Senator Portantino Joins White House “Safer States” Initiative Panel to Discuss Safe Storage Legislation
For Immediate Release: January 30, 2024
Contact: Lerna Shirinian, (818) 409-0400
Senator Portantino Joins White House “Safer States” Initiative Panel to Discuss Safe Storage Legislation
Sacramento, CA – Today, Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank) joined the White House “Safer States” initiative to discuss California’s safe storage legislation. “Safer States” was organized by the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to discuss legislation and policy centered around responsible gun ownership, strengthening background checks, and industry accountability, among other issues. As a recognized national leader on gun safety, Senator Portantino joined other leaders from across the country to share insights and strategies to achieve gun sense success on the state level. Legislators were joined by leading gun safety advocates and legislative staff in a robust discussion. President Biden has highlighted the need to implement national safe storage laws similar to Portantino’s.
“I was honored to participate in the ‘Safer States’ panel and join other legislative leaders to discuss our efforts to prevent gun violence,” stated Senator Portantino. “The vast majority of accidental firearm death, suicide, and senseless acts of violence among children are due to easily accessible firearms. I was proud to present on my efforts to advance and champion safe storage policies in California. Today’s discussion is an important step towards preventing gun violence and saving lives on the local and national level.”
In 2019, Senator Portantino was the author of SB 172, California’s landmark Child Access Prevention and firearm safe storage laws. The bill enacted a slate of significant provisions related to firearms storage by broadening criminal storage crimes, adding criminal storage offenses to those offenses that can trigger a 10-year firearm ban, and creating an exemption to firearm loan requirements for the purposes of preventing suicide.
This year, Senator Portantino introduced SB 53, which builds on that effort and will make Californians even more safe by expanding existing firearm safe storage laws. The measure, introduced just weeks ago, prohibits a person from keeping or storing a firearm in a residence unless the firearm is stored in a DOJ-approved locked box or safe. A violation of this prohibition is an infraction for the first offense and misdemeanor for the second and subsequent offense the violator to a one-year ban on the purchase or possession of a firearm.
Senator Portantino also championed SB 906 (2022), which requires local educational agencies (LEAs) to annually provide information to parents or guardians about California’s child access prevention laws and laws relating to the safe storage of firearms.
Death by firearm is the number one cause of death for children in the United States. States that have safe storage laws have seen a 78 percent drop in unintentional shootings committed by children compared to states that do not have safe storage laws in place. Additionally, firearms are the most lethal method used in suicide deaths, with a fatality rate of approximately 90%.
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