FARMINGTON – More than 20,000 gunlocks are expected to be given away this week at the Franklin County Fair, a distributor said.

Project ChildSafe, a program administered by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, has distributed more than 20 million free gunlocks nationwide in a year and a half, according to its literature. A $52 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice provides funding for firearm safety education and free gunlocks.

Mike Harrington of Adams, Mass., brought one of the program’s 15 mobile classrooms to the Oxford County and Farmington fairs. He said 11,000 locks were distributed at the Oxford fair last week. In two days in Farmington, more than 3,000 were handed out, and he said he is confident that he will distribute more than 20,000 by the end of the fair Saturday.

Visitors to his white tent can take as many locks as they want and are encouraged to do so. The locks, Harrington said, retail for about $10 apiece and are cable type locks that can be used on any type of firearm. The keys are not interchangeable, he warned recipients, so he suggested they mark them if they take more than one.

And people did.

One group of three took about a dozen. Another man said he owned 11 firearms but took only two locks despite Harrington’s assurances that he could help himself to as many as he’d like. The man said he already had locks on most of his guns. People who cannot make it to the fair or miss the booth may contact local law enforcement officials to receive the free locks.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation is an association of gun manufacturers, retailers and the National Rifle Association. With more than 2,500 members, it is the shooting sports industry’s largest trade organization, according to a foundation press release.