On Monday the New York State Senate and Assembly passed legislation requiring the mandatory storage of firearms, rifles, and shotguns. While the legislation may seem reasonable on the surface, as is often the case with legislation passed with little public input it will do little to protect the most vulnerable. Additionally, the legislation will negatively impact parents and organizations who wish to enjoy the shooting sports with young people.
Accidents involving firearms with young people are at an all-time low. When accidents do occur it’s likely to be in a home where the firearm is possessed illegally. Thus, the adult perpetrator is not likely to be swayed by a mandatory storage law.
A better way to address firearm safety, especially for kids who live in less than desirable circumstances, would be to offer training to those children in schools on what to do if they encounter a firearm. If the goal is to protect children award-winning programs like the NRA’s Eddie Eagle program, with the fundamental message of, “Stop, Don’t Touch, Tell An Adult,” would accomplish more than a mandatory storage law that criminals or irresponsible adults would simply ignore.
Another problem this legislation is that it provides an exception for a person under the age of 16 who is the holder of a hunting license. That begs the question, what about parents or organizations that want to enjoy the shooting sports with children that don’t require a hunting license? Boy Scouts and other youth shooting sports will they disappear with this law? Or how about a parent who wants to teach their child to shoot, because those sports don’t require a hunting license does that mean someone under 16 will be prohibitive from all recreational shooting?
Finally, in 2008, DC v. Heller decision the Supreme Court ruled that effectively mandating that a firearm be made inoperable for the purpose of immediate self-defense was unconstitutional.
Whether intended or not this is another in a series of attacks on law-abiding gun owners. Thousands of more children perish each year, from drownings, suffocations and motor vehicle accidents than from accidents involving firearms. We’re in the middle of an opioid epidemic where thousands of New York’s children are dying at an alarming rate. This legislation has more to do with politics than saving children.
Tim Andrews, President
SCOPE, Inc.
