Law Shield notes that our worries about the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision not to hear a case about two San Francisco-imposed gun-control measures is already bearing bitter fruit.
The court denied certiorari in the case of Jackson v. City and County of San Francisco, letting stand some onerous and silly San Francisco regulations that guns in the home had to be kept in lockboxes unless they were about to be used in self-defense.
From a legal standpoint, the high court’s decision not to review the Jackson case appears to be in direct conflict with earlier opinions. Unfortunately, non-review of Jackson may open the door to other jurisdictions to create similar rules.
In fact, no sooner had the ink dried on Jackson that Delaware state Rep. Michael Barbieri, D-Newark, introduced HB 168. That measure would redefine what unsafe storage of a firearm is under Delaware law and make such storage a crime punishable by a class B misdemeanor.
Then, in New York state, a bill styled as A.53 would mandate that all firearms, including rifles and shotguns, be secured inside a locking container or box. Penalties for not storing your firearms in the dictated manner would range up to a year in jail.
We’re not opposed to gun safety, but we don’t want local, state, and federal government to criminalize storage oversights. There’s plenty of existing criminal and civil law that punishes gun owners for making guns available to people who shouldn’t possess them.
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