A group of residents have started a petition asking the Philipstown Town Board to pass a firearm safe storage law. The law already exists in Westchester County, New York City and towns throughout the state. This step is the least that we can do to make our kids and community safer. As we dug into the data in Putnam County, it became apparent that suicide by gun is a real issue. If guns are locked up when not in use, they’ll be less likely to be used during a suicide attempt and will also be inaccessible to our most precious assets, our kids.
Our plan is to ask the board to pass this law at an upcoming meeting. We are hoping to drum up as much support for this law as possible via a petition at petitions.moveon.org. We already have more than 325 signatures. If the board hears from the majority of their constituents, it will be more compelled to act.
Alex Dubroff, Philipstown
I strongly support this proposed local law and further believe that it should also be proposed for enactment by Putnam County. Leaving a gun around the house, easily accessible to children, who don’t understand its lethal nature, or to adults, who might be momentarily angry or distraught, is a danger to our community and a concern for public health. If someone wants to have a gun in their home, they should be responsible enough to keep the gun locked up at all times when either not in use or in the control of the owner.
Safe firearm storage is necessary in both Philipstown and the county. There isn’t a reason in the world not to pass such legislation!
The headlines show us that simply keeping firearms safely locked can save so many lives. Toddlers kill people every week in this country, by innocently picking up a gun left accessible by an adult. Survivors of suicide attempts attest that they would be dead already if they’d had easy access to a gun, and advocate for safe storage. Thank you Alex and everyone at New Yorkers Against Gun Violence for creating this petition. I hope every citizen signs it. There is no reason not to do so.
Statistics tell us unsecured firearms have been responsible for several deaths in our county. Thank you, Alex and NYAGV, for bringing this forward. I heartily support this public health, common sense effort to protect vulnerable children and adults.
We wear seatbelts in cars, we have fences around pools, we can certainly lock up/secure our guns to help keep our loved ones safe. Please sign the petition. Thank you Alex and NYAGV!
When growing up in Philipstown, my kids often went to their friends’ houses to play and they went to games and to movies in their friends’ parents’ cars. I trusted that those families would be responsible when it came to my children. I trusted that they would be supervised while swimming, that their seat belts would be attached when they got into a car and that they would be kept from harm. Most importantly, I trusted that any weapons would be safely locked away and be inaccessible to my kids or any others in the home. It is that trust that created community for my family and it is that community that makes Philipstown a great place to raise a family. It seems axiomatic to say that responsible gun ownership require safe weapons storage. Our kids deserve it.