Pierce County’s free biometric gun lockboxes saw ‘overwhelming demand’ on day one
After “overwhelming demand” on the first day of handing out biometric firearm lockboxes, the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department stopped giving them out on a walk-in basis.
Instead, those who are interested in the lockboxes can sign up for the agency’s mailing list where they will receive information in the future about availability as more lockboxes are delivered to the county, and how to get them.
On Monday, TPCHD received $300,000 from the county to fund a preexisting gun lockbox safety program. With this money, TPCHD will purchase 1,500 biometric lockboxes and expand firearm safety education and outreach. The department initially stated that residents were able to pick up lockboxes at the nine Family Resource Centers scattered throughout Pierce County. However, due to “overwhelming demand,” the department has ceased walk-in distribution, according to an email from TPCHD spokesperson Kenny Via.
“We will continue to use Family Resource Centers to help distribute lockboxes but because of the high demand we do not plan to hand them out on a walk-in basis,” Via wrote in an email to The News Tribune on Wednesday.
Since the announcement of the program’s new funding, the department has heard from over 200 people interested in picking up a lockbox. By Tuesday, TPCHD had distributed approximately 50 biometric lockboxes, depleting resources at the resource centers.
As of Wednesday, Via wrote in an email that the department has “stocked the Family Resource Centers with a total of 220 biometric and 175 combination lockboxes,” which they will distribute to those who have already reached out this week.
The agency has handed out lockboxes before, but prioritized buying biometric lockboxes with this funding based on feedback from residents. Not all 1,500 biometric lockboxes have been bought yet. According to Via, the department expects to receive the lockboxes in batches over the next few weeks, and estimates that the “majority” of the boxes will be bought “over the next month.”
Via pointed out that they have distributed about 300 lockboxes since the fall of 2025, and that now they’ve seen about that level of interest this week, alone.
“This is an exciting time for our program,” he wrote.
