Judge Forces Gun Owners to Lock up Guns so They Can’t be Used in an Emergency

By ngnadmin On Oct 25, 2018 0

Every responsible gun owner is mindful of gun safety. Those of us who understand firearms know the rules. You should have a safe to place guns and ammunition when not in use. You always assume a gun is loaded until you check it and clear it. You never aim a gun at something you do not intend to destroy. These rules are basic.

However, the storage of a gun set aside for home defense is a rather touchy issue. If you keep it locked up in a safe, there is a chance that you will not be able to access it in the event of an emergency.

Another option is to carry at home, but that is excessive. Perhaps the best option is to keep it in a secure holster and have several places to set it where it will be out of the reach of children while remaining constantly in your care.

Many people keep a gun accessible in this way. You maintain awareness of the gun, you move it from one spot to another as you change locations. As long as you are vigilant, this is a good option- and there are many variations on this type of self-defense preparation.

Still, this type of gun-keeping, even when done with the utmost impeccability, has one major flaw—how it appears to others. If a police officer sees your open stored gun, he may assume you are not keeping it out of the reach of children. The same thing could happen if anyone else sees your gun and decides you are storing it improperly.

The only way to guard against this kind of perceptual problem is to keep the gun in your safe. But now we’re back to the problem of not being able to access it quickly enough.

Problems like these are always going to exist. But law-abiding private citizens have the right to keep their guns in any way they see fit as long as they are being reasonably responsible with them. That is an important part of what freedom means- the freedom to appear to be wrong in the eyes of others without fear.

But, as conservatives, we know that there are those who only want to be left alone- and there are those who will never leave you alone. Now, a Seattle judge has made a move to force gun owners to keep their guns locked up in a safe when not in use or when not being carried.

Judge Barbara Linde threw out a lawsuit brought by the NRA and a local gun rights advocacy group. The suit was intended to fight a law that requires gun owners to fully and completely lock up their guns when not being used or carried.

It is a law of the kind that proponents would say is “based in common sense.” After all, why not just lock up your guns?

As anyone with a modicum of good sense, who is concerned about home defense will eventually realize- a gun that is locked up is not useful in an emergency home invasion or a similar scenario. When criminals enter homes, they often do so very rapidly. They use tactics that are meant to take home defenders by surprise.

Imagine, you have spent hundreds- perhaps thousands- of dollars to ensure you have the equipment and the training to stop a violent intruder or intruders. But the law has made it so that you have to run to another room, unlock a safe, load your weapon and make your stand from a retreated position.

What if you have children in the backyard? Imagine having to secure them before accessing your gun. Suppose you are in bed and someone smashes in your window and enters. How long does it take to access your gun? One minute, 30 seconds? No one can guarantee you will have more than a few seconds.

Those are precisely the kinds of scenarios that laws like these do not take into account. Frankly, we are not confident that all such laws are drafted in good faith. We feel there is a chance that part of the intent of such laws is to make the citizen weaker- more vulnerable. We believe it is gun control by other means.

So, if you live in Seattle or an area with unhinged laws like these, maybe you should carry your weapon at home. Alternatively, a gun kept as described earlier could be said to be in use. Know the law, and cover your butt. However, going to jail is far better than failing to protect your family.

~ National Gun Network