Interim Department Administrator, Janet Hill, says they're available thanks to a nationwide program led by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, with distribution through the Illinois Department of Public Health.
People can pick up the free gun locks, as many as they want, with no questions asked.
"In the country we know that there are about 4.6 million children who live in homes with unlocked, loaded guns. And we know that children are accidentally shot, killed, or injured every day from firearms."
Hill says firearms are also used in thousands of suicides across the country, and also in most of Rock Island County's 53 suicides each year.
Free gun locks are also available from sheriff's deputies in Rock Island County, plus from the health departments in Mercer and Henry counties.