Now is not the time to restrict private firearm access, especially for blue/purple states the feds won’t announce their illegal raids in advance, so firearms have to be at the ready at all times to be useful
Yeah, by all means, make this mandatory in households with minors. Anywhere else, this is a tax to make it harder for poor people to make use of their second amendment rights
In PA, where this bill is from, the state police already give out free gun locks, many other local police departments and community organizations do the same
A simple cable lock can be had for about $5 from Walmart and fills the requirement, and you can find them for even less if you hunt around a little, and this bill is also making gun locks and safes exempt from sales tax.
There’s also at least a handful of gun brands that include a lock as part of the standard equipment their guns come with, and at least a few gun stores that will happily give you a free lock with your purchase.
And while you may not have children, can you truly say that there will never be a child in your home? Do you have friends or relatives with kids or who may have them someday? Is it possible that they may stop by someday and your attention may be distracted from the kid for 5 minutes while they wander off and find your unsecured gun? Do you maybe have a neighbor with a special needs child that might wander into your house when you left the back door open to air out the kitchen after burning your dinner? If you don’t, can you say that will always be the case?
Could you live with yourself if that happens and the kid kills himself knowing that you could have prevented it with a $5 (or free) lock?
If you own a gun for home defense, gun locks are useless. The gun needs to be loaded and needs to be accessible via quick release mechanism that is usable in high stress situations. Ideally a fingerprint lock, but at the very least a button combination. Those aren’t cheap.
The one or two times a year I have a friend over with their kids, then I DO secure my firearms. I believe in more stringent gun control laws, and that gun ownership comes with a higher level of responsibility (and training, ideally), but securing a firearm can be as simple as hiding it out of reach of a child and separating it from the ammunition. Any law that requires people to spend money or significantly reduce their ability to defend themselves in order to comply with it deserves additional scrutiny.
Now is not the time to restrict private firearm access, especially for blue/purple states the feds won’t announce their illegal raids in advance, so firearms have to be at the ready at all times to be useful
Yeah, by all means, make this mandatory in households with minors. Anywhere else, this is a tax to make it harder for poor people to make use of their second amendment rights
In PA, where this bill is from, the state police already give out free gun locks, many other local police departments and community organizations do the same
A simple cable lock can be had for about $5 from Walmart and fills the requirement, and you can find them for even less if you hunt around a little, and this bill is also making gun locks and safes exempt from sales tax.
There’s also at least a handful of gun brands that include a lock as part of the standard equipment their guns come with, and at least a few gun stores that will happily give you a free lock with your purchase.
And while you may not have children, can you truly say that there will never be a child in your home? Do you have friends or relatives with kids or who may have them someday? Is it possible that they may stop by someday and your attention may be distracted from the kid for 5 minutes while they wander off and find your unsecured gun? Do you maybe have a neighbor with a special needs child that might wander into your house when you left the back door open to air out the kitchen after burning your dinner? If you don’t, can you say that will always be the case?
Could you live with yourself if that happens and the kid kills himself knowing that you could have prevented it with a $5 (or free) lock?
If you own a gun for home defense, gun locks are useless. The gun needs to be loaded and needs to be accessible via quick release mechanism that is usable in high stress situations. Ideally a fingerprint lock, but at the very least a button combination. Those aren’t cheap.
The one or two times a year I have a friend over with their kids, then I DO secure my firearms. I believe in more stringent gun control laws, and that gun ownership comes with a higher level of responsibility (and training, ideally), but securing a firearm can be as simple as hiding it out of reach of a child and separating it from the ammunition. Any law that requires people to spend money or significantly reduce their ability to defend themselves in order to comply with it deserves additional scrutiny.