New Regulation Requires Dealers to Sell Safes and Lockboxes
Federal enforcers can revoke gun dealers’ licenses if sellers don’t comply with gun storage requirements that go into effect in February.
The rule also requires licensed gun dealers to have equipment to store guns such as safes and lockboxes that they can sell to people who are buying guns.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the rule about a month after the Nov. 30 shooting in which a 15-year-old killed four students and injured seven others at a high school near Detroit.
“Today’s announcements build on the department’s efforts to reduce the risk of firearms falling into the wrong hands,” Garland said.
A 2019 study published in JAMA Pediatrics estimated that 6% to 32% of deaths of Americans 19 and younger killed in unintentional shootings or gun suicides could be prevented with even modest increases i parents safely storigns.
ACTION BOX / What You Can Do About It
If you own a gun, follow recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Keep any guns in your house unloaded and locked and store ammunition separately. The academy has online tips for how to try to keep your children safe from gun violence.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends keeping guns unloaded and locked and storing ammunition separately. Only 3 of 10 adults in households with children report doing this.
Our nation has more than 59,900 federally licensed firearms dealers including pawnbrokers.
Officials have said that the parents of Ethan Crumbley, the 15-year-old who killed four students at Oxford High School, kept a 9 mm Sig Sauer unlocked in a drawer in their bedroom. James and Jennifer Crumbley have been each been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Under a 1998 law signed by former President Bill Clinton, evidence about whether guns are safely stored can’t be used in lawsuits against gun dealers. But President Joe Biden’s Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives decided it could be used to yank gun dealers’ licenses.
The rule was proposed during the Obama administration. Gun Owners of American and Gun Owners Foundation object to the proposed rule. Attorney William J. Olson wrote that the requirements, which also apply to manufacturers and importers who sell to the public, can be burdensome and expensive.
About 40 percent of adults in our country live in households with guns. About 30 percent of adults own guns.
