearms training companies, the Defense Office of Suicide Prevention and all branches of the U.S. military, according to information from Pause to Protect.

Clark said Minot AFB is one of the U.S. military installations supporting the program.

She said the area around Minot AFB doesn’t have a large number of gun retailers within a 25- or 30-mile radius of the base. She said a local gun retailer that participated in the program recently closed its doors and returned funding to the program.

Clark and her husband, Bryan, are founders and co-owners of a shooting, training and retail center in Lakewood, Colorado. She is a certified pistol instructor, certified defensive firearms trainer, and an active contributor to the Colorado Firearms Safety Coalition.

The Clarks began working with the University of Colorado about seven years ago on various suicide prevention initiatives.

“This project is the result of a lot of work carried out with the university. » Clark said. She said her job was to recruit gun companies to support the program.

She said the goal is to allow firearms businesses in an area to collaborate and discuss with each other the different experiences they are having with the program and their challenges. The objective is also to provide them with technical assistance, including educational materials.

Once a gun company joins the program, Clark said his job is to make sure it’s easy for the company to do that type of work.

“It’s very important for us to make it easy for them with technical assistance in a very good way from the start, and so they’re excited to get involved in the community in this way.” she said.