Proper storage of firearms is essential

By Sen. ORRIN HATCH
KNIGHT RIDDER/TRIBUNE
We' just finished filing our taxes, and most of us spent some time making sure we identified all the deductions for which we're qualified.
One additional deduction I've been working to get into the U.S. tax code is a credit for the purchase of gun safes, which have proved to be the most effective way to prevent firearms accidents.
With firearms found in so many homes, it is imperative that we encourage their proper storage. Otherwise the consequences can be tragic. Earlier this year in Germantown, Md., an 8-year-old boy with easy access to a gun at home shot a 7-year-old girl in the arm. School shootings in a host of other American cities are a sad legacy that we must leave behind us.
Personal safety
The right to bear firearms helps individuals guarantee their personal safety, the welfare of their families, and the integrity of their homes. It is among Americans' most cherished constitutional rights. Yet, as tragic events like this one occasionally remind us, access to unattended firearms by an intruder or a child can endanger the very people this right seeks to protect.
So I have introduced the Child Protection and Home Safety Act of 2005. This bipartisan bill promotes the safe storage of firearms by providing a 25 percent tax credit toward the purchase of a gun safe.
Gun-related tragedies have promoted heavy-handed mandates requiring intrusive government regulation, which -- while well intentioned -- are frequently ineffective. Even a child with a screwdriver can clumsily dismantle a trigger lock. And a simple wire-cutter can cut right through a cable lock.
Responsible gun owners deserve sensible options, like safes, to prevent unauthorized access to their firearms. Safely securing firearms within a person's home is a fundamental way to help ensure that they do not become a threat to the families who buy them for protection.
This important legislation will also put up roadblocks to suicide and violent crime. Criminals frequently use guns they steal from the homes of law-abiding Americans, or turn around and sell them on the Black Market.
Stolen guns
The Department of Justice reported that, from a sample of juvenile inmates in four states, more than 50 percent had stolen a gun at least once in their lives and 24 percent had stolen their most recently obtained handgun. Nearly 10 percent of state prison inmates incarcerated on gun crimes say the weapons they used were stolen.
By encouraging the purchase and use of gun safes, the Child Protection and Home Safety Act will significantly reduce the rate of accidents, suicides and gun theft, thereby reducing homicides and violent crimes. And by means of a tax credit, we can encourage gun safety while preserving Second Amendment liberties. This bill encourages, rather than dictates, an important safety initiative.
A companion bill has been introduced in the House. We need to move these bills forward as rapidly as possible to ensure that Americans have the means needed to provide safe storage of their firearms.
The right to bear arms keeps families safe. And a safe is the best place to keep guns. I recommend all gun owners buy one as soon as possible, and save a receipt for their taxes next year.
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch is a Republican from Utah. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services