After 2-year-old girl shoots self, man becomes first person charged under Michigan's gun storage law

Finally, a sensible gun law.

I do not understand how a parent can be so irresponsible as to leave a gun easily accessible in a house with children. Kids are really really resourceful. Its bit like keeping a hyper intelligent racoon inside with a drive to kill itself through curiosity. Guy definitely deserves charges

Surprised that's a new law. In NM recently, in a particularly stupid case, some 14 year old kid shot his friend, a girl, I think on accident... then dragged her body outside and made up an idiotic story about how it was a unknown-motive drive-by and someone in a black SUV shot her. Anyway, his dad had a ton of guns just casually laying around their trailer or house or whatever. The father has been charged with 'negligent making a firearm accessible to a minor resulting in death'.

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He pled not guilty? Really?

His defense should be insanity due to drinking too much of the municipal water.

Sorry, couldn't resist. Awful

With these guns storage laws, don't forget to hold gun safe manufactures responsible for selling ones that can be opend with a spoon. Lock Picking Lawyer

I say about a $10 million fine per unit sold with vulnerabilities that allows it to be opened non-destructivly (or minor cosmetic damage) without touching the lock mechanism.

$10 million if it can opened by sticking any object in the key way and it opens

$5 million if it requires a lock pick set, but can be opened by a noive in less than a minute.

$15 million if it uses a master lock.

Seem fair?

I'm 100% for mandatory safe storage laws and prosecution of those who fail to do so, especially if that failure leads to injury, death, of theft of said firearm and that gun is used in a crime.

Unsecured handguns account for the majority of firearm suicide deaths in the United States, study finds

Overall, firearms used in unintentional injury deaths were often stored loaded (74%) and unlocked (76%) and were most commonly accessed from nightstands and other sleeping areas (30%).

It is difficult to ascertain the exact number of guns that are stolen from individuals in the United States because many of these thefts are not reported to law enforcement. However, estimates from a number of survey studies indicate that roughly 200,000 to 400,000 guns are stolen from individuals each year....Whether taken from gun stores or from individual gun owners, a firearm is stolen every 2 minutes. These stolen guns are often diverted directly into illegal trafficking networks and end up being used in the commission of violent crimes.

The Largest Source of Stolen Guns? Parked Cars.

All stolen guns are available to criminals by definition. Recent studies of adult and juvenile offenders show that many have either stolen a firearm or kept, sold, or traded a stolen firearm: According to the 1991 Survey of State Prison Inmates, among those inmates who possessed a handgun, 9% had acquired it through theft, and 28% had acquired it through an illegal market such as a drug dealer or fence. Of all inmates, 10% had stolen at least one gun, and 11% had sold or traded stolen guns.

The Southern [of the USA] region has the highest percentage of house-holds with firearms and the least safe storage practices (Okoro et al. 2005). Not surprisingly, most Southern states are “exporters” of guns traced in crime (Mayors Against Illegal Guns 2010).

So the assholes that need to have guns with them, constantly available, unsecured, because the "might need to access them instantly" or some such nonsense are the very people feeding guns into criminals hands and causing death and injury via accidental shootings and suicides.

I told my 19-year-old sister-in-law that toddlers are kill-myself machines, she has a 2-year old who's always getting into the cabinets under this sink. She said that I was over reacting. I can't wait to show her this.