Gun Owners Beware

Imagine you live alone, you own a nine-millimeter gun that you purchased for personal protection, you hear a loud noise, next thing you know an intruder is inside your house bent on wanton destruction.

You immediately reach for your gun in the nightstand drawer located next to your bed.

Your gun has a new device called a trigger lock, and you are filled with trepidation while attempting to disengage this device.

You hear footsteps rapidly approaching your bedroom. You successfully remove the trigger lock, but then you remember that in order for it to work the gun has to be unloaded. Now you are faced with a terrifying situation: can you load your gun in time to protect yourself?You may think this is an unrealistic scenario, but is it really? The SMC police department is currently distributing the locks to the public.

With the implementation of these trigger locks by police nationwide, the fact that the trigger locks require the gun to be unloaded is the biggest objection gun owners have against them.

These devices come with a key to unlock the gun. It is a very small key. In the dark in a panicked situation you may have difficulty finding it.

As far as theft goes, the cable connected to the lock can be easily cut so it does not prevent someone from stealing your expensive weapons.

"Hundreds of children and teenagers in this country are killed each year by senseless gun accidents," said SMC police Chief Eileen Miller. "We want to do what we can to save lives." Are these locks capable of saving lives? California has a trigger lock law and actually saw a 12 percent increase in fatal gun accidents in one year, while Texas, which does not have such a law, has witnessed a 28 percent decrease in accidental fatalities.

Children as young as 7 have demonstrated that they can pick or break trigger locks, or operate a gun with a lock in place.

With over 80 million U.S. gun owners in 1996 there were only 44 accidental gun deaths for children under age 10.

The best way to protect children from harming themselves with firearms is utilizing a lock box, or a gun cabinet to store your guns where they are safe but also easily assessable in case of a dire emergency.

The fact of the matter is we have a right to keep and bear arms, to protect our selves from criminals who violate the rights of others.