California lawmakers are considering a proposal from the White House to force states to tighten gun storage rules as the bill stalls in Congress.
Many states, including California, have enacted laws to keep guns safe when children are around, but the Biden administration is moving forward by requiring gun owners to secure their firearms in most cases. I hope to make further progress.
California's Senate passed sweeping legislation in January that adopted the White House's recommendations. State Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-Burbank), the author of SB 53, said the idea is that anyone, not just children, would have access to a gun to commit a crime, kill or accidentally injure someone. He said that it makes it difficult to use. Portantino spoke about the bill ahead of an event at the White House in January.
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“This is a recognition that guns kill people, and that unlocked guns that are readily available kill more people,” the Democrat from Burbank told his colleagues during a debate on the Senate floor. Told. “The best way to make school safer for children and people from traumatized families is to keep weapons out of the wrong hands. And the best way to do that is to lock them up. Thing.”
In 2021, 30 million American children According to the National Firearms Survey, 4.6 million people live in a home with a firearm, including households with loaded or unlocked firearms.
The Ministry of Justice announced this in December. Model gun storage method For each country to consider. “This is a simple step that can save lives,” said Stephanie Feldman, director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
Since then, members of Congress arizona, illinois, kentucky, new jersey and Utah It has introduced similar measures, but none of the bills have yet received a committee hearing.in south dakota, the Republican-controlled Congress repealed a similar bill in February, the second time in two years. Oregon and Massachusetts have already introduced similar regulations.
The model bill is multifaceted strategy The Democratic Biden administration aims to encourage states to take the lead on gun safety as bills such as enacting universal background checks and banning the sale and possession of assault weapons stall in Congress. There is.
the law creating the First federal gun storage mandatewas introduced in January 2023, but has not yet had a hearing in the Republican-controlled House.
Robert Spitzer, professor emeritus of political science at the State University of New York at Cortland and author of several books on Americans, said gun legislation is becoming more and more important as Republicans seek to strengthen their political support with gun rights policies. He said he was increasingly falling victim to partisan politics. gun policy.
“The state has always been called the laboratory of democracy,” Spitzer said. “That’s where laws are often enacted when things can’t get done at the national level.”
California’s existing gun storage laws Firearms, whether loaded or unloaded, should be locked away, such as in gun safes or trigger locks, where they may fall into the hands of minors, felons, or persons prohibited from possessing firearms. method must be used to store it safely. Portantino, who introduced the current law in 2019, is also a candidate for the next presidential election. fiercely contested parliamentary elections.
The bill, passed by the Democratic-controlled state Legislature, would extend gun storage rules to all residences, a mandate similar to the Biden administration's proposal, requiring owners to store firearms in locked boxes or safes. Thing. The White House proposal would give gun owners the option of using a “trigger lock,” a lock that fits over a gun's trigger mechanism and prevents it from firing, instead of a lockbox or safe.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has signed many of the gun control laws, declined to comment on the legislation through a spokesperson.
We need more than one of these methods, said Lindsey Nichols, policy director for Giffords, an advocacy group for stricter gun laws founded by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was shot in the head. There is no state. in configuration event Six people were killed in the shooting.
But storing guns in locked boxes or making them inoperable with trigger locks that require keys or combinations can be problematic, critics say. California State Sen. Kelly Sejalto, a Republican from Murrieta, said disabled guns are useless for self-defense in communities plagued by violent crime.
“When someone breaks into your home, they don't have time to fiddle with your locks or your storage and get a gun,” Sejjarto said on the Senate floor. “Because by then you'll be dead.”
Sejhardt and the National Rifle Association of California argue the bill is excessive and violates Second Amendment rights because gun owners may not be able to protect themselves.
“This bill's one-size-fits-all approach does not consider individual circumstances and imposes an unreasonable burden,” said Daniel Reed, managing director of state and local affairs at the NRA Legislative Action Institute. Ta. “We support empowering individuals to make responsible choices, rather than eroding individual freedoms with typical California gun regulations.”
The firearm is main cause of death Children ages 1 to 17 will be eligible in 2020, 2021, and 2022, according to a KFF analysis of CDC data. In 2022, an average of seven children per day were killed by gunfire.
“The number of children who have lost their lives to gun violence and mass shootings is immeasurable,” First Lady Jill Biden said at a White House event in January. She called on school principals to communicate with parents about safe gun storage.Ministry of Education too I made a letter Schools remind parents that storing firearms safely “keeps children and teens who may use a firearm to harm themselves or others, whether intentionally or unintentionally.” “We can prevent firearms from getting into their hands.”
almost Three quarters of school shooters According to the Secret Service, in 25 cases from 2008 to 2017, they obtained firearms from the home of a parent or close relative.
On February 6, a Michigan jury returned a guilty verdict. Jennifer Crumbley The gunman's son will be charged with manslaughter in the 2021 murders of four high school students because he used a gun and ammunition that he couldn't find at home. Dejah Taylor, the mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot and killed a first-grade teacher in a Virginia classroom in December, said: sentenced to 2 years in prison After pleading guilty to child neglect.
Nichols said there are at least 82 bills in the state Legislature regarding gun storage.
The bill's prospects often depend on which political party controls state legislatures. That's what happened in South Dakota in mid-February, said Democratic state Rep. Linda Duva, whose bill died in committee.
“If you're from a red state, it's virtually impossible to get anything passed,” said Duva, who attended a White House meeting on gun safety in December.
Legal experts say California's bill, if passed, will be challenged in court. Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a long-standing concealed carry law in New York, issuing a landmark ruling that firearms laws must be consistent with the country's “historic tradition” of firearms regulation.
Since then, a federal judge has struck down a California law that bans carrying concealed guns in many public places and requires background checks for ammunition purchases. Court of Appeals judges later overturned those rulings, allowing the law to remain in effect while the legal disputes were ongoing.
“The Second Amendment is in a very precarious state right now,” he said. adam winkler, a law professor at UCLA specializing in constitutional law. “And the courts can't seem to agree on which gun regulations are constitutional and which are not.”
This article was created by KFF Health Newsformerly known as Kaiser Health News (KHN), is a national news station producing in-depth journalism about health issues..
