Senator Portantino Invited by White House for “Safer States” Initiative to Discuss Gun Safety Policy
For Immediate Release: June 27, 2024
Contact: Lerna Shirinian, (818) 409-0400
Senator Portantino Invited by White House for “Safer States” Initiative to Discuss Gun Safety Policy
Sacramento, CA – Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank) joined the White House this week for the “Safer States” initiative to discuss California’s gun safety policies. The “Safer States Convening” was organized by the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to discuss gun safety policy accomplishments from the 2024 legislative session and the advancement of the Safer States agenda.
As a nationally recognized leader on sensible gun safety laws, this is the second time that Senator Portantino has been asked to participate in the “Safer States Convening.” He has now had two opportunities to share his many successful legislative efforts with state legislators from around the country, including SB 53 - the strictest safe gun storage bill in the country.
“I was honored to have received an invite from the White House to help make our country safer from gun violence,” stated Senator Portantino. “Today’s discussion was an important step forward towards promoting gun safety policies on the local and national level. This is the first presidential administration to have an Office of Gun Violence Prevention and watching it continue to make a positive difference for residents across the country is needed and exciting to be part of.”
Senator Portantino has a long and distinguished record on gun safety. In 2019, the Senator 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 authored SB 53, which will make Californians safer by expanding existing firearm safe storage laws. The measure 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 required 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.
“As the Surgeon General’s report clearly stated, gun violence in America is a public health epidemic – one that takes the lives of over 100 people every day,” Tanya Schardt, Senior Counsel and Director, State and Federal Policy, Brady. “We need gun violence prevention champions in our state houses to steer our country to a new future — a future where we change the laws, change the industries, and change the culture to protect our communities from gun violence. The White House Safer States Convening is a powerful example of these champions coming together to work towards a solution to this public health crisis. We at Brady applaud Senator Portantino, and all of the other gun violence prevention champions who have fought tirelessly for essential life-saving legislation in their states. We are grateful to have been at this event and to be able to support gun violence prevention champions in statehouses across the country,” she added.
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%.
###
