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Over half of American gun owners do not properly store their firearms, according to a 2016 survey by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The Second Amendment to the US Constitution protects the right to bear arms but does not require secure storage. The survey defined secure storage as locking guns in a safe, locker, or case, or using a trigger lock. The lack of secure storage poses a public health emergency due to the increased risk of homicide, suicide, and accidental shootings.
Adopted in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the rights of Americans to keep and bear arms. Unfortunately, that much-discussed document doesn’t require gun owners to properly store their guns. In a 2016 survey of 1,444 American gun owners conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 54 percent of firearm owners reported that they do not keep all of their deadly weapons locked away. Households with children under the age of 18 were only slightly safer, with 45% of respondents reporting that at least one of the guns in the home is not locked away and safely stored.
Rights and responsibilities:
The survey defined secure storage as follows: All firearms must be stored in a locked gun safe, locker, or case, or locked in a gun rack, or stored with a trigger lock or another block.
“The survey results point to a real public health emergency,” said researcher Cassandra Crifasi, citing the increased risk of homicide, suicide and unintentional shooting in the home.
The Second Amendment was partly based on English common law and influenced by the 1689 English Bill of Rights, particularly the right to bear arms for self-defense and resistance to oppression.
