A Law & Economics paper at the Yale Law School analyzes some twenty years of data on gun storage; the authors compare violent crime and accidental injury data across jurisdictions with differing requirements for "safe" gun storage -- locks, trigger locks, separating ammunition, etc.
The result? Gun lock-up requirements have no impact on reducing accidental deaths or injuries, but they do serve to keep one very select population safer: the criminals. You see, if the State makes me lock up my gun, it's going to take me longer to get to it when the Bad Guy breaks into my home... and that does wonders to keep the criminals safe and keep the victims in danger. Specifically, "the group of fifteen states that adopted [gun lock-up] laws faced an annual average increase of over 300 more murders, 3,860 more rapes, 24,650 more robberies, and over 25,000 more aggravated assaults" compared to comparable states with no such laws.
Does your state make you lock up your guns? What are you going to do about it?
