Wednesday, April 12, 2000
Taft argues with foes of gun bill
Safe-storage measure has opposition
BY Michael Hawthorne
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — Making a rare appearance before a legislative committee, Gov. Bob Taft used the National Rifle Association's own words Tuesday to urge support for his proposed safe-gun storage bill.
Mr. Taft stared intently at opponents on the House Criminal Justice Committee as he asked the panel to consider why the NRA can declare it supports gun safety while it lobbies against his bill, which the group has dubbed the “Taft Burglar Protection Plan.”
Seeking to sway lawmakers the governor's office perceives as undecided about the measure, Mr. Taft referred to “A Parent's Guide to Gun Safety,” a brochure produced by the NRA that recommends guns should be stored “so that they are inaccessible to children and other unauthorized users.”
“These are the very same notions that we are promoting — adult responsibility, safe firearm storage and protecting our children,” Mr. Taft said. “This is fundamentally an issue of child safety.”
Under a bill pending before the committee, failure to safely store a loaded firearm could lead to a 60-day jail sentence and $500 fine if an unsupervised minor obtained the weapon. If anyone was seriously harmed or killed, the gun owner could face up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
An amendment is expected today that would reinsert a provision requiring gun deal ers to offer trigger locks or other devices during each purchase, though there would be no penalty for those who fail to do so.
Republican legislative leaders have had a relatively easy time shepherding Mr. Taft's agenda through the GOP-controlled General Assembly during the past year. But faced with a blitz of telephone calls and faxes orchestrated by the NRA, they're finding it diffi cult, if not impossible, to secure passage of the gun storage bill.
Opponents contend the measure is the first step in an attempt by gun control groups to curb an individual's constitutional right to bear arms. Critics also say the legislation would prevent citizens from protecting themselves.
“Criminals will completely ignore it, and law-abiding citizens, whether they chose to comply or not, cannot be monitored,” said Del Conery, a self-employed industrial equipment distributor from Stark County.
Mr. Conery noted that when a 12-year-old Lisbon, Ohio, boy recently held his class hostage, he obtained the firearm after finding the key to the weapon's trigger lock.
Under questioning by Rep. Jay Buehrer, R-Delta, Mr. Taft acknowledged that parents can face tougher penalties under the state's existing child endangerment and negligent homicide laws. “What hole are we trying to fill here?” Mr. Buehrer asked.
The General Assembly needs to send a clear message to Ohioans about safely storing weapons, Mr. Taft replied. He predicted his bill would reduce the number of gun tragedies, just as tougher drunken-driving laws have reduced the number of accidents involving alcohol.
“The educational value in some ways may even outweigh the value of the bill as another tool for prosecutors,” Mr. Taft said.
Three-quarters of Ohioans favor the bill, according to an opinion poll conducted for Mr. Taft's campaign committee by Republican pollster Neil Newhouse. In the Cincinnati media market, 70 percent of those polled support the idea.
About 800 people participated in the telephone poll, which had an error margin of 3.46 percentage points. It was conducted March 29 through April 2.
Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president, appeared to agree with the premise of Mr. Taft's bill during a recent appearance on the ABC-TV talk show This Week.
“If you have young children in the house, you leave a loaded gun on a bed, you're grossly negligent and you ought to be prosecuted,” Mr. LaPierre said, according to a transcript of the broadcast that Mr. Taft cited during his testimony Tuesday.
An NRA spokesman later said that states with negligence laws don't need specific gun storage laws. The spokesman also said the Ohio bill “couldn't be enforced.”
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