What say you? WWL The ordinance Please keep NOLA bashing in a separate thread - At least they are making some attempt to slow the crime and child deathrates...
I'm not against parents responsibly securing their firearms from their children, but it feels like borderline infringement. Hasn't SCOTUS already said (in Heller/McDonald) that there is an unfettered right to keep guns at home for self-defense (if you aren't a felon, abuser, or mentally-ill)? Have any "unsecured" state laws been modified or changed as a result of the rulings? I think CAP (Child Access Prevention) laws have been continuously challenged on constitutionality and lost, but I haven't heard of anything recent. Giffords
Separately, it seems that the punishment for this only leaves unsupervised children on the streets (if they ever were supervised) or puts more children in "the system." If we are going to have this, is the next step charging the unsupervisory parents with any crime committed with their unsecured firearm?
Some comparisons, but may be outdated:
-34 states have some form of laws designed to prevent children from accessing firearms, including laws imposing crimimal liability when a child gains access to a firearm as a result of negligant firearm storage, laws preventing people from providing firearms to minors, and laws requiring safe storage of all firearms in the state Source
-14 states have “negligent storage law,” which can make gun-owning parents criminally liable for crimes committed with their firearms by their children: Texas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia
-Massachusetts is the only state that mandates that all guns be stored with a lock
-In California, Connecticut and New York, a firearm must be kept locked up if its owner lives with someone who is not allowed by law to possess a gun, like a felon or domestic abuser
I'm not against parents responsibly securing their firearms from their children, but it feels like borderline infringement. Hasn't SCOTUS already said (in Heller/McDonald) that there is an unfettered right to keep guns at home for self-defense (if you aren't a felon, abuser, or mentally-ill)? Have any "unsecured" state laws been modified or changed as a result of the rulings? I think CAP (Child Access Prevention) laws have been continuously challenged on constitutionality and lost, but I haven't heard of anything recent. Giffords
Separately, it seems that the punishment for this only leaves unsupervised children on the streets (if they ever were supervised) or puts more children in "the system." If we are going to have this, is the next step charging the unsupervisory parents with any crime committed with their unsecured firearm?
Some comparisons, but may be outdated:
-34 states have some form of laws designed to prevent children from accessing firearms, including laws imposing crimimal liability when a child gains access to a firearm as a result of negligant firearm storage, laws preventing people from providing firearms to minors, and laws requiring safe storage of all firearms in the state Source
-14 states have “negligent storage law,” which can make gun-owning parents criminally liable for crimes committed with their firearms by their children: Texas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia
-Massachusetts is the only state that mandates that all guns be stored with a lock
-In California, Connecticut and New York, a firearm must be kept locked up if its owner lives with someone who is not allowed by law to possess a gun, like a felon or domestic abuser