In a four-part series last week, we explored physicians advising patients who own guns to lock them up and keep them separate from ammunition. My main objection, aside from most doctors being unqualified to dispense gun safety advice, is that it renders guns useless should you need them.
Does that mean I'm against locking up all guns? Of course not. I've never recommended "one size fits all" for gun storage. I'm merely observing that if you find yourself in a situation where you need a gun immediately, chances are the reason for that need isn't going to wait for you to go and get it. And then load it.
Still, I'm not automatically against programs that dispense gun locks, as The Gloucester County Times reports:
"We encourage residents to pick up a Project ChildSafe safety kit so that they can securely store their firearm," said Glassboro Chief of Police Alex Fanfarillo. "Each kit contains a safety curriculum and a cable-style gun lock. The locks fit on most types of handguns, rifles and shotguns. The goal is to prevent a child or any other unauthorized person from accessing a firearm in your home."
What I am against is people thinking that's enough, that a mere device is an acceptable substitute for training and knowledge of their particular circumstances, needs and level of preparedness. There's the quote attributed to Gene Brown that "Foolproof systems don't take into account the ingenuity of fools," and we find unintended consequences in life bearing that out.
Case in point, author, attorney and prolific Second Amendment commentator Dave Kopel writes:
As Harvard’s Kip Viscusi has detailed, federal laws requiring “childproof” safety caps appear to have led to a documented increase in child poisonings. Lulled by the presence of the federally-approved safety device on medicine bottles, many adults have been leaving dangerous medicines within easy reach of children.
There's an incident I read about and referenced some years back, an account of someone who does demand "one size fits all" when it comes to your safety and guns, and who presumes to represent himself as an authority who knows what's best for you:
Dennis Henigan of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence drops the ball in front of a roomful of reporters, while trying to prove the efficacy of Saf-T-Lok, a purportedly easy-to-use combination lock in the gun's grip. Henigan fumbles and fails to unlock the gun in a well-lit room with no intruder at the door... Finally disengaging the safety, he apologizes, 'Most people aren't as klutzy as I am.'
-From "Lawyers, Guns and Money" by Matt Labash, The Weekly Standard, Feb. 1, 1999
Delicious irony, no?
And a reminder that some fools, particularly the ones who would mandate locks under force of law, aren't as ingenious as they would lead us to believe...
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Comments
There certainly are good reasons to keep guns in a safe or use a trigger lock, etc. Unfortunately, the campaign by people like Henigan seeks to make all private firearms unusable. I think they really would want all handguns to be fitted with locks that "the only ones" had to come out and unlock for a victim to use in self defense. Since a couple of municipalities have recently advised residents to "arm themselves" due to a cut in police services, Henigan seems to be far off planet on that one....but, I guess that is not really news :-)
Vote the 2a naysayers out of office, simple as that!
Go through the average kitchen someday and make note of all the things that can easily be used as a weapon, and all of the things that could seriously injure or kill a child.
Then ask yourself just how millions of children have been taught to leave those things alone most of the time. Yes, a few get hurt each year. To most people, the answer is better teaching, not ripping out the stove or tossing out all the knives. When they understand that, otherwise rational people will stop obsessing about guns.
The irrational are hopeless...
Such documented advice can backfire if an owner needs a gun but can't get to it in time to prevent bodily harm or death. The person who "prescribed" the locked storage could be deemed to have contributed to the injury.
Locking up my guns is the best way to stay safe for sure! ;)
Year after year we see statistics showing that more children die by drowning in 5 gallon buckets than are killed in true firearm accidents. A trip to your garage or the local home improvement store is enough to show you that, other than posting a picture on the side of said buckets of a toddler upside down in the bucket, there doesn't seem to be much concern about those drowned children. At least, not compared to the constant drumbeat of concern about the mythical "13 children killed every day in America by firearms". So you see, its not about the children after all. Its not about safety. Its about the guns.
"Henigan fumbles and fails to unlock the gun in a well-lit room with no intruder at the door... Finally disengaging the safety, he apologizes, 'Most people aren't as klutzy as I am.'"
Or as muleheadedly dangerous.
Also a great moment: gun-grabbing Maryland Governor Parris Glendening fumbles with a trigger lock for TWO WHOLE MINUTES in front of a public press conference. Proving once again: don't bring a doorstop to ANY kind of fight. "Bonk! Bonk! onna head! Parris, you're dead!"
daysofourtrailers.blogspot.com/2008/03/3-second-trigger-locks.html
I trigger lock my guns when I will be away from home for an extended period of time, and can't bring them with me. But they are always accesible to me when I am home; they would be useless otherwise. I have been handling firearms since I was 10 or 11 years old. My father never kept his guns locked away from us. we never had any accidents, because I was taught proper handling at that age.
It also bothers me that stolen money ("taxes") are used to buy the gun locks that cops "give away". I don't want my money being used to make people helpless.
Valid point, Kent: "Project ChildSafe, a program of the National Shooting Sports Foundation and funded by a grant from the Department of Justice, is a component of Project Safe Neighborhoods."
I've had no takers and read very little commentary on my proposal that the Commonwealth of Virginia furnish effective body armor for every child below the age of 18. As the child outgrows its protective equipment the family can exchange the current gear for an appropriate size. A surtax on all firearms-related purchases would be a suitable means for financing this crucial program.
Hey, Flavet! Google "Kevlar Hoodie". You literally can't make this stuff up.
One might also recall former MD Governor Glendenning's news conference held to tout his signing of a recently passed MD law requiring Gun-Safety Locks on all firearms. The volume of laughter increased as those present witnessed Glendenning's inability to open a gun safety lock. Embarassed and frustrated he finally gave up and thrust the lock over to an aide, who also failed to open the lock. Then the aide handed it to the Baltimore Chief of Police, who also tried and failed.
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