Rhode Island is considering legislation to enact one of the country’s strictest firearms storage laws, which public health advocates say could help reduce the most common form of firearms deaths: suicides.
The nation’s smallest state would join Massachusetts and Oregon in mandating that all guns be locked up when they’re not in use, regardless of their proximity to children or others prohibited from operating a firearm, said Allison Anderman, senior counsel for the national nonprofit Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
The legislation (H-5434; S-321) introduced in the Rhode Island General Assembly would require that firearms be stored in a locked container or equipped with a tamper-resistant lock or other safety device, regardless of whether children are nearby.
“We want a clear, understood legal obligation to store firearms securely whenever they’re not in use, full stop,’’ said Sam Levy, senior counsel at Everytown For Gun Safety, a national advocacy group. “[This bill] would give Rhode Island one of the strongest secure storage laws in the country.”
Bill faces stiff opposition from gun lobby
State estimates of gun ownership published by the RAND corporation put Rhode Island at the second-lowest rate in New England, with fewer than 15% of households owning firearms.
But Rhode Island’s gun lobby opposes stronger storage laws. Frank R. Saccocio, president of Rhode Island Second Amendment Coalition, told lawmakers at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month that if someone breaks into your home and your gun is locked up, it’s no better than “a giant paper weight locked up in a cabinet.’’
Rhode Island is among 25 states that have laws designed to prevent minors from accessing firearms, according to Everytown. But efforts to pass broader gun storage statutes have been a tougher sell.
Rhode Island gun owners currently can be held criminally liable if they leave a loaded firearm unlocked where a child can get it, and if someone under 16 uses the firearm to injure themself or someone else. The misdemeanor charge carries a fine of up to $1,000 or up to a year in prison, or both.
Guns in home: protection v. risk
Nationally, more than half (54%) of the roughly 77 million gun owners do not lock up their guns, according to a survey published in 2019 by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. And more than half of all firearms deaths in the U.S. – about 60% in Rhode Island – are the result of suicides, according to state and federal health data.
“Far too often we have tragedies where someone buys a gun to protect their family and that gun is used to take the life of someone in their family,’’ said Ari Davis.a policy advisor at the Johns Hopkins’ Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
Simply having a gun in the home is associated with significantly increased risk for suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a 2020 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Suicides accounted for 98 of Rhode Island’s 169 fatal shootings during the last three years (2019-2021), according to data from the state Department of Health. More than 90% of firearms suicides in the state were among people ages 25 and older.
Suicide attempts are often linked to chronic underlying risk factors such as depression or substance abuse. But many suicide attempts are an impulsive act, and one study of people who who survived an attempt found that half of them contemplated it for 10 minutes or less. So preventing access to a firearm, Davis said, can save lives. Nine out of ten people who survive a suicide attempt by means other than a firearm, research shows, do not go on to die by suicide.
But when a firearm is involved, Davis said, “often that first attempt is lethal.”
Mass. firearms school owner demonstrates quick access gun safes
Bill Dalpe is an unlikely face of firearms storage. A self-described gun enthusiast, Dalpe, 54, routinely carries a 9 millimeter semiautomatic pistol in his belt holster.
But the owner of the Patriot Firearms School in Rehoboth, MA, is also a father of three and author of After the Bell Rings, a book about how to teach children situational awareness.
Even if you live in a state that has no gun storage laws, Dalpe said, if "you have young children, it's your responsibility to lock that gun up."
Dalpe said he supports teaching responsible gun ownership, not gun storage laws. But
Massachusetts requires everyone to lock up their guns.
So one recent morning at his firearms school, Dalpe demonstrated different ways to lock up a gun so you can get to it quickly in an emergency. Basic cable locks, which resemble bicycle locks and work with keys, sell for as little as $5.99 on Amazon. For those who don’t want to fiddle with keys, there are biometric gun safes that can read fingerprints, which start at around $100.
Dalpe’s personal favorite: a silver and black Konig Safe. He unclipped his holstered pistol from his belt and laid it, holster and all, inside the safe.
“I like it because it's sleek looking’’ he said, “it doesn't look like a safe.
The one he has at home unlocks with a swipe of his wrist band.
Even in a locked safe, Dalpe said, he recommends a trigger lock. He holds up one that looks like a plastic clip and comes off with a quick tug of a cord.
Dalpe declined to say whether he stores his own pistol loaded, as is allowed in Massachusetts.
“It’s really up to the individual,’’ he said.
In Rhode Island, the gun storage legislation also would leave it to individuals to decide whether to unload their guns before locking them up.
Rhode Island Rep. Justine Caldwell, a Democrat from East Greenwich, has been the lead House sponsor of the “safe storage” bill for each of the last five years. In June 2021, Caldwell withdrew the bill after it was rewritten to remove the requirement that firearms be locked up. Instead, The Providence Journal reported, the bill would have offered a tax credit for the purchase of a gun safe.
This year, Caldwell said, a coalition that includes representatives of gun-control groups, law enforcement and the state Attorney General’s office have been working to reach consensus on the firearms storage legislation.
The latest bill would treat the first two violations of the secure storage law as civil infractions, similar to traffic violations. Third and subsequent offenses would be petty misdemeanors, punishable by up to six months in prison or a fine of $500, or both.
(In Massachusetts, penalties for violating its gun storage law start at $1,000 and up to 1 ½ years in prison.)
The penalties in Rhode Island would rise to a felony only if someone under 18, or an adult who is prohibited by law from purchasing or possessing a firearm, uses the unsecured firearm to injure him/herself or others. In that case, the offender would face up to five years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines, or both.
“It would be my preference,’’ Caldwell said, “that the criminal penalties would be harsher.’’
If a gun owner fails to properly lock up their firearms and another person uses them to seriously injure or kill someone, Caldwell said, that should constitute a felony, regardless of who pulled the trigger.
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 9 8 8 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You can also chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline here. (En Español: 1-888-628-9454; Deaf and Hard of Hearing: 1-800-799-4889).
Health reporter Lynn Arditi can be reached at larditi@thepublicsradio.org. Follow her on Twitter @LynnArditi
