Causes.com
| 10.16.23

BILL: Should We Regulate the Storage of Firearms? - Ethan's Law - H.R.660

Tell your reps to support or oppose this bill

The Bill

H.R.660 - Ethan's Law

Bill Details

  • Sponsored by Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.) on Jan. 31, 2023
  • Committee: House - Judiciary
  • House: Not yet passed
  • Senate: Not yet passed
  • President: Not yet signed

Bill Overview

  • Establishes a framework to regulate the storage of firearms on residential premises at the federal, state, and tribal levels.
  • Establishes statutory requirements for firearms on residential premises to be safely stored in a secure gun storage or safety device if a minor is likely to gain access.
  • Twenty-four states have already implemented some form of safe storage or child access prevention laws.
  • The bill is named after Ethan Song, a 15-year-old from Guilford, Connecticut, who was tragically killed in 2018 when he was unintentionally shot and killed by an unsecured firearm in a neighbor's home. At the time of his death, the firearm was being stored in a Tupperware box in a closet alongside the ammunition and the keys to the gun lock. 
  • There are loaded and unlocked guns in the homes of an estimated 4.6 million American minors, killing or injuring eight children or teens every day. Join the newsletter at #SongStrong to keep updated.

What's in the Bill?

Implements firm punishments

  • Establishes a $500 fine for each instance in which an individual fails to securely store firearms. If a minor gains access to a firearm, causing injury as a result, the owner of that firearm may be imprisoned for up to five years.
  • Any individual who violates the requirements is subject to criminal penalties, and firearms stored in violation of the conditions are subject to seizure and forfeiture.

Reduces gun violence and deaths

  • Reduces access to unsupervised firearms, which are often also used in suicides, school shootings, and other acts of violence. 
  • In 2020, firearms became the leading cause of death for children in the U.S. Each year, 700 children die by firearm suicide, typically using a gun found at home. 

What Supporters Are Saying

"If this commonsense safety measure had been in place, Ethan Song's needless death could have been prevented. In fact, the lives of thousands could be saved. There is no reason a child should be able to easily access a deadly weapon."

"No one should have to face the unimaginable grief of losing a loved one because of an unsecured firearm. Under Ethan's Law, responsible safe storage requirements will help prevent these senseless, unnecessary deaths and protect the thousands of children living in homes with unsecured guns."

"It's simple – safe gun storage saves lives."

"Today marks five years since the ER doctor whispered, 'your son is gone,' and my family's world shattered...Our goal in passing Ethan's Law is to create a cultural shift where it becomes second nature for gun owners to secure their weapons if they are not in their immediate control. This law will not stop all the shootings, but it will stop many, and to those children and parents, that is priceless."  

What Opponents Are Saying

  • Although not explicitly opposed to Ethan's Law, Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.) has been an advocate of looser gun restrictions, both in the home and in public:

"The anti-Second Amendment group won't stop until they take away all your firearms. One rule to remember: any government that would take away one right would take away them all. The Second Amendment is as American a right as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. Second Amendment rights are worth protecting and must not be infringed, and we must send a message that we will meet every attack on any of our constitutional rights."

 

Tell your reps to support or oppose this bill

 

-Emma Kansiz

(Photo Credit: Canva)

  • 3,543
    Surender
    10/22/2023

    How about stopping the proliferation! If everyone owns, carries its just a matter of time when it is used/abused/accidentally triggered. people are angrier 

    ‘Not safe anywhere now’: American Jews are flocking to gun training classes

    How about advocation for a proper two state solution and returning illegal settlements versus expanding! Its in YOUR hands.

    No amount of guns will keep anyone safe anywhere

  • 479
    Matthew
    10/19/2023

    "he was unintentionally shot and killed by an unsecured firearm in a neighbor's home"

    If one didn't know better, one would think the gun spontaneously fired all by itself and the kids were just innocent bystanders.

    "Mr. Song’s death was a tragic event in that he accidentally shot himself in the head with a .357 magnum handgun which was stored in a master bedroom closet at the location where he was shot. Mr. Song did not reside at this location and he was not related to the gun owner. This handgun was one of three which was owned by an adult male who resided at the home. On the date in question, it appears that all three weapons had been stored in a cardboard box inside of a large Tupperware container in this closet. Each weapon was secured with an operable gun lock. There is no evidence that the gun used was loaded at the time it was stored within the closet. However, ammunition for the gun was located within the same small cardboard box next to the weapon used, inside of the Tupperware container. It appears that this small cardboard box was hidden under some clothing in the larger Tupperware container. Subsequent investigation has established that the keys to the gunlocks on the three weapons were hidden in the same Tupperware container in a separate area hidden under other clothing.
    An exhaustive review has determined that during the months prior January 31, 2018, juveniles had gained access to the adult male’s weapons and played with them on several occasions. It appears that the weapons were returned to their original location after each access and there is no evidence that the gun owner knew that the guns had been retrieved by the juveniles. Rather, it appears that there was a deliberate attempt by the juveniles to withhold this information from the gun owner. There is no evidence that Mr. Song knew that the gun responsible for his death was loaded or that he had any role in loading it," the State's Attorney's report concludes.

    https://patch.com/connecticut/guilford/ethan-songs-cause-death-released-investigation-ends

    This was a tragedy, but not the gun owner's fault. He had locked the guns and stored them out of sight, even though he had no reason to think minors would be around them. The minors searched these guns out, and once they found them, repeatedly took them out to play with before concealing the fact that they had tampered with them. The investigation concluded that the deceased fired a gun he had pointed at his own head without checking to see whether it was loaded.

    I have no idea what motivated the minors to play with guns and ammunition, or why the deceased chose to turn a gun on himself and pull the trigger.

    It appears that the minors were old enough to be clever enough to bypass attempts to secure the guns. Unfortunately they were still immature enough to fail to consider the possible consequences of their actions.

    What if, rather than guns being portrayed as scary and forbidden (terms which tend to attract teenagers rather than dissuade them), guns were treated like circular saws, gas grills, kitchen knives, lighters, nail guns, swimming pools, motor vehicles, and other potentially dangerous inanimate household objects?

    "Don't play with matches. Don't run with knives or scissors. Treat every gun as if it's loaded. Don't play with the grill. Don't mix cleaning supplies. Don't point a gun near anything you don't intend to shoot. Don't swim alone. Don't touch the trigger unless you intend to fire. Don't play with power tools. Don't play on ladders. Look both ways before crossing the street. Don't take medication unless the doctor told you to. Be careful what kind of people you hang out with."

    A hundred years ago, kids in rural communities would take their guns to school with them so that they could hunt right after school. Their guns were tools, and schoolyard grudges were settled with fists not bullets, though they could be sure of serious consequences from their teacher and parents afterward.

    Unfortunately that cultural mindset seems completely alien today, as alien as school shootings would have seemed to my grandparents.

     

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  • 8,978
    Charles
    10/18/2023

    All guns need to be secured. Stiff penalities if not.

  • 7,956
    larubia
    10/18/2023

    The good ole USA is number 1 in youth deaths resulting from firearms in the world! Guns now kill more of our children than any other reason (illness, accidents, etc.)!

     

    Do you think we should keep guns secure?

     

    Yes! Yep! Abso-freaking-lutely!!! YES!!!

     

    https://www.kff.org/mental-health/issue-brief/child-and-teen-firearm-mortality-in-the-u-s-and-peer-countries/

     

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    Today at 10:10 AM
  • 25.8k
    Frank_001
    10/17/2023

    Representatives,

    We strongly urge you to support and pass H.R.660 - Ethan's Law.

    While responsible gun owners already make an effort to secure their firearms, it is necessary to codify the storage of firearms in all residential premises. 

    The bill sets up criminal penalties for an individual who violates the requirement. Such individuals is who stores a firearm in violation of the requirements would be subject to having the firearms seized and forfeited. 

    At the state and tribal levels, the bill requires the Department of Justice to award grants to implement functionally identical requirements for the safe storage of firearms.

     

  • 3,320
    Steph
    10/17/2023

    "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

    A well regulated militia for each state is what this means, which each state has-IT'S CALLED THE NATIONAL GUARD(and those on The Hill know this, they are just too happy cashing their million dollar bribes.....er campaign donations I meant.....from the NRA)

     

    That does not mean every citizen in every state has a right to bear arms.

     

    Every person dead from gun violence-every student killed in school shootings....these are all the fault of the NRA, their supporters and members, and the law makers who cash their checks.

  • 950
    SamJenkins
    10/17/2023

    The problem with this bill is its lack of enforceability. The only time law enforcement would enter a home would be when there has already been an incident. In Central California, I doubt law enforcement would enforce his law even if it could make it through Congress. The Second Amendment needs to be rewritten with a more modern outlook, but that will never happen in the terrible state of our country and government.

  • 94.0k
    LeslieG
    10/17/2023

    Common sense gun safety, the storage of guns, that previously existed as H.R. 748 (117th) in 2021 and already exists in 24 states wth 206 sponsors and co-sponsors, all Democrats (206 of 212) but not 1 Republican co-sponsor so has no chance of being passed unless 11 Republicans cross over and vote for it.

    This bill has a 5% chance of getting out of committee (11% of bills in 2021-2022 made it out of committee), and 1% chance of being enacted (2% were enacted in 2021-2022).

    https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/660/cosponsors

    https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/hr660/details

  • 48.1k
    Brian
    10/16/2023

    We must do all we can to keep children safe from guns. Any gun owner must keep their firearms locked up safely so that kids cannot get to them and cannot use them unless under adult supervision in a safe place.

    I support this; the Second Amendment surely didn't mean to allow children to kill themselves and others with firearms.