Alabama Lawmakers Make Smart Move on Gun Storage

As my colleague Tom Knighton reported on Thursday, Alabama legislators rejected a bill this week that would have imposed criminal penalties on parents or guardians if a child in their care brought a gun to school. While several Republicans said they agreed with the underlying intent of the bill, they also objected to imposing a one-size-fits all gun storage standard on parents. 

Rep. Ginny Shaver, for instance, said that her basic opposition to the measure is that “it applies a criminal offence to someone based on another person’s actions,” which is a reasonable concern. 

While lawmakers rightfully turned away the gun storage measure, both the House and Senate have taken steps to make it easier for gun owners to temporarily store their collection with a local FFL if needed; a move that aims at reducing suicides in the state.

The goal of the Houston Hunter Act, named after Houston Tumlin and Hunter Whitley, is to save lives. Both veterans died by suicide. 

State Sen. Keith Kelley is the sponsor of the bill. He says it authorizes firearm hold agreements. Someone experiencing a mental health crisis would be able to store their gun safely with a licensed gun dealer or law enforcement officer. The gun dealer or officer would hold the gun for an agreed period of time and eventually return it. Kelley says the legislation has the support of both Houston’s and Hunter’s mothers. 

“When they tell their story, the pain comes through. They worked so hard to try to save their sons, and they don’t want their sons’ death to be in vain,” Kelley explained. “They both felt like that if this had been in place then that it very likely could have saved their sons’ lives.”

Kelley says the program is voluntary and would not affect the person’s gun rights. 

You can read the language of SB 40 here, but it’s a pretty straightfoward measure. Under the firearm hold agreement, FFL’s and law enforcement could take physical possession of the owner’s lawfully possessed firearms at the owner’s request, hold the firearm for an agreed period of time, and return the firearm to the owner when they request. 

Though the legislation is aimed at reducing suicide, there’s nothing in SB 40 that limits the firearm hold agreements solely to mental health concerns. If the gun owner is concerned about an individual who’s staying with them temporarily, or they don’t want to leave their collection unattended while they’re off on a family vacation, they could also store their firearms with an FFL or local law enforcement agency, so long as they’re willing to enter into the agreement.

The House and Senate bills aren’t identical, so the two measures will likely have to be reconciled before being sent on to Gov. Kay Ivey. As good as this measure is, I can think of one relatively minor addition that could improve it. 

In talking with FFLs in other states who are already taking in guns on a temporary basis, one of the biggest issues that they have is finding the space to keep those guns secured. If Alabama lawmakers could add in a tax credit for gun safes, or even offer grants to FFLs to expand their secure storage, that would go a long way toward making sure that when gun owners do need to take advantage of the new law there’s no shortage of FFLs or law enforcement willing and able to take in their collection on a temporary basis. To be fair, that would increase the financial impact of the Houston Hunter Act, but it could also greatly increase the number of FFLs and law enforcement agencies who are willing to participate.