So-called “safe storage” may be the law in Washington, but it’s not for most of the rest of the country, and that is ultimately a good thing. However, it remains one of the many things gun control advocates want to push for throughout the nation. The idea is that if you have to secure a firearm, it will somehow become magically immune to theft.

Now, a lawmaker in Indiana is looking to push his state in that direction as well.

A state lawmaker wants to make gun storage safety mandatory inside gun owners’ homes.

State Sen. Jim Merritt said the Noblesville school shooting caused him to come up with this proposal. David Moore, who was 13 years old during the May 25 shooting at Noblesville West Middle School, is accused of shooting student Ella Whistler and teacher Jason Seaman. Both victims survived the shooting. Investigators said Moore had two handguns in his backpack.

Merritt, a Republican from Indianapolis, said the main goal of his proposal would be to require parents to keep guns secure and away from children. Merritt is proposing a bill that would require gun owners to keep guns out of reach of children inside the home.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in most cases, it’s illegal for a child younger than 18 to have a handgun or ammunition.

“In the state of Indiana, there’s no law about gun storage,” Merritt said. “That’s what we’re trying to get to. We support the right to have arms, but we just want the guns to be stored safely in our homes.”

“There’s not a demarcation in the home of where the gun has to be. There just has to be a storage system in a home where the children just cannot get to them.”

Merritt said that his proposal would send a strong reminder “to those that own guns that safety is No. 1. Should your child get a hold of a gun, then you’re responsible.”

The consensus I’ve seen from Indiana gun owners is something along the lines of, “How about…no.”

However, do note the party.

That’s right. This is from a Republican, the party we generally trust more when it comes to guns. The one I keep slipping to thinking of as natural allies in our fight to protect our Second Amendment rights.

No party is immune to the stupid, though.

So-called “safe storage” laws don’t help anyone. They don’t keep people safe. If a child, or anyone else, wants to gain access to that firearm, they will. It’ll just take them a little longer.

But it does make it harder to access when your life is on the line.

In a tense, life-or-death situation your fine motor skills degrade. You’re more likely to fumble with keys or have difficulty with a combination, all of which can delay your ability to deploy your firearm for self-defense. In other words, laws like this don’t save lives; it costs them.

I sincerely hope lawmakers in Indiana are smart enough to block this and that Merritt is informed on the error of his ways; what we down here call a “Come to Jesus” meeting, if you will.

Either that or he’s just voted out of office for this kind of blatant stupidity.