This latest entry comes from Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). Her proposed legislation, the “Safe Storage Saves Lives Act,” sounds laudable on the surface. After all, who doesn’t believe in safe storage or want to save lives?
Tlaib’s measure would require that “a gun seller have a compatible gun lock available for every firearm for sale.” On passage, it “shall be unlawful for any person to offer a firearm for sale unless the person offers for sale a secure gun storage or safety device that is compatible with the firearm.”
Violators of the federal law would face a penalty of up to $1,000.
It sounds, to borrow a phrase the anti-gun lobby loves to bandy about, like a commonsense proposal to enhance firearm safety. So, why not support it and watch it become law?
Because it is wholly unnecessary and redundant.
The intense irony is that gun manufacturers already do this for every firearm sold. The National Rifle Association pointed this fact out while criticizing the move to add just another layer to exercising constitutional rights.
“Rep. Tlaib isn’t educated on this topic,” the gun rights organization said. “Firearm manufacturers already provide a lock with every gun that is sold, and anyone looking for additional gun locks can get them free through Project ChildSafe, an industry program that provides free gun locks to anyone who wants one.”
It is already in force voluntarily. As Tlaib, if she’s paying attention, and any critic well knows, no one is more vested in firearm safety than the industry itself. Tens of millions of locking devices are already freely distributed on top of the safety locks that come from the manufacturer.
That obvious fact does not stop the rhetoric coming from those who want nothing more than to prohibit firearms outright.
In a press release, Tlaib said “it’s horrifying that 4.6 million children in our country live in homes with a loaded and unlocked firearm.” She continued, “Tragically, in Southeast Michigan, we have witnessed the deadly consequences of children having easy access to firearms in their homes. Safe storage is key to protecting our children from gun violence.
The representative said that urgency on the bill is required to save lives. She repeated the mantra of many gun rights opponents when she called gun violence a “public health crisis” and claimed that her proposal is “a cheap price to pay.”
Perhaps Tlaib should be schooled on the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Project ChildSafe. Through this effort, tens of millions of free cable locks have been and continue to be distributed throughout the nation to ensure that no firearm is left unsecured.
This sweeping program is conducted in partnership with tens of thousands of local law enforcement agencies and has unquestionably saved lives.
It is possible that Tlaib and her supporters dismiss this effort due to it being enacted by the weapons industry itself and not a draconian program originating in Washington.
And besides the gun locks that already come from the manufacturers and free offerings through Project ChildSafe, there are few if any gun retailers who do not offer cable locks and other storage devices.
To be sure, Tlaib’s proposed legislation is nowhere near as insidious as many others being floated by lawmakers who want to strip away our gun rights. If enacted, however, it would be another wholly unnecessary layer between a law-abiding citizen and exercising their right to keep and bear arms.
And the last thing lawful gun owners need is another heavy-handed edict from the federal government.
