by As I reported yesterday, the Supreme Court refused to grant certiorari and accept Jackson et al v. San Francisco for review. The case involved a San Francisco requirement that a handgun either be in a safe or have a trigger lock on it if it wasn’t being carried on the person in a home. Seemingly this was at odds with the Court’s ruling in DC v. Heller where they ruled that the District of Columbia could not require a firearm to be either locked up or disabled. As Justice Clarence Thomas noted, the ruling of the 9th Circuit allowing the San Francisco law was “in serious tension with Heller.”
Unfortunately, Justice Thomas and Justice Antonin Scalia were the only two voting to hear the appeal. As Dave Workman wrote earlier this morning, the decision will open the door to other cities imposing a similar law.
So they have.
Albany (NY) Common Council’s Public Safety Committee is proposing such an ordinance for the city that would apply to all firearms. The bill is on the full council’s agenda for June 15th.
City gun owners may soon be required to keep their firearms under lock and key at home.
A proposed law vetted Monday by city lawmakers would force gun owners to store their weapons in a “secure container” or disable them with a trigger lock whenever they are “out of his or her immediate possession or control” at home.
The Times-Union reports that the cities of Buffalo and Rochester already have so-called safe storage laws on the books and that the New York State Assembly is considering a similar law called “Nicholas’ Law”. That bill is expected to be voted on by the entire New York State Assembly as early as the end of this week. The state law would make it a felony if someone is injured by an unsecured firearm. Fortunately, passage of the bill through the New York State Senate is doubtful.
