

Oregon sees push for strictest gun storage law in US

September 18, 2019 - 9:12 pm


On Wednesday, Manstrom and Kemp helped deliver 2,000 signatures to Oregon's elections office as part of an effort to get a measure on the 2020 ballot that would create the stiffest law in America requiring the safe storage of firearms.



"I do believe this would be the first law of its kind in the country to impose strict liability on a person who violates the law," Anderman said. "If your gun is used to harm someone else because you violated the state storage law, then you are strictly liable for those damages."



"In the case of my son Will, it was a decision that we'll never be able to take back," Manstrom said at a news conference in the state capitol. "If a loaded gun was not easily accessible to him that night, I believe he would be with us today."


"The legal gun owner didn't tell police his guns were missing until (the mall attack) was national news," Kemp said.

Three state lawmakers, also appearing at the news conference, vowed to push a bill in next year's legislative session that would enact the same storage requirements. If it passes, it would render any ballot initiative moot. But if the bill fails, the measure would have a second chance by going directly to voters in November.

Anderman said putting anything between a person's impulse to take their own life and a gun could give the person a moment to reconsider.


Safe storage could also reduce the number of school shootings because most minors who commit those arracks obtain the gun from their home or the home of a family member or friend, Anderman said.

A safe-storage law "can really address a whole host of gun related harm," she said.

A firearms storage bill was packaged with other gun-control measures during Oregon's 2019 legislative session that ended in June. However, the effort was scrapped by Democrats in order to lure back Republican senators who had staged a walkout over a school funding tax.





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