LEWISTON — Kristen Phillips lives downtown and with all the violence that’s occurred there over the past couple years, she thought it a good idea to have a handgun to protect her family.

She also has a 7-year-old daughter who’s pretty curious about things and Phillips knows this is not a good combination.

On Tuesday, Phillips was one of dozens who lined up behind the Lewiston Middle School on Central Avenue to collect a free gun lock box handed out by police and a gun safety group.

“I go shooting with one of my clients and he told me about this,” Phillips said. “He said, ‘go get yourself a lock box.’ So here I am.”

In all, police gave away 150 of the boxes, the department said Wednesday.

Colt Busch, also wary of Lewiston crime, came for a lock box even though his daughters are 19 and 18 years old.

“I just want my house to be safe,” he said. “It’s just a good idea to keep guns locked up.”

As police handed out the free boxes Tuesday, the name of Jasper Smith was on the minds of many.

Smith, a 4-year-old, died the morning of May 17, just two hours after he was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. The boy was shot, it was later revealed, when he came across an unsecured handgun in the Pierce Street home where he had lived with his mother and stepfather.

Police, gun safety proponents and a whole lot of people who remember the horrors of Jasper Smith’s death, don’t want to see such a tragedy again.

“We just want to be sure that parents are being responsible with their firearms,” Lewiston police Lt. Derrick St. Laurent said.

The boxes, which are secured with a code lock, were being handed out by police and members of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, which has been handing out the boxes all around the state.

“Hunting and gun ownership are important traditions in Maine,” said Nacole Palmer, executive director of the coalition, “and part of that tradition is believing that with gun rights come responsibilities like keeping firearms secure to help prevent tragic accidents for children and teens.”

Lewiston police Officer Joe Philippon said it’s not just about young children stumbling upon a gun and having accidents with them. The lock boxes, he said, will help parents with older kids to make sure their firearms aren’t used for raising mischief downtown.

“As everybody knows, we’ve had a lot of shootings here in Lewiston,” Philippon said. “This is just one measure that will hopefully help prevent guns from falling into the hands of people who would commit those kinds of shootings.”

The death of Jasper Smith galvanized the public, which held vigils in his honor but who also demanded answers from police.

Finally, a month after the shooting death, it was revealed that the boy had apparently come across an unsecured gun in the Pierce Street home where he had lived with his mother and stepfather.

On June 18, Robert McCoy, the stepfather, was charged with manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child. Police said the bullet that killed Jasper was fired from McCoy’s 9 mm handgun.

The gun box giveaway was part of the National Night Out and Midweek Movie nights organized by Philippon.