WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both D-N.J.) joined Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and a group of colleagues in introducing new legislation directing the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to establish safety standards for firearm locks and firearm safes. U.S. Representatives Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives earlier this year.
“Responsible gun ownership means keeping guns out of the hands of children or anyone else who could pose a risk to others. By keeping guns properly stored, lives can be saved from gun-related tragedies,” said Sen. Menendez. “The Safe Gun Storage Act is a good step forward in keeping American families and communities safe and would help curb the gun violence epidemic that we have seen increasing over the past years.”
“Each day that Congress doesn’t act to pass commonsense gun safety laws is another day a family sadly loses a loved one,” Sen. Booker said. “This legislation is an important and sensible measure that will keep firearms out of the hands of children and encourage safe gun storage.”
An estimated 4.6 million American minors live in a household with a firearm. According to a 2018 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health survey, 54 percent of gun owners report storing their firearms in an unsafe manner. Eighteen percent of all gun injuries in our nation occur because of this high rate of improperly stored firearms in homes.
The Safe Gun Storage Act also includes incentives for states to pass, and enforce compliance of, their own safe gun storage laws. The bill is named for Ethan Song, a teenager from Guilford, Connecticut who was tragically killed after accidentally shooting himself with a gun that had been stored at a friend’s home.
Joining Senators Menendez, Booker and Blumenthal in introducing this bill are Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Bob Casey (D-Penn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
###
See more
March 12, 2024