Michigan

It's a smart law that will save lives.

I've been immersed in gun cluture here in Michigan my whole life. And I want to tell you, the idea that most gun owners are responsible all the time is not what I've seen. Many gun owners I know have a drunken story or two of a gun mishap of some sort. And I am not talking local yokels, I know people who are authorities on gun safety, one who actually trains people in gun safety and conceal carry. That guy has a long list of stories that start with, "well, we started drinking for breakfast and next thing you know we're driving our truck through a creek trying to shoot out the open windows..."

Sure, there are tons of responsible gun owners. But there are just as many people for whom guns are a prop and a toy.

And something that always strikes me is the blokc many parents have in their heads apparently that prevents them from remembering what they were like as kids. When we were kids, we were into everything, there was not 1 square inch in the entire house that we didn't know what it contained or how to get into. We picked lock on safes and jewelry boxes, just because we were interested to know what was there. Kids are going to know where your guns are and they're going to try like heck to get to them. Trigger locks and safes are far from fool proof, but they can make a big difference still.

And I want to talk about suicide too. Mental health experts will tell gun owners who are suicideal a few things. First, get rid of your guns. If you don't do that, at least lock them up and store the ammo in another part of a house. For most people, suicidal thoughts are fleeting, there's just a vital moment or two where they will really go through wit it, guns are a permanent solution to a feeling that might only really last a few seconds. Just the act of having to walk to a different part of the house to get the ammo can save a lot of lives. Locking your guns up can give people time to reconsider. More people kill themselves with their guns than kill other people in this country, and too often that aspect of gun violence is overlooked and not addressed. Gun safes and locks will lower the number of suicides.