Forget the politics, gun locks save lives
Monica Rhor says reasonable people can come together on a divisive issue, as Moms Demand Action and a gun shop employee demonstrated.
The soft-spoken gun shop employee minces no words as he addresses a huddle of six women, some wearing bright red T-shirts from Moms Demand Action.
“In Texas, everybody owns a gun. Everybody does,” Kyle Ondrasek says as he stands near a display case at Kingwood Guns. “It’s just engraved in our DNA.”
The women nod. That’s what they expect to hear every time they set up a table in Kingwood Town Center or at local community events for their organization, which advocates for common sense gun laws. That’s what they brace for whenever their children or grandchildren head out for a playdate or sleepover.
That’s why they’re here, in a store where dozens of handguns and Armalite rifles line the walls like cereal boxes in a grocery store.
They’re not here to debate the Second Amendment. Not to advocate for gun confiscation. Not to shame folks for legally buying or selling guns.
They’ve come to listen, to learn and to leave knowing better how to encourage responsible gun owners to store and secure their weapons. For the next 90 minutes, Ondrasek runs through the basics, demonstrating a range of gun locks — from plastic devices that come free in the box to an $800 steel safe. He shows locks that need a key and biometric models that open with a fingerprint. He explains why some sportsmen prefer AR models and that some hunters purchase silencers so as not to scare away feral hogs and other prey.
The women pepper him with questions: Are there laws in Texas mandating gun storage? (Yes. “Readily dischargeable” guns can’t be accessible to children.) Is it possible to shoot a gun with a trigger lock? (No.) Can a firearm go off if it is dropped? (Only if it’s modified.) Is it possible to modify a gun to make it easier to fire? (Yes.)
No judgment on either side. Rather, an understanding that we are all on the same side — that gun owners and gun reform proponents, which can be one in the same, just want our families to be safe.
That’s why I’m tagging along — to hear the discussion, see how reasonable people can come together on an issue that so often tears us apart.
I’m here, too, as a mom who, like these women, worries that my daughters will accidentally stumble onto a gun at a relative’s house or someday be forced to confront a classmate who brings a parent’s firearm to school.
Asking about guns is simply part of playdate planning, especially in Texas. Do you have a pool? Any allergies? Any guns in the home?
If you’re looking for numbers, Texas has about 588,696 registered firearms — or about one for every 47 residents, according to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. More than any other state.
Widespread gun ownership increases the chances that a curious child — or despondent teen — can get his or her hands on a loaded weapon.
Last year, there were 36 unintentional shootings involving children in Texas. Nineteen children — including a 2-year-old — died. Two weeks ago, a promising 19-yearold student at Bellaire High School was killed on campus by a classmate showing off a semiautomatic pistol. And guns make suicide attempts and mass violence more deadly.
So many needless deaths. So many young lives cut short. It is enough to make us sink into helplessness.
That’s how high school teacher Gaby Diaz, a local group leader for the Northeast Houston chapter of Moms Demand Action, felt after learning that a former student had been shot on prom night. The gun had been stolen out of a vehicle.
“What do you do to prevent that?” Diaz remembers thinking, before drawing a line to the Bellaire incident. “How did this kid bring his gun to school that multiple students saw and by seventh period caused a preventable tragedy?”
Diaz has funneled her despair into advocacy, rallying in Austin for gun reform legislation and representing Moms Demand at parades and political town halls. But the “spinal column” of her local chapter is the Be SMART safety campaign, which focuses on proper gun storage.
They ask gun-owning parents how they secure guns and hand out free gun locks. They even help nervous parents rehearse how to ask about guns before playdates.
“There’s nothing controversial about that message,” Diaz told me. At least, there shouldn’t be.
Too bad the state doesn’t see it like that. A taxpayer-funded program that gives out free gun locks has asked its law enforcement partners not to give the gun locks to members of Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action, citing concerns that the groups’ “political agenda” would alienate gun owners.
Actually, the group’s agenda of gun safety promotes what Ondrasek over at the Kingwood gun shop calls basic “gun etiquette.”
For his visitors, Ondrasek demonstrates how quickly a lock can be taken off in an emergency. As a Moms Demand member times him, he assumes the role of a homeowner, awakened by an alarm. He stumbles and fumbles for his key. Unlocks the trigger of a Ruger 19. Loads the cartridge. Takes aim and pretends to fire several shots at an imaginary intruder.
Twenty-one seconds.
No time at all. No excuse not to lock up a gun. No reason for Texas not to give gun locks to groups like Moms Demand.
We can all agree on that, can’t we?