Firearms and ammunition are stored inside a safe at a Salt Lake City resident’s home on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox couldn’t say for sure, but suggested if the legislature were to pass a bill requiring the secure storage of a firearm in the presence of a child, he might support it.
It all depends on whether Cox feels like the bill infringes on the Second Amendment, telling reporters during the monthly PBS news conference, “I would have to look at the proposal and what that means.”
Cox’s comments come on the heels of three unintentional shootings this summer involving children under 10 years old who had access to an unsecured firearm. Two of the shootings were fatal, involving a 5-year-old boy who found a handgun in his parents’ bedroom and an 8-year-old boy who shot himself in a car while his mother was inside a gas station.
“I’m a firm believer in the Second Amendment and protecting our Second Amendment rights, and doing so safely,” Cox said. “We should absolutely be doing more to make sure people are locking up their weapons. It’s something that we’ve highlighted and worked on in the past, and it will get more attention, and it should get more attention, because of these high-profile cases.”
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaks at his monthly news conference held at the Eccles Broadcast Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (Pool photo by Isaac Hale/Deseret News)
Utah Rep. Andrew Stoddard, D-Millcreek, tried in 2023 and 2024 to run a bill mandating the secure storage of firearms. His 2023 bill included criminal penalties for people who failed to lock up their guns — when that didn’t pass, he tried again, introducing a bill in 2024 that only involved civil penalties. That also failed.
“You literally cannot go lower than civil penalties. I’ve been working on gun issues the whole time I’ve been up there, for six years. I’ve heard all of the same arguments, and you know what? None of them hold any water,” Stoddard said.
Stoddard previously told Utah News Dispatch that he’ll likely introduce another secure storage bill this upcoming session. If he does, Cox said he’ll “be looking closely at those pieces of legislation.”
Despite the hesitancy from lawmakers, firearm storage laws have been ruled constitutional. In the landmark 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an individual’s right to bear arms was not tied to service in a militia, while also clarifying that certain restrictions on ownership — including storage — did not violate the Second Amendment.
Secure firearm laws, also called child-access prevention laws, are currently active in 26 states. Most of them require firearms to be locked in the presence of a child, with some imposing a fine or criminal penalty if the owner fails to do so, or if the firearm is used in an unintentional shooting.
Utah sees three children shot unintentionally in one month, renewing calls for firearm storage laws
Studies suggest states that passed a secure storage law saw a reduction in unintentional shootings and suicides among children.
The Rand Corporation released a report in July that pointed to a decrease in unintentional firearm injuries and deaths among children in states that required secure storage. Another 2020 study published in the National Institute of Medicine found that firearm negligence laws resulted in a 15% reduction in firearm homicides, a 12% reduction in firearm suicides and a 13% reduction in unintentional firearm fatalities among children under 14 years old.
Cox pointed to efforts from the state to promote secure storage, which include a 2019 bill that required a federal firearms dealer to include a cable gun lock, provided by the state’s Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, with the purchase of certain firearms. Both the Salt Lake City Police Department and Salt Lake County Library Services have handed out free gun locks as well.
In lieu of a law, Cox urged Utahns to lock up their weapons Thursday.
“Lock up your firearms right now. Do it. I don’t care if you have little kids at home, I don’t care if you have big kids at home, I don’t care if you just have adults at home,” Cox said, speaking directly to the camera. “Especially around suicide, where those decisions are made incredibly quickly, even just that pause that it takes when a firearm is locked up can save a life. So please, please, please.”
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