Practicing ''safe storage'' results in accident during attempted robbery

Toledo Blade
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Man hurt as gun goes off while confronting burglars

A Texas man was shot in the leg yesterday when his brother-in-law was loading a revolver and it went off as the two were trying to ward off three masked burglars, Toledo police said.

Alexander Lara, 68, who is visiting Toledo, was in fair condition last night in St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center.

Three men tried to enter his brother-in-law’s house at 822 Yates St. about 5:40 a.m., but the noise from the suspects trying to force open the back door woke the residents, including the homeowner, Joe Lopez, 64.

Mr. Lara went to the back door and held the suspects there, while Mr. Lopez got his unloaded gun. As he was loading it, the gun went off and a bullet struck his brother-in-law. The three suspects fled, police said.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for commentary.

OFCC PAC Commentary:
Attempting to complete complex tasks (such as operating a trigger lock, or loading a firearm) when under duress or attack is difficult, since motor skills can be impared by stress.

Maryland residents will likely never forget the difficulty then-Governor Parris Glendening had trying to remove a trigger lock at a press conference intended to tout the benefits of safe storage legislation, and to dispute those who said it would render people defenseless. Toledoans now have their own experience with how "safe storage" endangers the people it is intended to protect.

Had the firearm been loaded when the home invasion occurred, the much more likely result would have been the detention of the three robbers until police arrived, with NO ONE being shot.

Recent research by John Lott examined juvenile accidental gun deaths or suicides -- for all the states in the United States from 1977 to 1996. Lott found that safe storage laws had NO IMPACT on either type of death. What did happen was that law-abiding citizens were less able to defend themselves against crime. As Second Amendent Foundation's Christopher B. Ayres has said of safe storage laws, "if these people were really doing it "for the children" would they not concentrate on the bigger killers of our children? According to the National Safety Council there were almost 8 times as many drownings as there were unintentional deaths due to firearms for children 0-14 years old. For 15-24 year olds there were more than 2 times as many drownings than unintentional deaths due to firearms."

Even despite this unfortunate accident, note the typical outcome when the good guy has firearm - the bad guys ran away.

Click here to read the story in the Toledo Blade.