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Another gun grab group masquerding under "safety"

1K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  dewittdj 
#1 ·
An article on KSL today reports on yet another new group dedicated to "gun safety". "Bulletproof Kids Utah" is ostensibly aimed at reducing suicide and accidental shootings. It looks like the group is teaming with sellers of gun safes and such to encourage "safe storage."

Sadly it also looks like they may have some connections to "Utah Parents Against Gun Violence" (because all other forms of violence are ok?? :dunno: ).

I think you can often tell a lot of about a person or group by the company they keep.

And in the wake of Heller/McDonald and a couple of decades of legislative and political losses, I think it is clear that the gun grabbers' new tact is to push "safety" and "safe storage." We need to be very careful here. While there are lots of good reasons to lock guns up, we need to resist the notion that there should ever be legal requirements to lock up guns. We also need to prevent the creation of a recognized standard of duty to lock up guns in order to avoid any negligence charge following misuse of that gun.

The easiest place to defend is in the area of theft. "No victim of theft should ever be further victimized by being held responsible for what a criminal does with the stolen property."

With accidental or suicidal misuse from kids we have to tread the thinner line between encouraging proper storage "for the individual's situation" while not conceding any legal duty to lock up guns generally, or even because a child is in the home. If a top shelf is sufficient for medicine or chemicals, then a top shelf ought to be sufficient for an unloaded firearm.

Charles
 
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#2 ·
they also have connections to Get Some ... Doug's shooti n sport and Gallesons...

just saying...

I read through their info and while i don't agree with all of it there is some good avice on their site...

III%
 
#3 ·
Of course there is good advice on their site. It is good advice to store guns properly (for your individual situation). It is good advice to use a good safe to protect guns and other valuables from theft and fire damage. It is good advice to lock the doors to your home and car. It is good advice to carry a gun for self defense. I think it is good advice to abstain from sex outside the bond of marriage.

I trust we can all agree than none of these should be mandated by law.

I dare say that most here over the age of 30 who grew up in a home with guns did so in a home where guns were not kept locked up. For those over 50 who grew up outside a major urban area, almost everyone grew up in a home with unsecured guns.

Today we all live in homes where household medications, chemicals, knives, matches, car keys, hair driers, and electrical outlets are not kept locked up. Most of those who imbibe do not keep their alcohol locked up. And nobody considers chastity belts to be an appropriate method of birth control even for unruly teenagers.

Obviously, education is key rather than relying on any form of a "safety" (whether integrated to a gun, or a big chunk of steel wrapped around a gun).

Again, there are many very good reasons to keep guns in a safe. And in certain, specific situations--suicidal or other potentially dangerous household member, prohibited person in the home, etc--it might actually be negligent or illegal not to keep the guns locked up. But I think it is crucial that we push back against what seems to be growing effort to build public opinion that there is a general obligation to keep guns locked up. That general obligation will lead either to specific legislation and/or to a judicially imposed "standard of care" or obligation when evaluating general negligence cases in either criminal or civil court.

I believe that as legal items, firearms should be subject to no higher standard of care than any other potentially dangerous item including alcohol, household medications or chemicals, gasoline, matches, car keys, electrical outlets, etc. As a constitutionally protected item, I believe firearms are entitled to even greater deference than other household items.

And if we ever do accept either explicit or implicit legal obligations to "properly store" our guns, the gun haters will not stop. The first time a kid or even determined thief manages to get into a gun safe, lock box, rapid access safe, or locked gun room there will be calls to raise the minimum standard of security required. It will extend to our cars, and while camping or staying in a motel. Paranoia? Or just easily predicted attacks based on what has been done in the past and what some are so brazen as to already say? There are those who already believe that a gun owner should be responsible for any crimes committed with his stolen gun no matter how the gun is stored. If it is ever stolen, that becomes proof the storage wasn't secure enough.

We need to nip this in the bud before we are fighting the 1960s/70s gun grabs all over again on a whole new front. We need to avoid getting suckered in as did many gun owners when all that was being banned were "machine guns" or "saw off shotguns" or "silencers" or even "Saturday Night Specials" or "assault rifles".

Make no mistake. "Safety" is rallying cry of the next great attack on our RsKBA. The attempt to redefine the 2nd amd out of existence is lost for this generation. Attempts to ban various makes and models of guns is large lost. And we've largely won the battle to legally carry guns. So before these battles are even fully wrapped up, our opponents are opening the next front. And it will be all about what kind and how many restrictions are "reasonable" and sustainable under Heller and McDonald. And requiring "secure storage" in the government interest of public safety is the strongest case they can make and is a wedge or camel's nose that if the tip is successfully inserted, can be driven deeper and deeper to effectively ban firearms ownership and use. Legal ownership won't do us much good if the cost of storage, required liability insurance, or the risk of being imprisoned and bankrupted simply for being the victim of theft are all so high that we can't bear them.

Nip this in the bud are we and our children and grandchildren will be fighting it for another 50 years with no guarantee of success.

Charles
 
#4 ·
Safety, and Mental Health. Two routes they have identified and intend to exploit to full extent. Today I've already seen calls for a PTSD diagnosis being grounds for stripping the right to keep and bear arms from our veterans. Who cares that nearly everybody comes home from combat deployments with at least minor issues that can be diagnosed as PTSD.

I've also replied to that article on KSL and to it when they posted it to Facebook, decrying their attempt to link suicide to guns.
 
#5 ·
It is well known that "safety" is the new buzzword for gun control advocates. Just as they shifted from global warming to climate change (utterly meaningless as the climate is in a constant state of change), they are shifting from gun control to gun safety. It is part of a larger marketing ploy. They use experts from the marketing industry to put together their arguments. No one is going to argue with "safety" minded individuals... are they???
 
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