Moms Demand Action Applauds Oregon House Committee for Advancing Legislation to Require Secure Storage of Firearms

The Oregon chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a part of Everytown for Gun Safety, today released the following statement after the Oregon House Rules Committee advanced House Bill 4005, legislation to require secure firearm storage. The bill now moves on to the House floor for consideration:
 
“Legislation requiring firearms be stored securely is a critical step to helping improve public safety and preventing unintentional shootings in Oregon,” said Maria Faria, a volunteer with the Oregon chapter of Moms Demand Action. “It’s reassuring to see our lawmakers voting to ensure that this bill advances on to the House floor, and we look forward to supporting secure storage legislation until it becomes Oregon law.”

The House Rules Committee vote comes on the heels of the Oregon chapter’s annual advocacy day, where more than 200 Oregon Moms Demand Action volunteers rallied at the statehouse and held more than 75 meetings with lawmakers urging them to support HB 4005. 

According to the #NotAnAccident Index, which tracks unintentional shootings by children since 2015, nearly 350 American children under the age of 18 gain access to a firearm and unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else each year. A 2019 study estimated that if half of households with children switched from leaving their guns unlocked to responsibly storing them all locked, one-third of youth gun suicides and unintentional deaths could be prevented – saving an estimated 251 lives in a single year. In Oregon, firearms are the second-leading cause of death among children and teens, with an average of 28 firearm deaths every year and 69 percent of those deaths being firearm suicides. 

Statistics about gun violence in Oregon are available here, and information on how Oregon’s gun laws compare to other states’ overall is available here.