General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Attn: Gun Owners. This is a PSA. Take 5 minutes and do one small thing for gun safety. U know u can! [View all]farminator3000
(2,117 posts)New Mexico should require that gun owners store their weapons locked and unloaded, or locked with an essential part of the gun stored separately from the locked weapon.
Do I think everyone will immediately start storing guns safely? No. A few will.
If folks whose kids get hold of their guns (or folks whose unsafely stored guns are taken and used to harm others) pay some high-dollar judgments for their negligence, more gun owners will get the idea.
These are not radical ideas. Three-quarters of the states have laws against unsecured storage of guns around minors and/or letting kids have access to guns. Arizona and California make parents liable for civil damages from a minor's use of a firearm under certain circumstances. In California a person is criminally liable for keeping a loaded firearm where s/he reasonably should know a minor could gain access to it but only if someone is injured or the child brandishes the gun in a public place. S/he's also liable for damages. Colorado imposes criminal liability for providing a gun to someone under 18, or even knowing a juvenile has a gun and failing to make reasonable efforts to prevent the juvenile's conduct.
In New Hampshire "negligent storing of firearms" is a criminal offense, if the firearm is used in a reckless or threatening manner or in commission of a crime. In North Carolina you're criminally liable if a minor misuses a firearm you've stored "in a condition in which it can be discharged" where you should have known the minor might gain access to it. Even Texas makes you criminally liable (with reasonable exceptions) if you leave a dischargeable firearm where a kid under 17 could gain access to it and s/he does.
Are weak gun laws and gun violence related? You betcha!
http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-opinion/ci_22408652/their-view-secure-gun-storage-should-be-part
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RESULTS:
Laws that make gun owners responsible for storing firearms in a manner that makes them inaccessible to children were in effect for at least 1 year in 12 states from 1990 through 1994. Among children younger than 15 years, unintentional shooting deaths were reduced by 23% (95% confidence interval, 6%-37%) during the years covered by these laws. This estimate was based on within-state comparisons adjusted for national trends in unintentional firearm-related mortality. Gun-related homicide and suicide showed modest declines, but these were not statistically significant.
CONCLUSIONS:
State safe storage laws intended to make firearms less accessible to children appear to prevent unintentional shooting deaths among children younger than 15 years.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9315767
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John McGowan of Springfield, who had a license to carry a firearm, was charged in November 2008 by Springfield police with violating the state's gun storage law. The charge came after a female roommate went into his second-floor bedroom, took his loaded handgun from an unlocked drawer in a side table, left the home, threw the weapon into a neighbor's bushes and then locked him out when he tried to retrieve the gun.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upholds state's gun storage law, rejects challenge by Springfield man
http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/01/massachusetts_supreme_judicial_1.html
McGowan, 71, moved in Springfield District Court to dismiss the charge of improperly storing a firearm, saying it infringes on a Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in self-defense of one's home. The district court judge said McGowan raised "immense" constitutional issues.
The high court ultimately took over the case.
In a seven-page decision, the court held that state law is consistent with the Second Amendment and is aimed at preventing unlicensed people from getting access to a firearm.
"The prevention of accidents by those not authorized to use firearms, as well as the prevention of crimes of violence and suicide by those not authorized to possess firearms, are among the evils (the state law) is intended to prevent," the SJC decision said.
pretty big news ^^^ there!
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in Connecticut!-
Frantz said he wants homes with violent histories to have to store their guns in a safe just like homes with children. Only homes with children under 16 are required to do that.
http://kpho.membercenter.worldnow.com/story/20753814/state-senator-proposes-stricter-gun-storage-laws