The phrase “safe storage” needs to be completely removed from our vocabulary. Something called “responsible storage” however is more appropriate. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to firearm storage and dictating how any one individual shall store a firearm is not going to make anyone safer. That’s not stopping Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin from Michigan. On February 21, 2023, Slotkin reintroduced a so-called safe storage bill in Congress. H.R.1145 – To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to require the safe storage of firearms, and for other purposes.

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI-07) today reintroduced her Safe Guns, Safe Kids Act, a bill requiring safe and proper storage of firearms in households to prevent children and others from illegally accessing the weapon. The bill was first introduced after the deadly mass shooting at Oxford High School in November 2021 and passed in the House in June 2022. Slotkin will also co-sponsor the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2023 and the Assault Weapons Ban of 2023.

Slotkin was recently the subject of another piece here at Bearing Arms that Tom wrote. Knighton pointed out in his piece that Slotkin is employing tactics that are less than truthful in trying to trump up alleged support for anti-gun measures. “Slotkin misrepresents concerns over these laws in the first place. The term ‘mentally ill,’ for example, doesn’t just include potential mass shooters, it also includes those who suffer from mild depression. Do we really want to lump everyone together?  I hope that’s not what Slotkin is calling for, but she is less than clear,” Knighton wrote.

Continuing on her trek of being less than genuine, the Congresswoman put some interesting information in her release, “Gun violence is now the leading cause of death among Americans under 21.” The statistic actually comes from a study, and that cited study notes the age range to be “children” up until the age of 19. 

These studies and “statistics” are grossly inauthentic in that known gang violence is not separated. Death by suicide by firearm is also given its own sub-catagory, but that, along with accidental death by firearms, are all included under the same umbrella of violence when being reported on. The phrasing and age range is manipulated due to political bias, and we’re rapidly marching towards a time where many of these studies and or the reporting on them cannot be trusted.

Slotkin’s bill is a storage bill though. What’s its aim?

The Safe Guns, Safe Kids Act would:

• Require gun owners to safely secure their firearm when a child could reasonably access the firearm.
• Impose a penalty of up to 5 years of prison time if a child does indeed access the gun, which they reasonably had access to, and uses the gun to injure themselves or others or uses the firearm in the commission of a crime.

A final explanation of the bill discusses suicide.

Slotkin leaves a lot to be unpacked. The entire crux of her announcement was about gun violence. The Congresswoman talked about several high-profile shootings that have occurred. None of what’s being proposed will mitigate violence committed by firearms. Beyond that, all the studies that are cited need to have have their own statistical analysis looked at, knowing that not all death by firearms is caused by violent attacks, and conflating those numbers with death by suicide by firearm is purposely misleading.

Whether or not Slotkin believes her own rhetoric or not is of little consequence. She’s pushing an agenda that’s paired with and connected to many complex and different things. Members of the anti-freedom caucus may keep coming up with that one last gun control measure that’ll rule them all, but the liberty loving Americans know better. 

We’ve been given a new playbook. Any politician is going to be knowingly introducing a bill that’s unconstitutional if they cannot prove at the time of introduction that their proposal has a historical analogue. Not only is that a waste of time, money, and resources; but it’s also directly in opposition to a Supreme Court order. H.R.1145 – To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to require the safe storage of firearms, and for other purposes does not seem to be constitutional under Heller, McDonald, or NYSRPA v. Bruen. We’ll be watching the progress of this legislation as well as what other inauthentic rhetoric the public masters will come up with to feed us.