7/05 Senate Trigger Locks Amendment To S. 397

Senate Gun Control Amendment To S. 397

Dear Senator:

Safety locks are before you as an amendment to S.397. If this becomes law, people will die because a safety lock of some kind was on a gun.

Dr. John Lott has found that these devices actually result in an increase in the homicide rate in states where they have been required.

Such was the case on the morning of August 23, 2000, when Jonathon David Bruce attacked a houseful of kids with a pitchfork. Two children where stabbed to death because the residents of the home could not quickly access the household firearms, which were locked up in compliance with California state law.

Contrast this case with Chuck Harris of Colorado. After being repeatedly stabbed by three young men in March, 2001, Harris managed to grab the .44-Magnum pistol he kept in a desk drawer. Thankfully, Harris didn’t have to remember a combination or fiddle with a trigger lock — he just pointed the gun and fired.

That quick thinking saved his life, and has caused Harris to later reflect upon what was, perhaps, the obvious. “If I’d had a trigger lock, I’d be dead,” he said. “If my pistol had been in a gun safe, I’d be dead. If the bullets were stored separate, I’d be dead. They were going to kill me.”

The legislation presumes that people do not need to have guns readily available for self defense. A vote for this legislation is a vote against self defense.

Please vote NO on locking up people’s safety. Vote NO on Sen. Kohl’s dangerous and irresponsible amendment.

Larry Pratt
Executive Director