Many states trip over themselves to ensure gun owners keep their firearms locked up. They demand it, under penalty of law.
What these states don't do, though, is anything that might actually encourage people to get quality storage devices. The states will dictate it and leave it to you to figure out how you should pony up the money if you want to exercise your right to keep and bear arms. Georgia, however, is taking a different approach.
It's looking at offering a tax credit for gun storage devices like gun safes:
A gun safe storage bill survived its first legislative hurdle today when it passed out of a subcommittee.
It would give a tax break for the purchase of a gun safe or cable lock.
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Moms Demand Action is a grassroots effort trying to push for gun safety legislation.
The bill for gun safe storage does that, and its Republican sponsor belives it does it without infringing on the Second Amendment.
Republican Mark Newton, who authored the bill, is right that it doesn't infringe on the Second Amendment while making the state safer. In other states where this has been discussed, gun control groups like Moms Demand Action supported the measure as did gun rights groups. It was a rare point of agreement.
The truth is that a lot of people don't have a gun safe because they don't figure they can afford one. They might get one of the freebie cable locks that every police department in the country offers free of charge, or pick one up at a gun show or some other event, but those aren't that hard to defeat. Maybe not quickly, but quickly enough if you've got a few minutes to work and the right tools.
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Many people would like to upgrade but don't think they can afford it.
A tax break would make it more viable for people and encourage more and more to buy a safe. When they have one, they're more likely to use one, and people will be safer.
But no one is being required to do anything. That's a winning strategy, in my book.
Now, is this going to happen in Georgia? After all, if gun control groups have historically supported something like this and gun rights groups support it, this should be a no-brainer, right?
Well, you'd think, but there was a similar bill last year that didn't get passed, so it's anything but a done deal.
Why? Well, you've got me. It should have passed.
The problem is that Georgia, like many states, has a lot of RINOs that are hesitant to stand up for gun rights in any meaningful way. They might not vote against gun rights legislation, but they'll sit on it until it dies of old age, which isn't any better.
Maybe this will be the year. If not, maybe next year.
This, however, shouldn't just be a state thing. Make it federal law and make Democrats argue against tax breaks for gun safety devices like gun safes. That alone would make it worth the hit to federal revenue.
Besides, when DOGE gets done, they won't need as much money in the first place.
