Dayton Chronicle - Your Hometown News Source

Washington, D.C.– U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) joined U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), and U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA, 7th) in introducing the Safe Gun Storage Act, urgent legislation to direct the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to establish federal safety standards for firearm locks and firearm safes. Washington state has already passed sweeping gun safety measures through a popularly passed ballot measure which included safe gun storage provisions that went into effect in 2019.

“This is one of a number of common-sense gun safety laws that Congress should pass to help prevent the many senseless and tragic deaths from gun violence we see every day in America,” Senator Murray said. “I’m proud that Washington state has been a leader when it comes to establishing safe gun storage standards—because these common-sense measures save lives. I’ll keep working to establish similar standards at the federal level to create safer communities and end gun violence.”

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.

The Safe Gun Storage Act has been endorsed by organizations across the country including the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Everytown for Gun Safety, March For Our Lives, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Sandy Hook Promise, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.