Oregon-based gun safety group State of Safety Action filed an initiative petition Thursday to put a safe firearms storage law on the November 2020 ballot.
The group got a late start in 2018 and missed a deadline to get its initiative on the 2018 ballot. During this year’s legislative session safe storage legislation was part of the omnibus gun bill that was bargained away by Gov. Kate Brown in order to coax Republican senators back to work and vote on an education funding bill.
The safe storage law would require gun owners to lock up their firearms when not in use and report stolen guns within 24 hours or be held liable for any damages.
State of Safety Action president Henry Wessinger said the group conducted a statewide poll and found that 65% of registered voters support a safe storage law.
“I just completed an online NRA hunting course and it's exactly the same type of information that they recommend,” Wessinger said.
In 2016, 82% of the Oregon’s 503 firearm deaths were death by suicide. That’s compared to 59% nationally.
In 2018, a team of researchers at the RAND Corporation looked at how different kinds of gun laws impact things like homicide and suicide. The lead researcher on that study said they found that safe storage laws can reduce the number of lives lost to suicide and unintentional injury.
Wessinger said State of Safety Action is preparing for a ballot initiative but the group is still optimistic the legislation will be taken up in the 2020 legislative session.
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