Senate Rejects Bid to Require Gun Safety Locks

The Senate on Tuesday killed a proposal by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to require all handgun manufacturers to include childproof trigger locks with the firearms they sell.

During floor debate preceding the vote, Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho), a board member of the National Rifle Assn., ridiculed Boxer’s proposal as “a feel-good” measure that would only provide “a sense of false security” because such devices could actually cause guns to discharge.

But Boxer, who has made the bill one of her major goals, and her supporters compared the proposal to laws requiring automobile seat belts.

“This isn’t a matter of taking your guns away,” said Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) “It’s about creating an environment of safety.”

More than a dozen major U.S. gun manufacturers agreed last year to voluntarily include safety locks on all new handguns sold by 1999. But dozens of smaller manufacturers, including many in California, have not agreed to comply. These smaller firms sell about 350,000 handguns a year, accounting for a quarter of all sales.

According to Boxer, 440 children died last year as a result of accidental shootings, and eight times that many are injured in such incidents.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that 1.2 million children have access to guns in their homes, while a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Justice has found that 34% of handgun owners store their loaded guns unlocked.

Boxer had sought to attach her proposal as an amendment to an annual appropriations bill to fund the departments of Commerce, Justice and State. That measure is being considered in the Senate.

After her defeat, Boxer vowed to continue pushing the proposal, saying: “Real people want this done.” The vote also was “a wake-up call” that illustrated anew the influence of the gun lobby in the Senate, she added.

Boxer is up for reelection in November, and she has made no secret of her belief that her anti-gun stance would win her votes. “Standing up for children is going to be a very major part of my campaign,” she said after the amendment went down to defeat.

Just before killing Boxer’s proposal by a 61-39 vote, the Republican-controlled Senate adopted by a 72-28 margin a counterproposal by Craig to require gun sellers to make handgun safety devices available for sale on their premises.

While “all of us are concerned about” the problem of accidental shootings, there is no quick fix, Craig said, adding that a federal mandate is not the answer.

“It’s wrong to suggest that one size fits all,” he said. Craig also suggested during floor debate that accidental drownings in swimming pools are a greater problem, claiming far more victims than accidental handgun shootings.

Craig called his amendment “tort neutral,” because it stipulates that gun sellers who do not comply may not have that evidence used against them in a court.

Boxer said that provision rendered Craig’s measure “completely toothless,” adding: “Basically, you can’t use evidence as evidence” under Craig’s measure.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) supported Boxer’s measure. Feinstein also joined Boxer in voting against Craig’s amendment and against his motion to table Boxer’s proposal.

Among the groups that supported Boxer’s amendment was the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, which has 50,000 members nationwide.