I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis. Nobody knows more about guns and gun laws that John Lott, Jr. of the Yale law school, so when he talks, I listen.
Gun locks supposedly protect children. But adults are the likely victims because of delays due to locks or laws that all guns be stored unloaded. As for children, there are 35 million under the age of 10. Just 48 died in 1997 from all accidental gun shots, including hand guns. With 80 million adults owning handguns, the incalculable majority must already be extremely safe.
But the fifteen states with safe storage laws saw 300 more murders and 3,860 more rapes per year relative to other states. Burglaries also went up.
And gun locks? At a pro-lock press conference in Maryland, governor Paris Glendenning tried to show how easy it was to unlock a gun quickly. He couldn't. He had to ask some cops to help him; cops that wouldn't be in somebody's home as the bad guy is breaking in.
Those are my ideas, and at the NCPA we know ideas can change the world. I'm Pete du Pont. Next time, overregulation.