May 25, 2021

Wyden Co-sponsors Safe Gun Storage Act

Bill would establish safety standards for firearm locks and safes

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden today joined Senate colleagues to introduce legislation directing the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to establish safety standards for firearm locks and firearm safes.

“Storing guns safely can mean the difference between life and death,” Wyden said. “Close to 20 percent of all gun injuries in our nation occur because of the high rate of improperly stored guns in homes. This problem can be easily remedied with proper and commonsense safety standards.”

An estimated 4.6 million American minors live in a household with a firearm. According to a 2018 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health survey, 54 percent of gun owners report storing their firearms in an unsafe manner. Eighteen percent of all gun injuries in our nation occur because of this high rate of improperly stored firearms in homes.

Under this bill, gun owners would be required to secure their firearms in a “secure gun storage or safety device” if a minor is likely to gain access to the firearm without permission, or if a resident of the dwelling cannot legally possess a firearm. The bill also includes incentives for states to pass, and enforce compliance of, their own safe gun storage laws. The bill is named for Ethan Song, a teenager from Guilford, Connecticut who was tragically killed in 2018 after accidentally shooting himself with a gun that had been unsafely stored at a friend’s home.

Along with Wyden, the Safe Gun Storage Act introduced by U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both D-Conn., is co-sponsored in the Senate by U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Chris Coons, D-Del., Bob Casey, D-Pa., Jack Reed, D-R.I., Chris Van Hollen, D-Mass., Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Tom Carper, D-Del., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Patty Murray, D-Wash.